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On the right: Mary, the baby Jesus, eleven assorted angels. On the left, from left to right: two kings of England, Edmund the Martyr and Edward the Confessor; another king of England, Richard II, kneeling down; John the Baptist; and a lamb.
This is the Wilton Diptych, now in the National Gallery in London. It was painted for Richard II, and the idea is that the kings on the left, and John, are presenting Richard to the company of heaven. The angels are all wearing badges in the shape of a stag, Richard's emblem, which suggests a very efficient PR operation has been at work. But we're not interested in stags this Sunday. We're interested in lambs.
John the Baptist looks out of place in the picture. He's there because he was Richard II's patron saint. But at first he looks wildly different from everyone - in fact, he looks wild. The three kings are all very well-dressed, and Edmund the Martyr even has fancy red socks. The senior angels are impeccably in formation with all their wings lined up; the smaller angels at the front are just getting themselves into place. Even the baby is wrapped in cloth of gold. John has turned up in his signature scruffy camel-hair and he is holding a lamb.
But as you go on looking, you notice that John, holding his lamb, and Mary, holding her child, are mirroring each other. Look at the way the painter has placed the figure. John and his lamb look towards Mary and Jesus, and Mary and Jesus look back and reach out towards them. On the left, there's John the fore-runner, the herald who prepared the way for Jesus. On the right, there's Jesus himself. It's the kings who are out of place, really. It's John who's showing them the way.
And the lamb? John's holding the lamb mirroring exactly the way Mary's holding Jesus. In the Gospel reading, John sees Jesus and he says to his own followers, twice, 'here is the Lamb of God'. He doesn't say what he means by calling Jesus a lamb. But then John doesn't often say what he means. He points something out, he shows the way, and people follow where he's pointing. That's what happens in the rest of the Gospel for Sunday.
EJT
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