Behold and Carry

Airports are always fantastic people-watching spaces. One of my favorite things to watch is the way various people pack - the backpack people, the rolling suitcase people, and the only-briefcase people. Without fail, there is always a family in which the kids' luggage (usually 2-5 years old) becomes too heavy for the kids, and so you see the two parents carrying 5 people's worth of luggage. What has become too heavy, too burdensome for the kids is now carried off by the parents.

This similar idea pops up in John 1:29 when Jesus sees Jesus. He says:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

This idea of "takes away" is the idea of raising, lifting, and carrying off - like a stone off the ground.

John sees this when he sees Jesus.

The scene is such that John is in the wilderness, surrounded by Israelites with their sin, they have come to see, hear, and be baptized by him, and then here comes Jesus. John sees the sin that is weighing down Israel and then Jesus towards him and says "Look! This is the one that will raise, lift, and carry off on Himself the sin that so easily weighs down and the sin that so easily entangles."

This is Epiphany, the revealing of Jesus to the world, the revealing of his mission and vocation, the revealing of what He has ultimately come to do (along with all its byproducts and effects) - to carry off on Himself the sins of the world.