Page:Jesus of Nazareth the story of His life simply told (1917).djvu/137

 only to look at St. John. For months the stream of people, rich and poor, learned and simple, had been coming and going; his name was in every mouth, everyone wanted to see him, hear him, show him reverence. But he cared nothing for all this homage. His one thought was his Master, to turn the minds of the people from himself and fix them upon Him, to hand over his own disciples to Him at the first opportunity. This came at last.

One day he saw Jesus coming towards him. Turning to those who stood about, he said:

"Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world, this is the Son of God."

The next day he was standing with two of his disciples when Jesus passed by:

"Behold the Lamb of God," he said again, as he pointed Him out to them.

Everyone is attracted by a lamb. St. John wanted to draw the hearts of his disciples to Jesus, so he called Him by this name. Yet not "Lamb" only, but "Lamb of God," for they must know who He was, and worship as well as love Him.

"Behold the Lamb of God!" The priest says these words to us just before Holy Communion, that we may not be frightened of Him who comes to us, and on the other hand that he may not thoughtlessly forget how great and holy He is. In every Mass, at the end of every litany, the Church calls upon our Lord by this beautiful name of His, "the Lamb of God." He has many names, and among them some are His favourites—the Holy Name, "JESUS," that is Saviour, "Jesus of Nazareth," "Son of David," "the Lamb." It is by this last name that St. John the Evangelist calls