The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1: 29
Dear members and friends,
A baby was born to a couple, Mary and Joseph, about 2,000 years ago. The Gospels affirm and praise this baby as the Messiah prophesied and promised in the Prophets. In Hebrew, messiah simply meant “anointed.” The act and ritual of anointing was done by olive oil to those whom God considered as carrying a special mission or duty. Yet, taking away the sin of the people was never a duty of any “anointed ones” in the Old Testament.
In the Gospel of John, we read that John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29) Many biblical scholars in the modern world agree that the very phrase “takes away the sin of the world” might have been added by evangelists later. The reason is clearly that “sin of the world” refers to nothing other than the original sin, which condemned humanity to hell from the very beginning. The problem is that there is no such a thing mentioned by God in the Old Testament or by Jesus in Gospels. Rather, the nature of God was emphasized in both Old and New Testaments with such characteristics as merciful, faithful, just, loving and graceful. How could God, who is essentially merciful and graceful, condemn humanity forever because of one disobedient act by the first humans?
The celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus is certainly not about his mission to die for our sins, but about Divine love reaching out to us in a way that is accessible and experiential to us. God the Creator created our hearts to be capable of loving and becoming love itself. We have just forgotten this truth. God came to our reality to remind us who we really are and what we are truly capable of.
My brothers and sisters in God, let us take a moment of prayer this week. Let us focus on the love of God that is eternal. God is essentially merciful, loving, just and kind. Let us invite these characteristics to our self, so that we truly achieve the purpose of our being here: becoming like God.
Blessings,
Rev. Junchol Lee