Lamb of God

Sacrificial Lamb

Posted on by Betsy

One of the joys of watching an engaging series on television is the familiarity of the characters and setting. From Downton Abbey to Friends to Law and Order, our understanding of time and place serves as a shortcut to the unfolding plot line. For example, remembering Lady Mary’s indiscretion with the Turkish envoy Mr. Pamuk in the first episode of Downton Abbey sets the scene many seasons later for her reluctance to accept the possibility of a happy life with Matthew. Story threads like that give the viewer a sense of being woven right into the narrative along with the perfect table place settings and the growls and scowls of Mr. Carson. We instantly get the reference and feel included in the tale.

Hearers of the proclamations of John the Baptizer when he testified to the nature of Jesus would have felt the same kinship with the story. He described Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” a reference to the figure of the sacrificial lamb that appeared in many parts of the Hebrew lexicon.

John 1 (Common English Bible)

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’ 31 Even I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be made known to Israel.” 

There was a lamb in the Garden of Eden that lost its life providing clothing so that Adam and Eve could cover their original sin. There was a lamb offered by an angel to Abraham to serve as a substitute sacrifice in Isaac’s place. A lamb provided the Passover blood that marked the homes of the jews in Egypt, protecting them from the slaughter of the angel of death who had come with the final plague against Pharaoh. The Levitical practices of altar sacrifices required many lambs to give up their lives. Isaiah prophesied about the lamb born to be shorn and slaughtered for the sins of the nation. Sacrificial lambs were a familiar trope for the Hebrew nation, and John the Baptizer used that institutional knowledge to point to Jesus as the one and only Lamb of God, who will take away the sins of the world once and for all.

32 John testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. 33 Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.”

We’ll be reading from The Gospel of John for a few weeks, so let’s pause for a moment and consider this marvelous book. John’s gospel presents the story of Jesus in a much different manner than the other three synoptic gospels. They are aligned in sequence, frame, and form, while John’s Gospel takes a different approach to the same story. John does not include a birth narrative, Jesus’ baptism, the wilderness temptation, the parables, the Last Supper, the agony in Gethsemane, nor Jesus’ ascension. While Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, John takes us straight to Jerusalem. He emphasized Jesus’ miracles and gave us eyewitness testimonies, like the one we read today. Note that John does not record the baptism itself but offers John the Baptizer’s eyewitness account of the event.

Who is the Lamb of God to you? What sin does he come to take away forever from your life? Will you allow his sacrifice to make you clean? What is your testimony about Jesus?

We don’t want to miss the point. In every iteration of the sacrificial lamb, God allowed its shed blood to provide safety, protection, a new start, and freedom. Like the representative body and blood of communion, we are offered an opportunity to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and be made new. How will you accept that gift today?

This is My Blood, Poured Out for You by Kitty Hawk UMC

Tethered and Anchored

Posted on by Betsy

Let’s play a game. What do you think the image below means? Is it an instruction to throw your baby‘s anchor over the back seat as you approach the shore? Is it a message that says if you drive your car into a river, use your baby as an anchor to pull yourself out? Maybe it says that the car seat doubles as a floatation device, like on an airplane. Enjoy your cruise, baby!

But seriously, what does this mean?

Today we are going to read about a very specific sign that led to life or death…much like the one above, which indicates that the car seat should be tethered over the back of the seat and anchored to a hook on the floor in a van.

In this passage, God is about to liberate the Hebrews from their forced slavery in Egypt. He gave Pharaoh multiple chances to let his people go and Pharaoh refused. So now God comes with a vengeance and prepares his people for their escape.

Exodus 12 

1-10 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat.

Take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

As the angel of death flew over the land, the families were protected by the blood that signified that this was Hebrew household. When the angel saw the blood smeared on the two doorposts and the lintel, it passed over that house and went on to the next one.

11 “And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.

As soon as this night was over, God would deliver them from Egypt. Hence the hurry. Don’t use yeast in the bread…there won’t be time for it to rise. Burn the leftovers because you won’t be here to eat them tomorrow. Wear your sandals to dinner and eat with one stick in your hand, because it’s about to get real and you might need to flee before dessert.

12-13 “I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God.

Unflinchingly, God lays out his plan. The oppression and abuse of his people were about to end. Pharaoh would not get the last word.

The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

The life or death sign of the blood saved the Hebrews and condemned the godless Egyptians.

When Jesus came, he also marked us with his blood. We carry the sign of it in our baptisms and it guarantees that the angel of eternal death will never touch us. It will simply pass over us because we are marked with the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him might be saved. If you are marked with the sign of his love, go and tell others. If you are not, now is a good time to give your life to the One who can save you from eternal death.

Tether yourself to Jesus. Anchor yourself in his love and you will be saved.