SUNDAY 2nd (A)
Jn 1,29-34
Everything John the Baptist says is surprising and indicates a special relationship of that community with him. There were surely followers of the Baptist in that community. John puts the christology of his community into the mouth of John the Baptist as the basis and foundation for understanding Jesus, which he will unfold in his gospel.
John wants to clarify that there is no rivalry between Jesus and the Baptist. To do this, he presents a Baptist fully integrated into God’s plan of salvation. His task is to prepare the way for the Messiah. John does not narrate the baptism itself; he goes straight to the point and speaks to us about the Spirit, which is important in all baptism accounts.
“**”The Lamb** of God.” John proposes a pre-existing Jesus, bearer of the Spirit and Son of God. Nothing more can be said. It is clear that here we are reflecting seventy years of Christological evolution in the community. It is a pity that later, we misinterpreted so badly the attempt to communicate that profound experience to us.
It is difficult to precisely determine what “lamb” meant to that community. They could understand it in an apocalyptic sense: a victorious lamb that will definitively annihilate evil (the beast). This concept would fit with the ideas of the Baptist; but not with those of Jesus.”
They could understand it as the Suffering Servant. John interpreted the figure of the Servant, applied to Jesus, but never with a sense of expiation. He would be the paschal lamb, which was a sign of the liberation of Egypt, but without sacrificial connotations. Christ frees us from slavery.
“**Who takes away the sin of the world**.” In the Gospel of John, sin is the oppression of one man over another. This is how Jesus’ attitude towards sinners is understood. When he says, “Your sins are forgiven,” he is telling us that there is nothing to forgive. Jesus takes away the sin of the world, not by dying, but by living unconditional service to all.
The most used word in the Bible to indicate “sin” means to miss the mark. It is not about bad will as we understand it today. In the Gospel of John, “sin of the world” has a very precise meaning. It is about the oppression that one human being exerts over another. Sin is always collective. If there is sin, there is an oppressor and a victim.
The way to “remove” this sin is not an expiatory death. This way of understanding Jesus’ salvation is a consequence of an archaic idea of God. We are faced with the idea of an external, sovereign, just, and tyrannical god. Nothing to do with the experience of Abba from Jesus. The “sin of the world” does not have to be atoned for, but eliminated.
Jesus saved humankind by suppressing from his own life all oppression that prevents the definitive creation project of man. Jesus saved us, helping all the oppressed to break free from their oppression. One commandment, love. One sin, oppression.
We must not oppress anyone in any way. I must not let myself be oppressed. I must help everyone to break free from any kind of oppression. I must continue suppressing the sin of the world. If I am not willing, not only not to oppress but to liberate the oppressed, then I haven’t understood the message.
In the world we live in, if you don’t exploit, you are exploited; if you are not above others, others will trample you. This posture obeys pure instinct and does not lead to fulfillment. I must discover that suffering injustice is more human than committing it.
It is oppressing the other, not that they try to oppress me, that destroys me as a human being. Jesus preferred to be killed than to impose himself on others. This is the key we do not want to discover, because it would force us to change our attitudes towards others. When I impose myself on others, I am not more, but less.
Fray Marcos
English version translated with AI