Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
2nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle A)
Readings:
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Psalm 40:1, 4, 7-8, 8-10
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The True Identity of Jesus of
Nazareth
Today's Liturgy of the Word reveals Jesus Christ to us in
three ways: He is the "Servant" of God promised by the Prophet Isaiah
(Is 49:5-6), He is the
"Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29),
and He is the "Son of God" (Jn 1:34).
The First Reading is from the second of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah's four "Servant Songs." Isaiah identified the Servant as God's divine representative, ordained to his mission to spiritually restore God's covenant people before his birth. However, his mission will not be limited to Israel but will include the conversion of the Gentiles, for whom he will be a "light to the nations," carrying God's universal message of salvation "to the ends of the earth."
The Responsorial Psalm, attributed to King David, expresses the psalmist's gratitude to God for delivering him from a trial that has brought intense suffering. In giving thanks for his salvation, he acknowledges that God has transformed his life and, as a result, gave him a "new song" of praise. The psalmist shows that he has a unique understanding of his relationship with God in knowing that animal sacrifice is only a symbol of the humility and self-sacrifice of the individual in obedience to the will of God and is the only kind of sacrifice that is pleasing to God. He responds to God's grace by offering himself as an oblation, yielding his life to do the will of God. He gratefully follows God's Law written in the sacred texts, not only by words but by an internal commitment demonstrated in the actions of an undivided heart that belongs entirely to the Lord.
The Second Reading is the introduction to St. Paul's letter to the Christian community at Corinth, Greece. Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians of how the church's existence at Corinth was grounded in God's initiative. First, they are sanctified and called to a holy life in Christ through Christian baptism. Second, they are members of the universal Body of Christ, along with all others who call upon the name of Jesus.
Jesus began His public ministry soon after His baptism by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Our Gospel Reading concerns St. John the Baptist's revelation of Jesus's true identity as the Lamb of God and a sin offering for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people. John leaves no doubt that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Servant of the Lord the prophet Isaiah foretold who would redeem Israel. He is the Christ that St. Paul and the other Apostles and disciples served and proclaimed as the One who brings salvation to the world!
The First Reading Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 ~ The Servant of the Lord
3 The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel,
through whom I show my glory. 5 Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his
servant from the womb that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered
to him, and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my
strength! 6 It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise
up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a
light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Our first reading is from the second of the four "Servant Songs" found in the writings of the 8th century BC prophet Isaiah (Is 42:1-7; 49:1-7; 50:4-11 and 52:13-53:12). In verse 3, God identifies His Servant with the people of Israel as their divinely ordained representative. The Lord gave His servant the mission to redeem Israel before he was born (verse 5). However, His Servant's mission will not be limited to restoring the covenant people exiled by their enemies and scattered among the Gentile nations. His mission would also be the conversion of the Gentiles, for whom the Servant would become a "light to the nations" to carry God's message of universal salvation to "the ends of the earth" (verse 6).
The messianic interpretation of this passage in the figure of the "Servant of the Lord" was widespread among the Jews in the first century AD, including the members of the community at Qumran, near the Dead Sea and the location of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. From the earliest years of the New Covenant Church, Christians applied all four of the "Servant Songs" to Jesus Christ and saw these prophecies as fulfilled in His life and mission. For example, in our current passage:
The Church's mission is to continue the work of Jesus's earthly mission and share with the world the truth about God's Servant, Jesus Christ. Sts. Paul and Barnabas, speaking in the synagogue of Antioch Pisidia, testified to the Jews concerning Jesus's universal call to salvation: For so the Lord has commanded us, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth" (Acts 13:47). And Pope John Paul II wrote: "Jesus Christ, the light of the nations, shines upon the face of his Church which he sends forth to the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15). Hence, the Church, as the people of God among the nations, while attentive to the new challenges of history and to humanity's efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to everyone the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus Christ and his Gospel" (John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, 2).
Responsorial Psalm 40:1, 4, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 ~ Being Obedient to Yahweh's Will
The response is: "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."
1 I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped
toward me and heard my cry. 4 And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to
our God.
Response:
7 Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to
obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; 8a then
said I, "Behold I come."
Response:
8b "In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, 9 to
do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!"
Response:
10 I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did
not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Response:
In this psalm attributed to King David, the psalmist is grateful to God for delivering him from a trial that has brought him intense suffering. In giving thanks for his salvation, he acknowledges that God has transformed his life and, as a result, has given him a "new song" that is a hymn of praise (verses 1 and 4). The psalmist shows that he has a unique understanding of his relationship with God in that he knows that animal sacrifice is only a symbol of the humility and self-sacrifice of the individual in obedience to the will of God. He knows that is the only kind of sacrifice that is pleasing to God (verse 7). He responds to God's grace by offering himself as an oblation, yielding his life to do the will of God. He gratefully follows God's law written in the sacred texts, not only by words but by an internal commitment in the actions of one whose loyalty to God is demonstrated by an undivided heart (verses 8-9). In verse 10, the psalmist vows to proclaim to the liturgical assembly of Israel the works of God in his life.
