Sermon preached by The Reverend Robert Green Behold the Lamb of God John 1
Twice in our Gospel Reading, John the Baptist proclaims Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, and in these two illustrations we have two very different artistic interpretations of this title. One by Francisco de Zurbaran dating from 1630’s which he named ‘Agnus Dei’ depicts a bound lamb resting on a stone table staring with mute resignation out towards the left side of the canvas.
In contrast we have the other illustration which is at the centre of a large and elaborate altar piece in Ghent by the van Eyck’s dating from the 15th century. Here the lamb is portrayed as a bold lamb standing on an altar with its breast pierced and blood pouring directly into a chalice; this lamb looks directly at you. In 2012 when cleaning this painting it was found that the original face was a hybrid between a sheep and a human making its stare distinctly unsettling. In the van Eyck painting the mystical lamb stands in triumph in gloriously jewelled light surrounded by adoring angels and saints and martyrs – Behold the Lamb of God!
In Zurbaran’s portrait the lamb waits patiently alone and in the dark, without struggle for an inevitable fate. Both these images are depictions of Jesus , the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but which of these most resonates with your view as our Saviour? Zurbaran’s canvas is of modest proportions with the image of a bright white passive lamb against a dark background, and its direct simplicity is very striking; a message about the cost of servant hood and sacrifice. John the Baptist was from a priestly family, and would have been familiar with the morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb in the Temple at Jerusalem, but now we have the Lamb of God whose sacrifice will supersede all other previous sacrifices. Our Reading from Isaiah hints at this with reference to the suffering servant, and the whole understanding that the Messiah would suffer and have to die to save the world. As we approach the Lenten season and Passiontide, we will once more be reliving the suffering and sacrificial death of Christ, our Saviour, culminating in the bleakness of Good Friday. Is this the picture which most resonates with us?
The Ghent Altarpiece in its very different context dazzles with luxuriant complexity and a multiplicity of meanings. William Barclay points out that in the time of the Maccabees between the era of the Old and New Testament, there was a great struggle involving considerable loss of life, but In the end victory. The lamb, especially the horned lamb became the symbol of a great conqueror. After all King David was a shepherd, and so the lamb stood for the conquering champion of God. As in the painting the lamb is not a picture of gentle and helpless weakness, but rather a depiction of conquering majesty and power. Jesus was the champion of God who fought with sin and overcame it. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
There is sheer wonder in this title. It haunted the writer of the book of Revelation, who used it 29 times. In one word it sums up the love, the sacrifice, the suffering and the triumph of Christ. We hear our choir Sunday by Sunday sing settings of the Agnus Dei at that special moment before Communion. Composers through the centuries have reflected through music their interpretation of these words, for as we have seen they can have almost opposite meanings.
In a spiritual song by Graham Kendrick entitled the Servant King, which is sung in the Cathedral every Maundy Thursday, he is able to express what is meant by acknowledging Jesus as our Saviour and our King. In one verse there is the stark juxtaposition of Jesus as crucified and Creator. He writes:
Come see his hands and his feet,
The scars that speak of sacrifice,
Hands that flung stars into space
To cruel nails surrendered.
After each verse there is the refrain: This is our God, the Servant King, he calls us now to follow him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King.