To understand the full significance of what John is saying we have to look forward to the climax of the Fourth Gospel. The moment of Jesus’ death upon the cross is not simply a final expiration of breath; it involves a majestic imparting of the Spirit (19:30). In the person of his Mother and the Beloved Disciple, the Church comes to birth at this moment through the gift of the Spirit and then in the hint of the sacraments (Baptism and Eucharist) in the flow of water and blood from his pierced side (19:33-34). Because his legs are not broken, Jesus dies as the Paschal Lamb. In the evening two days later, the risen Lord will stand among his disciples, breathe upon them and say, ‘Receive, the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained’ (20:22-23). Only when we have learned all this at the close of the Gospel will we truly grasp why John the Baptist points out Jesus, as ‘the Lamb, that takes away the sin of the world’ (1:29; cf. v 36). In this way, as Isaiah foretold, he is the instrument of salvation for the entire world.