1 00:00:10,900 --> 00:00:14,600 Hi everyone, and welcome back to the podcast where we take a look 2 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:19,000 at today's reading from the gospel of mass and we attempt to 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,800 provide an exegesis of the literal sense. 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,100 What was the author trying to get across to his original 5 00:00:25,100 --> 00:00:27,700 readers? Today, we're looking at John 6 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:35,200 chapter 1 verses 29. 234. Seeing Jesus coming towards him. 7 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,100 John said, look, there is the Lamb that takes away the sin of 8 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:43,300 the world. This is the one I spoke of. 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,400 When I said a man is coming after me, who ranks before me? 10 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,000 Because he existed before me, I did not know him myself. 11 00:00:52,300 --> 00:00:54,400 And yet it was to reveal him to Israel. 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,500 That I came baptizing with water. 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,700 John also declared I saw the Spirit coming down on him from 14 00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:05,000 heaven like a dove and resting on him. 15 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:10,300 I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with 16 00:01:10,300 --> 00:01:14,500 water, had said to me, the man on whom you see the Spirit come 17 00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:20,100 down and rest is the one who is going to baptize with the Holy 18 00:01:20,100 --> 00:01:23,700 Spirit. Yes, I have seen and I am the 19 00:01:23,700 --> 00:01:26,800 witness that he is the chosen one of God. 20 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,900 Okay, so this section is mostly a monologue by John the Baptist 21 00:01:34,900 --> 00:01:38,800 describing. What it means to say that Jesus 22 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,200 is the Messiah. So it starts off in verse 29 23 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,700 with seeing Jesus coming towards him. 24 00:01:45,100 --> 00:01:49,000 So if you read just before this, in John chapter 1, Jesus was 25 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,500 there on the previous day and he'd seen John the Baptist 26 00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:54,200 interact with the Jewish leaders. 27 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:57,600 And now but he hadn't made himself known. 28 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,300 But now Jesus directly approach is John the Baptist. 29 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,100 So the focus of this passage is about John the Baptist and it's 30 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:08,400 written by another John. So it's the Apostle John who's 31 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,600 writing about, John the Baptist. Now, you'll notice that In this 32 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:19,000 passage, Apostle John doesn't actually narrate the baptism of 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,200 Jesus. There is no mention of Jesus 34 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,300 being baptized in this particular part of early part of 35 00:02:25,300 --> 00:02:30,400 John's gospel, whereas some of the synoptic gospels do, mention 36 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,900 the baptism of Jesus and most Scholars would say that's 37 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:37,500 because of what John's purpose is in writing the gospel. 38 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,500 The Apostle, John was probably written written varieties. 39 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:45,600 Gospel lat Last and probably he was trying to write to 40 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,200 supplement what the other gospels that already said he was 41 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,800 trying to add in some things that they hadn't mentioned yet. 42 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,800 So there's quite a few events that John, the Baptist doesn't 43 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,100 narrate, but the others doudna rate and it seems to be because 44 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:02,100 John the Baptist, sorry Apostle John. 45 00:03:02,100 --> 00:03:06,700 When he sat down to write his gospel decided not to include 46 00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:08,900 something. If he didn't have anything new 47 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:11,800 to add that the other gospel authors had already included. 48 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,600 So he doesn't include a lot of events that he thinks of already 49 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,000 been narrated well by the other gospel writers. 50 00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:21,500 So he just adds in some additional information. 51 00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:25,300 Here, some additional words of John, the Baptist that the other 52 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:31,700 gospel writers didn't include So John the Baptist here says 53 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:34,600 behold and so he's announcing this to the crowd, he wants the 54 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,200 crowd to pay attention to what he's about to say, he's about to 55 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,000 identify for the crowd, the Messiah, because a lot of the 56 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,200 crowd thinks that he's the Messiah because of the things, 57 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,800 he's saying they're quite amazed and their repenting and being 58 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,300 baptized. So John, the Baptist here takes 59 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:52,900 the opportunity to say, look, here is the Messiah. 