Monday, March 29, 2021

Sermon - Midweek Lent - Matthew 26:17-25

 


The Lamb – Matthew 26:17-25

We began with the serpent – the forked tongue the devil used to inject the poison of sin into our world through Adam and Eve’s participation.  But that very serpent who is crushed by the seed of the woman who is lifted up on the cross.

We’ve considered the donkey – a humble beast of burden, a kingly steed in time of peace, fit to carry the Son of David who bears the burden of our sin, humbly, to the cross.

We’ve looked at the pigeons – the sacrifice of the poor who couldn’t afford a lamb or bull.  And we’ve noted the sacrifice of nobler blood than all the beasts on Jewish altars slain – Jesus – the sacrifice for all poor sinners like you and me.

We saw the rooster – the herald of Peter’s betrayal, and of our own.  But also the voice to mark the morning and a reminder of God’s mercies in Christ which are new every morning.  Peter is restored, and so are we, in Jesus.

And the dogs – a slam against the gentiles – like those who surrounded Christ as he died, those outside of the lost sheep of Israel.  But those who come in faith – like the Syro-Phoenecian woman, faithfully waiting for crumbs to fall from the master’s table.  Even the smallest share in Christ’s mercy is a banquet of blessings.

Now, finally, the lamb. 

In a way, this is perhaps the easiest our of animal examples to discuss.  Scripture is chock-full of sheep and lambs.  Shepherding was the vocation of Abel, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, David, and so many other figures.  The Bethlehem shepherds watching over their flocks by night were the first to hear the news of Christ’s birth and come to worship.  Jesus calls himself the good shepherd – and we have a whole Sunday in the Easter season that we call “Good Shepherd Sunday” – which meditates on the grand biblical metaphor of shepherd and sheep.

Whole books have been written about the Bible’s use of sheep.  One well known work is “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”, which perhaps some of you have read.  That psalm, 23, which is perhaps the best known and well loved – which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”  The kings of Israel were compared to shepherds of God’s people.  Jesus tells Peter to feed his lambs and take care of his sheep.  And even today the word “pastor” is used in our circles – a word for clergy that means “shepherd”.

It’s often been pointed out that sheep are, essentially, not very smart.  They wander and get lost.  The end up in all sorts of trouble.  In this way they are an apt comparison to humans in our sin.  Jesus talks about seeking the lost sheep, going after the one and leaving the 99.  But friends, we are all that one lost sheep.  We all wander from God’s word and will every time we sin.  We are constantly in need of help and guidance and rescue.  This is why we live a life of repentance.  This is why Scripture warns us about wolves in sheep’s clothing, and all the other dangers in the field, and encourages us to listen to the shepherd’s voice, and to follow him.

But if there is one sheep in all of Holy Scripture that perhaps comes to the foreground, it is the Passover lamb.  Exodus tells us about this seminal event in the history of God’s people.  One resource I found summarizes it very well as follows:

The Passover lamb was the animal God directed the Israelites to use as a sacrifice in Egypt on the night God struck down the firstborn sons of every household (Exodus 12:29). This was the final plague God issued against Pharaoh, and it led to Pharaoh releasing the Israelites from slavery (Exodus 11:1). After that fateful night, God instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover Feast as a lasting memorial (Exodus 12:14).

God instructed every household of the Israelite people to select a year-old male lamb without defect (Exodus 12:5; cf. Leviticus 22:20-21). The head of the household was to slaughter the lamb at twilight, taking care that none of its bones were broken, and apply some of its blood to the tops and sides of the doorframe of the house. The lamb was to be roasted and eaten (Exodus 12:7-8). God also gave specific instructions as to how the Israelites were to eat the lamb, “with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand” (Exodus 12:11). In other words, they had to be ready to travel.

God said that when He saw the lamb’s blood on the doorframe of a house, He would “pass over” that home and not permit “the destroyer” (Exodus 12:23) to enter. Any home without the blood of the lamb would have their firstborn son struck down that night (Exodus 12:12-13).  https://www.gotquestions.org/Passover-Lamb.html

If there is any Old Testament event or character or example or item that most clearly foreshadows our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in his passion, it might just be this Passover lamb.  Consider the connections:

The lamb is taken in the prime of its life, a male.  Jesus is given over in the prime of his life.  The lamb was without defect – spot or blemish.  Jesus was without sin.  The lamb was slaughtered at twilight.  Jesus died close to sunset as well, as they had to hurry and bury him before nightfall.  Not a bone was broken – either of the Passover lamb or of Christ’s.  And the blood of the lamb was painted on the doorposts in a motion both horizontal and vertical – giving a hint of the sign of the cross itself.  The lamb is roasted and eaten – and Jesus was consumed by the fiery wrath of God.  But perhaps the best comparison is what follows.

The blood of the lamb protected the Israelites from the destroyer.  When God saw that blood on the door, her passed over that house and did not take the firstborn’s life from that family.  So does the blood of Christ protect us.  When God sees us covered with the blood of Christ – cleansed and redeemed by the blood of Christ – he sees that the sacrifice has been made, that the sins have been atoned for, and he passes over us.  We do not receive the destruction our sins deserve.  Rather, we are spared, not just for this life, but for eternity.

There’s good reason that John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.  It is by his atoning, sacrificial death on the cross that Jesus effects the divine Passover for our sins.  He acts as both the victim and the priest, the one who offers the sacrifice and the sacrifice himself.  Thanks be to God for the victory he has won for us at the cross!

We see the Lamb again in the final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John.  There, in chapter 5, we see Christ pictured as “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain”.  How can something that has been slain stand?  Unless this is Jesus, the one who was slain but has been raised from death, never to die again!  And so it is. 

Only this Lamb can open the seven seals of the scroll.  Only Jesus can know and accomplish God’s plan for salvation, and only in him is the church preserved through all the ups and downs of these end times, this great tribulation.

And then in chapter 7, we see a great multitude clothed in white.  Who are they?  John learns, “These are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore they are before the throne of God day and night…”  and we go on to learn that God himself will wipe every tear from their eye.

What a wonderful picture and reminder of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – the lamb.  And thanks be to God for the many pictures he gives us of Christ’s love and mercy, yes, even through the other creatures, the animals he has placed in our care.  May we observe this coming holy week with the peace of God that passes all understanding, that our hearts and minds may ever be fixed on Jesus Christ our Lord, the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment