Lamb: The Image Of The Human

Some years ago, there was a very famous film star, MG Ramachandran by name, in Tamil Nadu in India. In his films he always acted as a fighter of injustice and a saviour of the poor, the helpless and the oppressed. He was the saviour who wiped the tears of misery and showed the helpless the way to a better and happier life. I have heard that many mothers, after seeing the film themselves, have given their children the money to go and see such films and have asked their children to learn from the life of this hero and become like him in their own life.

The words "Come and See", are not only the answer to the question "Where do you live?", but they contain an ultimate solution to what they seek in their life, which is implied in the question, "What do you want?" After staying with Jesus, after having seen a glimpse of what God offers man through Jesus, the disciples exclaim, "We’ve found the Messiah!" They begin to follow Jesus, they begin to learn from Jesus, and that means, what lives in Jesus begins to live in them. After this there is a change in their daily life.

Till now they were masters in their daily life. But now they have become learners once again like children. They go wherever Jesus takes them. They learn whatever Jesus teaches them. They do whatever Jesus tells them. They are not free to behave in the company of Jesus as they like. Their behaviour should correspond to the teachings of Jesus. Once in a while they do make mistakes and Jesus notices them. They allow themselves to be corrected by Jesus. The invitation of Jesus, "Come and See" contains a call to follow Jesus, experience what God reveals to man through Jesus, learn it and live that. It is the basic model of Christian life.

Speaking generally, it is "humaneness" that is lacking in the life of humans. Once, as a group of people was discussing the theme of humaneness, one man said, "I know what it means to be human and I want to be human. But I do not see any chance in this world. If I must be successfully human, then all others with whom I live must also be equally human. Otherwise I am always the victim!" But that precisely is the message of Christ. St. John presents Jesus as the "Lamb", a victim. Lamb, in other words, is the image of humaneness. Jesus is the lamb, and that makes him a fully human person. That means, to be a lamb is to be a fully human person. Jesus remained a lamb upto the end of his life, although most people around him remained wolves.

Today we are accustomed to a weaponsculture. Man develops inner psychological weapons as well as external physical weapons. Many people consider that weapons increase their strength. But we must discover that it is the weak people who develop weapons. They want weapons because they know they are weak, so they want to defend their weakness and portray themselves as strong. When the inner weakness receives the certainty of the weapons, the inner human person does not become any stronger, but still weaker. And weakness always seeks to make others weaker. Therefore, defence does not do any good to humans. We need to develop a culture that tries to make the weak stronger.

Jesus never defended his weakness, though he was weak like any of us. What defended him were his good works. Even in the face of misunderstanding, pain, suffering, betrayal, trials and persecutions, Jesus never uttered a word or moved a finger in defence of himself. We must become aware of the deeper reality of our life. Whether we are like a lamb who becomes a victim or we are like a soldier who wins every battle and strengthens his position against others, we have no escape from the normal problems of our life like the above mentioned. Therefore it is for us to choose between the "wisdom of the lamb" and the "wisdom of the soldier". Isn’t always better to suffer for what bilds up harmony and community than to suffer for what destroys them? The words "Come and see"mean: Become a lamb like me and be a Saviour!