60 00:03:52,900 --> 00:03:57,200 It's not me and he says, Behold the Lamb of God. 61 00:03:58,100 --> 00:03:59,900 There's a lot that could be said about this term. 62 00:03:59,900 --> 00:04:03,300 The Lamb of God, it's a rich theological phrase. 63 00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:07,900 So in particular probably the primary meaning here is in the 64 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:11,700 Old Testament sacrificing, an animal and it was usually a lamb 65 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,100 with what the Jews had to do in order to cover their sins to 66 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:17,700 atone for their sin. They had to sacrifice the lamb. 67 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:21,899 So John the Baptist here looking at Jesus identifies. 68 00:04:21,899 --> 00:04:25,100 Jesus as the ultimate Lamb of God, he's the one who's going to 69 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,600 take away the sins of the entire. 70 00:04:27,700 --> 00:04:31,700 Our world. Bye-bye being sacrificed much 71 00:04:31,700 --> 00:04:33,700 like the Lambs were in the Old Testament. 72 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,800 And it also has Echoes of the Passover Lamb. 73 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,200 So remember in the book of Exodus, when the Jews are about 74 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,000 to escape Egypt, God makes them sacrifice a lamb, and then put 75 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,300 the blood on the doorposts. So by sacrificing the lamb, they 76 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:52,800 achieve deliverance from slavery and in, there's the sense in 77 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:57,800 which Jesus sacrifice as the ultimate lamb achieves, 78 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,000 deliverance from sin, from the slavery to sin. 79 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,900 So, John the Baptist says, takes away the sin of the world, and 80 00:05:05,900 --> 00:05:08,200 we know that through Jesus death on the cross. 81 00:05:08,500 --> 00:05:10,900 Jesus does take away the sin of the world. 82 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,400 John, the Baptist here might be alluding to Isaiah 53 verses 6 83 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:20,100 to 7, that's part of that famous suffering Servant Song and it in 84 00:05:20,100 --> 00:05:24,100 that passage in Isaiah, it describes the suffering servant 85 00:05:24,100 --> 00:05:28,700 as carrying, the sins of of us all, and a lot of Jews had come 86 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:31,200 to think of that as a reference to the coming Messiah. 87 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:36,400 So most likely John, the Baptist doesn't know that Jesus is going 88 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,300 to die for people sins. He probably doesn't know that 89 00:05:40,300 --> 00:05:43,900 the crucifixion is coming but the Holy Spirit does inspire him 90 00:05:43,900 --> 00:05:47,700 to recognize that Jesus will one way or another, take away the 91 00:05:47,700 --> 00:05:50,900 sins of the world. And so he wants the crowds to 92 00:05:50,900 --> 00:05:54,300 understand that although he John the Baptist is the one preparing 93 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:57,400 them for repentance and baptizing them, it's actually 94 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,900 Jesus the Messiah who will truly provide forgiveness for their 95 00:06:00,900 --> 00:06:04,700 sins. John the Baptist keeps going in 96 00:06:04,700 --> 00:06:07,400 verse 30. He says, this is the one I spoke 97 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,600 of when I said a man is coming after me, who ranks before me? 98 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,800 Because he existed before me. So earlier in this John chapter 99 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,300 1 John, the Baptist said this, he's who talked about this 100 00:06:19,300 --> 00:06:22,800 pre-existent, one, who is to come most likely, the people 101 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,900 didn't understand the first time, he said it earlier in John 102 00:06:25,900 --> 00:06:28,500 chapter 1. So now, John, the Baptist takes 103 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:30,900 the opportunity to go. This is the one I was talking 104 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:33,200 about. This is the Existent one. 105 00:06:34,900 --> 00:06:40,000 And so, in that sense because Jesus as the Messiah existed 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,100 before John the Baptist did, Even though John the Baptist, 107 00:06:43,100 --> 00:06:46,600 he's older, he's trying to signal to the crowds. 108 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,300 This man is greater than I am. He is the Messiah, he pre-exists 109 00:06:50,300 --> 00:06:54,600 me. I'm not the Messiah verse 31, he 110 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:56,200 John. The Baptist says, I did not know 111 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,700 him myself. Some people said this. 112 00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:02,100 See, this is a little bit strange because we know from the 113 00:07:02,100 --> 00:07:04,800 Gospels Gospels. That it seems that John and 114 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,000 Jesus. John the Baptist and Jesus were 115 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,800 related in some way often the word cousin is used but they 116 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,600 weren't cousin in the 21st century since cousin was just a 117 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:20,100 general term that meant relative so amongst the big family tree 118 00:07:20,100 --> 00:07:25,700 of Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth In some way, depending on how 119 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:28,800 Mary and Elizabeth are related exactly in some way Jesus and 120 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,800 John are related, but they never met each other. 121 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,400 Jesus grew up in Nazareth. John, the Baptist after shortly 122 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,700 after he was born. Here went out into the desert. 