Behold the Lamb!

Saint John the Baptist,
Painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519),
Painted between 1513 until 1516,
Oil on Panel
© Musée du Louvre, Paris

We are more or less at mid-summer here in the Northern hemisphere. There used to be a custom of lighting a fire on ‘St John’s night’ on the 23^rd of June – the vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  The custom seemed to mirror ancient pagan customs associated with the worship of the sun and the significance of this moment in the seasonal calendar for primitive peoples across Europe.

For us Christians, the commemoration of the birth of St John the Baptist reminds us that the true light that has come into the world is already here.  The fires that once marked the turning of the season now point beyond themselves: they are only signs of a greater light – Christ, the Light of the world, whose presence we encounter most fully in the Eucharist.  John is a key and pivotal character in the history of our salvation.  He it was who leaped for joy when as an unborn child he heard the voice of Mary (Luke 1:41).  John prefigured the eucharistic faith of countless generations who would come after him.

He it was who declared:

Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30)

John foretold and witnessed to the Messiah.  His mission and vocation was to fade out and give way to the saviour of the world.  He does not draw attention to himself, but directs all eyes to Christ. This gesture of pointing is profoundly Eucharistic: it echoes in every Mass when the priest lifts up the consecrated host and proclaims the very words of John as follows:

‘Behold the Lamb of God,

Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.

Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb’

John points to the One who would offer himself as the true sacrificial Lamb. That same sacrificial Lamb is present to us now, not in figure or promise, but in reality, under the signs of bread and wine.

Like John, we are called to respond, to recognise, to rejoice and to decrease so that he may increase within us – until, receiving the Lamb of God, we ourselves are transformed into what we receive.

Oratio (Prayer after Communion from the Roman Missal):

May the marvellous prayer of Saint John the Baptist accompany us who have eaten our fill
at this sacrificial feast, O Lord, and, since Saint John proclaimed your Son to be the Lamb who would take away our sins, may he implore now for us your favour. Through Christ our Lord.