The gospel passage for today's Mass cites the words of John the Baptist at the moment when he set eyes on Jesus: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). Echoing the moment when he leapt in his mother's womb, John's excitement at seeing Jesus is now expressed in words with a marvellous understanding of the mystery of God's love at work in our world.
Behold the Lamb of God, he says. Jesus is God's lamb, the one who trusts implicitly in his Father and is willing to follow him as a lamb follows a shepherd. Jesus can and does teach us how to follow our Father, how to listen for his word - which is spoken in the scriptures and in the depth of a prayerful heart - and he teaches us how to trust the voice of the Shepherd who has the power to take away the sins of the world and lead us all to the joy of his kingdom.
We have not arrived at that joyous reunion yet. However, even as we look forward to the joy of that moment, we can already discover the joy of looking forward to it, and we can anticipate it with expectant hearts even as we live out the life that God grants to us while living here on earth.
Have a great day.
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