123 00:07:38,700 --> 00:07:41,300 So John, the Baptist has never seen Jesus before. 124 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,300 But John, the Baptist year says it was to reveal him to Israel. 125 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:49,300 That I came baptizing with water. 126 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:51,800 In other words, my whole purpose. 127 00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:56,700 Was to reveal him to Israel. And that's why I baptize with 128 00:07:56,700 --> 00:07:59,700 water, so he knows that his whole mission was to prepare 129 00:07:59,700 --> 00:08:04,600 Israel for the coming Messiah. Through baptism and preaching 130 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,600 repentance. Verse 32. 131 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,700 John also says, we don't know if he says this at the time. 132 00:08:11,700 --> 00:08:14,300 And in fact, we know from the other gospels, that he probably 133 00:08:14,300 --> 00:08:18,300 said this slightly later at the time, that Jesus is actually 134 00:08:18,300 --> 00:08:24,500 being baptized John, the Baptist says I saw the spirit and that's 135 00:08:24,500 --> 00:08:26,900 the holy spirit. So the Jews at this time did 136 00:08:26,900 --> 00:08:30,400 have some understanding of what the Holy Spirit was because it's 137 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,000 mentioned in some of the later books of the Old Testament such 138 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,600 as the wisdom of Solomon, which is in the Catholic Old 139 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,500 Testament. It's The later books. 140 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:41,200 So the Jews were starting to understand that there is a 141 00:08:41,208 --> 00:08:43,900 special spirit of God, but they didn't have a complete 142 00:08:43,900 --> 00:08:47,100 understanding of it. Part of Jesus mission was to 143 00:08:47,100 --> 00:08:50,000 reveal what the holy spirit is all about. 144 00:08:51,700 --> 00:08:53,200 John. The Baptist says he sees the 145 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,000 Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus from heaven. 146 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,500 So John the Baptist is obviously seeing something visible here. 147 00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:03,300 He's seen something happen. We know from the other gospels 148 00:09:03,300 --> 00:09:06,900 that the time this happens is just after Jesus is baptized, 149 00:09:06,900 --> 00:09:10,800 but John the Apostle John doesn't narrate the event of the 150 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,600 baptism. He just sandwiches these two 151 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,700 quotes of John the Baptist together. 152 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,700 But it appears that everyone else or the rest of the crowd, 153 00:09:18,700 --> 00:09:22,300 didn't see the spirit of God, hovering over duties, as it 154 00:09:22,300 --> 00:09:24,600 looks like, it might have just been John the Baptist that saw 155 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,600 it possibly. He says, it's like a dove. 156 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,000 He saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and then Matthew 157 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,400 uses the same language. This doesn't imply. 158 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,500 Some people have taken this to mean that it looked like a dove, 159 00:09:38,100 --> 00:09:39,600 it's not what the phrase implies. 160 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,000 It's more of a metaphor in the context of the sentence. 161 00:09:43,100 --> 00:09:45,900 John is saying, John, the Baptist is saying, something 162 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:48,800 like this. I saw something, I saw the 163 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:54,700 Spirit come down and rest on Jesus, just like a dove would so 164 00:09:54,700 --> 00:09:59,000 in some sense, the spear arrest Jesus has some similarities to 165 00:09:59,008 --> 00:10:01,300 the way that a dove would come to rest. 166 00:10:01,700 --> 00:10:04,800 So maybe in kind of a gentle light way, something like that. 167 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,100 So it could be that it was in the actual form of a dove. 168 00:10:08,100 --> 00:10:11,300 But the grammar doesn't require that it actually looks like a 169 00:10:11,308 --> 00:10:14,400 dove. But certainly the people of that 170 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,700 culture would have been familiar with doves and the way that they 171 00:10:16,700 --> 00:10:20,900 moved. And then he finishes here by 172 00:10:20,900 --> 00:10:25,300 saying the spirit rested on him. So this implying that the spirit 173 00:10:25,300 --> 00:10:29,300 stays with Jesus as a sign of his anointing admission, and 174 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:34,600 this recalls, Isaiah 11:2, which describes this ideal Future 175 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,500 King. That would one day be raised up 176 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,700 from the line of David. And in Isaiah 11:2 it says this 177 00:10:40,700 --> 00:10:43,700 King, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. 178 00:10:44,100 --> 00:10:47,900 So when Apostle John mentions, that this happened to Jesus, his 179 00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,300 readers would have immediately Really picked up that this is 180 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:53,900 supposed to be seen as a fulfillment of that. 181 00:10:53,900 --> 00:10:58,300 Isaiah 11 Passage. Verse 33, John. 182 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:01,900 The Baptist now tells us some part of a revelation that he's 183 00:11:01,900 --> 00:11:04,700 received. He says, he who sent me to 184 00:11:04,700 --> 00:11:10,600 baptize with water, which is God had said to me, the man, on whom 185 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:15,900 you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to 186 00:11:15,900 --> 00:11:19,500 baptize with the holy spirit. So God had told John the Baptist 187 00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:22,100 beforehand through a vision or something like that. 188 00:11:22,700 --> 00:11:26,600 That when you see the Holy Spirit resting on someone, 189 00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:29,900 Should know that. That is the Messiah and John has 190 00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:32,700 now seen this happen to Jesus. So he knows that Jesus is the 191 00:11:32,700 --> 00:11:36,100 Messiah and he is now trying to declare to the crowds. 