Twelve Days of Christmas Reflections - Day 5

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, proclaims that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” For the hearers of John’s words this must have been an astounding claim. The Jews gathered at the temple each year to sacrifice a perfect lamb as penance for their sins and John was saying the Jesus fills that role - that He is the perfect lamb. But note that John did not say the He takes away the sin of Israel or the Jews, but the world. 

John is clear from the beginning of his Gospel that Jesus didn’t come just for the Israelites, but for the world. That means every person that walks this earth. Jesus came for each and every one of us; the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the beautiful and the ugly, regardless of color. This is part of the hope of Jesus that He came for you, me and the stranger, to put us in right relationship with God. No sacrifice necessary, Jesus already paid the price.