In scripture, the title
‘Lamb of God’ appears in the Gospel of John, with the proclamation by John the
Baptist saying, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world" (John 1:29) when he sees Jesus approaching him, a day after he had
baptized Jesus.
Although ‘Lamb of God’
refers to Jesus in his role of the perfect sacrificial offering and who died
for the sins of others, yet, Jesus is our shepherd too: “I am the good
shepherd; I know my own and my own knows me” (John 10:14)
If you think about it,
as parents, we are often required to be both
shepherd and lamb to our children. Indeed, because we love our children, we are
responsible for guiding, caring and protecting them as shepherds. Yet, more than
readily we also become lambs, making many sacrifices for them, mainly with our
time and money, and at times, guilty of even becoming over-indulgent. But the
truth remains that because we love our children, parenting becomes self-giving,
sacrificing of self for our children.
On the flipside, as
adults, we might look at how we should also become both shepherd and lamb to
our elderly parents. In this fast-paced world, have we been much support and
help to ease them into the age of technology found in the day to day? Have we
demonstrated patience with them? Are we honestly approaching them with the same
self-giving attitude and sacrifice as we do for our children? Or have we been
less patient and less forgiving with them than we have been with our own
children?
Just as God, our Father
loves us and because of his great love for us, sacrificed his only son for us –
this is indeed the greatest of all love, because true love requires sacrifice.
Perhaps reflecting that
as Jesus, was given up, sacrificed, for us in the Eucharist, may we partake of
this Lamb of God and learn to be more giving, more ‘Lamb’ than ‘Lion’ to our
elders this Lent.