The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews quoted verses 7-9 from the Greek Septuagint translation of this passage in Hebrews 10:5-9. He interpreted the passage as Christ's self-oblation, placing the words in the mouth of God the Son at His Incarnation: For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
The Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 ~ Christ's Faithful
Emissaries to the Church Universal
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 to the church of God that is in
Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
their Lord and ours. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The introduction to Paul's message to the church at Corinth, Greece, is the conventional form for the initial greeting in a Hellenistic letter in the first century AD. He founded this faith community on his second missionary journey in 50-/52 AD. St. Paul began by presenting his credentials: he wrote that he had the authority to teach the church at Corinth because Jesus Christ called him to be an apostle by personally commissioning Paul in his Damascus Road conversion (Acts 9:1-19). Furthermore, Jesus appointed him to be a missionary to the Gentiles, a mission that was approved by St. Peter and the Church (Rom 11:13; Acts 9:15; 26:27; 1 Cor 9:2; Gal 1:16; 2:8; 1 Tim 2:7). Paul believed this divine appointment elevated him as a true apostle of Christ and made him equal to the other Apostles who had also seen and talked with Jesus before and after His Resurrection (Acts 10:41). He vigorously defended his title of "apostle" in all his letters.
Next, Paul mentioned Sosthenes, a co-author of the letter and "a brother in Christ." Sosthenes had been the president of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth (Acts 18:12-17) but became a Christian convert and a member of Paul's missionary team (verse 1). Paul reminds the faith community of three ways in which their existence is grounded in God's initiative:
St. Paul often referred to Christians in his letters as those sanctified by Christ's sacrifice who were "the holy ones" or "the saints" (verse 2). The people of Old Covenant Israel were a "holy assembly" because they were separated out from other people on earth for the worship and service of Yahweh (see Lev 11:44; 23:1-44). In the same way, the Christian community was also regarded as sanctified and set apart from the world by Christ in Christian Baptism (Rom 6:22; 15:16; 1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26-27). Christians are called to holiness (1 Cor 1:2; 1 Thes 4:7) because they make their lives conform to the gift of grace they have received through Christ Jesus.
Finally, Paul gave the community a blessing in the closing of his greeting: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Similar blessings of Paul are found in his other letters except for the Letter to the Hebrews. The Church Fathers attributed the Letter to the Hebrews to St. Paul, despite not having a Greek greeting that names him. The typical Greek greeting was chairein [khah-ee-ren], meaning "greetings." Scholars have suggested that Paul substituted chairein "greetings" with charis [khar'-ece], meaning "favor" in Greek, but with the distinctive meaning and understanding of the Hebrew word hen, "grace," a gift of God. And then to this greeting, Paul added the Greek word for "peace," eirene [i-ray'-nay], which reflects the typical Semitic shalom, "peace" (see 2 Mac 1:1), yielding a combined Gentile and Jewish greeting.
Jewish Christians may have recognized his greeting as an echo of the ancient priestly blessing for God's holy people Israel found in Numbers 6:24-26: May Yahweh bless you and keep you. May Yahweh let his face shine on you and be gracious to you [give you grace]. May Yahweh show you his face and bring you peace. Paul may have intended to echo the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26. If so, it is an ecclesial blessing, and "grace" represents God's covenantal grace revealed in Jesus Christ, and "peace" is the deep and abiding peace that comes from the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. It is a blessing that would have appealed to a mixed congregation of Christian Jews and Gentiles who are one Body in Christ.
The Gospel of John 1:29-34 ~ St. John the Baptist
Testifies to Jesus's True Identity
29 [The next day] John the Baptist saw Jesus coming
towards him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world. 30 He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks
ahead of me because he existed before me.' 31 I did not know him, but the
reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to
Israel." 32 John testified further, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a
dove from heaven and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him, but the one who
sent me to baptize with water told me. 'On whomever you see the Spirit come
down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 Now I
have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."