192 00:11:37,300 --> 00:11:39,500 Jesus is the Messiah. He is the chosen. 193 00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:41,800 One of God. The one we have been waiting for 194 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,700 and when he says, When God says to John the Baptist, he's the 195 00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:50,000 one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. 196 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,800 There's many Old Testament prophecies that predict that in 197 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,500 the end times or in the coming of the kingdom of God, when the 198 00:11:56,508 --> 00:12:00,600 Messiah comes the spirit would be, will be poured out on God's 199 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,100 people in a new way. And so John the Baptist now 200 00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:06,600 realizes this is him. This is the Messiah. 201 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,900 Who's going to do it? So that's our passage today, 202 00:12:10,900 --> 00:12:13,100 really interesting monologue. There from John, the Baptist 203 00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:16,600 that tells us a lot about what he knew of Jesus, and what it 204 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,800 means to say that Jesus is the Messiah. 205 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:22,600 So, this passage, as a result is referenced a lot. 206 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,800 In the catechism, particularly The Mention Of Jesus being the 207 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,400 Lamb of God, is a theme that's taken up a lot as part of the 208 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,700 Catholic teaching, and Catholic theology about Jesus 209 00:12:33,700 --> 00:12:37,300 crucifixion. So, there's about 10 references 210 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:39,700 10 paragraphs, I just want to read out a Of them. 211 00:12:39,700 --> 00:12:43,600 So, in paragraph five 36 which is in the section about the 212 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,800 baptism of Jesus. It says the baptism of Jesus is 213 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,200 on his part, the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as 214 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,700 God's suffering servant. He allows himself to be numbered 215 00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:57,800 among Sinners. He is already the Lamb of God 216 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:02,500 who takes away the sin of the world. and then it goes on from 217 00:13:02,500 --> 00:13:05,400 there, to describe what it means when the Holy Spirit rests on 218 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:10,000 him paragraph, six or eight, which is in the section about 219 00:13:11,100 --> 00:13:13,300 The Lamb of God. So very fitting for this 220 00:13:13,300 --> 00:13:17,500 passage. 608 says, after agreeing to baptize him along 221 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:21,200 with the Sinners John the Baptist looked at Jesus and 222 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,600 pointed him out as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 223 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,500 the World by doing. So he reveals that Jesus is at 224 00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:32,100 the same time, the suffering servant, who silently allows 225 00:13:32,100 --> 00:13:35,800 himself to be led to the slaughter and who Bears, the sin 226 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,300 of the multitudes and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of 227 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:44,600 Israel's Redemption at the first Passover, Christ's whole life, 228 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,500 expresses his mission to serve and to give his life as a ransom 229 00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:51,200 for many. So that's quite an incredible 230 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,800 paragraph about Jesus mission, as the Lamb of God. 231 00:13:55,900 --> 00:13:59,600 And then in paragraph 6 13, which is in the discussion about 232 00:13:59,700 --> 00:14:03,800 Jesus, sacrifice on the cross. It says, Christ's death is both 233 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,800 the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the Divine 234 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,400 Redemption of. in through the Lamb of God, who takes away the 235 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,500 sin of the world, And then it goes on from there. 236 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,400 There's quite a few other paragraphs in the catechism in 237 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,300 the discussion about what the word Christ means in the 238 00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:22,800 discussion about what sin is it references? 239 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:26,700 John chapter one as well. There's some more discussions 240 00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:30,300 about John the Baptist in his role and comp the Sacrament of 241 00:14:30,300 --> 00:14:33,900 Confirmation is actually linked to this passage as well. 242 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,100 And so there's a lot of really interesting paragraphs here. 243 00:14:37,100 --> 00:14:40,900 I'll include all of them in the show notes, so that's the end of 244 00:14:40,900 --> 00:14:43,000 our podcast today. There's a lot in that, 245 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:44,500 hopefully, you learned something new.