Gospel Reflection on John 1:29-34

January 18, 2026

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

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We live in a culture that pressures us to be naval gazers, to be always looking at ourselves, in particular, to focus on our inadequacies, our faults: "Look at me, see what I'm up against, see how hard life is for me", and we do live in a wounded world. In a profound sense, the world is polluted.

War leads to greater and greater anger and greater multiplication of evil. If we look at the state of pollution, we ask, "how can it be taken away?" This pollution destroys our youth,

our maturity, our relationships, leaving internal marks at to us seem indelible.

The original term for sin meant 'to miss the mark', to search for life in the wrong place. How can humanity respond to this situation? This toxic inundation, which we find ourselves. Despite all the self-help books that surround us, humanity is not so well-equipped to deal with this reality. Psychology and counseling can only do so much.

But today we hear refreshingly good news. We hear how John the Baptist sees Christ coming towards him and focuses his attention on Christ. Two things happen here.

First, like John, we need to look out and ahead, not down and in, if we're going to see our future coming in this form. And secondly, we must speak about what is coming, not what it went wrong yesterday or last year.

John the Baptist announces that Christ's arrival takes precedent and is much greater

than all our mistakes. Too often we get bogged down with everything that's wrong around us. We need to proclaim this good news and trust that he can bring good from our weaknesses and our contradictions. Our task is to welcome to be open to this work of God in our life.

And what does the Baptist say? Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is a really crucial declaration concerning the identity of Jesus. The translation takes away is not so good. The original Greek really says takes upon himself the sin of the

world. Jesus takes our weaknesses upon himself. This is so essential. Jesus is one who allows the entire weight of sin to fall upon him. What he does is he bears the weight of our sins completely. Our toxic past has been transformed.

What was once a history of error and weakness now becomes a history of grace. Of how much God has loved us and shown his mercy toward us despite all of our failings. Today we hear how the wave of sin has been taken away, that the pathway of destruction has been converted into a new pathway of beauty. Today we announce that humanity is liberated and can live a new existence.

And that's the final act in the scene. John testifies he sees the spirit come down and rest upon Jesus, remain upon Jesus, stay with him. Here is what we're being offered: what we need is a stable and enduring relationship. We need to be immersed in something that's beautiful and truthful and good: when we live in the conviction that Lord has taken away our sins and we can constantly live with the trust that the Holy Spirit is going to be there to

guide every aspect of our lives. This is the marvelous proclamation with which we begin this new year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sANcYKOoQj0