Do not think of this event and St. John's statement in terms of your familiarity with the concept of Jesus as a sacrifice for humanity or your understanding of the Last Supper. Instead, think of how startling this statement was for these people in the 1st century AD, identifying a man as a human sacrifice. Five kinds of animals were used for ritual sacrifice in the Temple of God in Jerusalem: cattle, goats, sheep, turtledoves, and pigeons. A "lamb who removes sin" would indicate a lamb of sacrifice, but which kind of lamb of sacrifice? Most Biblical scholars and commentators identify this symbol of sacrifice with the Passover victims; however, the words "Passover lamb" do not appear in any ancient Greek manuscripts but are additions by modern translators. The Passover victim was not a single lamb, but thousands of lambs or goat-kids sacrificed on one day and only once a year (Ex 12:5-6; Lev 23:5; Num 28:16). St. Paul does identify Jesus as our Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7b, but the Greek text reads, "For the Passover of us was sacrificed Christ" (IBGE, vol. IV, pages 457-8), and indeed, Jesus was the perfect Lamb of sacrifice that every lamb in the Old Covenant sacrificial system symbolized. But the Passover sacrifice, offered only once a year, was not the most important feast day of the Seven Sacred Annual Feasts. Even though Passover was the first feast of the liturgical year, it was not designated a "Pilgrim feast" that every man of the covenant had to attend (see Dt 16:16 and 1 Chr 8:13).
An adult ram was offered in sacrifice on Yom Kipper (the Day of Atonement) as a whole burnt offering and a gift to Yahweh from His people. In addition, there were multiple lambs sacrificed on other feast days. For example, in addition to other sacrifices, seven unblemished yearling lambs were offered as holocausts (whole burnt offerings) on the pilgrim feasts of Unleavened Bread (seven lambs on each of seven days) and Weeks (Pentecost), while on the Feast of Shelters (Tabernacles), there were fourteen lambs offered as a holocaust with other sacrifices for seven days and an additional seven lambs on the eighth day. But none of those lambs were classified as sin offerings and were sacrifices offered only once a year.
It is unlikely that any of these classes of sacrificial lambs would have come immediately to the thoughts of the crowd listening to John's shocking statement. The only single lamb offered as a holocaust for the sins and sanctification of the covenant people was the unblemished male lamb offered as a communal sacrifice in the morning liturgical worship service and the unblemished male lamb offered in the afternoon (evening for the Jews) liturgical worship service at the Jerusalem Temple. These lambs, called the Tamid (Standing) lambs, were considered a single sacrifice in a liturgical worship service designated as perpetual for as long as the Sinai Covenant endured (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:3-8). For the covenant people, the entire day revolved around the twice-daily Tamid sacrifice. Of all the sacrifices, it was the most important, taking precedence over all other feast day sacrifices offered in "addition" to the Tamid (repeated 15 times in Num 28:10-29:38).
The Hebrew word tamid means "standing," as in perpetual. So when John identified Jesus as a Lamb of God offered for the people's sins, he must have been referring to the Tamid, the single sacrifice offered twice daily for the atonement and sanctification of the entire people. That sacrifice must have occurred to the crowd. Since the liturgy of the Tamid took place from dawn to dust, and since the Jewish hours of private prayer occurred within the offering of the Tamid liturgy (9 AM to 5 PM), this particular event probably happened during one of the two "hours of prayer" associated with the sacrifice of the Tamid lambs in the Jerusalem Temple. This connection to the Tamid is also how St. John the Apostle identified Jesus in the book of Revelation 5:5 when he saw Christ in Heaven for the first time: "Then I saw ... a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed" (Rev 5:6, bold added). Dead lambs don't stand up, but "standing" has a double meaning. It also means "perpetual or continual," as in the Hebrew word "Tamid" (for more information on these verses, see the study of the Book of Revelation Chapter 5) or the book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."
It is a climactic moment when John identified Jesus as a sacrifice. The Children of Israel abhorred human sacrifice. The LORD [Yahweh] God had forbidden the practice, and now their holy young priest/prophet had identified this man as a sacrifice for the sins of the people, who was also, according to John, the Messiah, the "Son of God" (or will in verse 34). It was not their idea of a "Chosen One." Their concept of Messiah was another warrior king like David or a liberator like Moses. St. John was telling the crowd of Jews how Jesus would bring salvation and redemption to humanity, not as a warrior like David but as "The Lamb" of sacrifice for the people. Not to cover their unintentional sins, as the blood of the Tamid lambs, but to free them from the Romans and remove their sin forever. It is important to note that the original text reads sin in the singular to clarify that removing every kind of sin is the gift of Jesus the Lamb! He was giving them God's promise to the prophet Jeremiah: they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, Yahweh declares, since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind (Jer 31:31, NJB).
In his Gospel, St. John also connected the revelation of the Baptist and the "Songs of the Servant" passages in the book of Isaiah. The fourth Servant Song reads: Ill treated and afflicted, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before its shearers he never opened his mouth (Is 53:7, underlining added), and It was Yahweh's good pleasure to crush him with pain; if he gives his life as a sin offering (Is 53:10a NJB, underlining added; also see CCC#536, 608). Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy of these passages in His suffering and death on the Cross.
St. John testified to the crowd: "He existed before me" in verse 30. In this statement, John was affirming Jesus's pre-incarnation. Physically Jesus was born six months after John (as the ancients counted but five months as we count today with the concept of a zero place-value). However, the Holy Spirit gave the Baptist the knowledge of Jesus's eternal existence.
31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing
with water was that he might be made known to Israel.
John promised that the Messiah would redeem Israel. The
gift of redemption must first be offered to Israel before the Gentile nations. Jesus
would tell His disciples in their first missionary effort: "Do not
make your way to Gentile territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go
instead to the lost sheep of the House of Israel" (Mt 10:5-6). Israel had
the spiritual privilege of place as the "firstborn" (Ex 4:22). However, the Suffering
Servant passages of Isaiah also speak of the "redemption of the nations." But Israelites
(living in Galilee) and Jews (living in Judea) only thought in terms of personal
and national redemption even though their divine call was to reveal Yahweh as
the One true God to the other nations of the earth. The celebration of the pilgrim
feast of Shelters/Tabernacles looked forward to a "redemption of the nations"
led by Israel. Unfortunately, the revelation of universal redemption prevented many
Jews from coming to Christ (see Eph 2:11-3:13 for St. Paul's explanation of
this mystery).
32 John testified further, saying, "I saw the
Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. 33 I did not
know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me. 'On whomever
you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with
the Holy Spirit.' 34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."
Each Gospel account includes the description of God's Spirit
descending like a dove over Jesus. John's account differs from the other
Gospels only in that he does not describe the baptism itself, and in describing
the descent of the Spirit, John has the phrase "from heaven." See CCC#438.
| Matthew 3:16 "God's Spirit" | "descending like a dove coming on him" |
| Mark 1:10 "The Spirit" | "like a dove descending on him" |
| Luke 3:22 "The Holy Spirit" | "descends in bodily form like a dove on him" |
| John 1:32 "The Spirit" | "descending like a dove from heaven and remain on him" |
From this time forward, God the Holy Spirit became associated in Christian iconography with the symbol of the dove.
John told the crowd, "I did not know him ..."
This seems a curious statement because we know from Luke's
Gospel that they were related. John's ignorance of this relationship may be
necessary to show that there was no collusion between Jesus and John. That Jesus
is the Messiah is purely a revelation from God. Jesus's upbringing was in
Galilee in the North, and John was born in Ein Karin, just outside Jerusalem. If
his elderly parents died when he was quite young and other relatives raised
him, or if he grew up at Qumran in a community of priests who called themselves
"sons of Zadok" and who had separated themselves from the established
priesthood in Jerusalem, he likely lost contact with Mary and her family. The
sectarian documents at Qumran indicate that the community adopted orphaned
children of priests.
"but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me. 'On
whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will
baptize with the Holy Spirit.'"
In this statement, John distinguished between his form of
ritual purification in water immersion and the baptism that Jesus would bring. Jesus
would bring a baptism of God the Holy Spirit, resulting not in just a purified
life made ready for the coming of the Messiah like St. John's baptism, but a
baptism that imparted a transformed life in which the Christian, through the
power of God the Holy Spirit, became spiritually reborn as a new creature in
Christ.
34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of
God."
In this statement, John revealed Jesus's true identity. He
is not only a son of God in the collective sense of Israelites who are
sons of God in the Sinai Covenant. Jesus is the Son of God! Most ancient
texts read "Son of God" as in our passage from the New American Bible
translation, but other ancient manuscripts read instead "Chosen One," reflecting
the title of God's "Servant" in the first "Song of the Servant" in Isaiah 42:1.
Nevertheless, John's audience would probably have made the connection with what
John said in verse 33 to Isaiah's Servant of Yahweh: Here is my servant whom
I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have sent my
spirit upon him (Is 42:1, bold added for emphasis). There
would have been no doubt for the crowd that St. John was identifying Jesus as
the promised Redeemer-Messiah.
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 (CCC 64*, 713*)
Psalm 40:7-10 LXX (CCC 462); 40:7 (CCC 2824)
1 Corinthians 1:1-2 (CCC 752*, 1695)
John 1:29 (CCC 408, 523*, 536, 608, 1137*, 1505); 1:31-34 (CCC 486*); 1:31 (CCC 438); 1:32-34 (CCC 713*); 1:32-33 (CCC 536); 1:33-34 (CCC 719, 1286*)
Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away sins of all (CCC 604*, 605*, 606*, 607*, 608*, 609*)
The mission of the Son and Holy Spirit (CCC 689*, 690*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.