We began our Lenten journey to Easter via the Cross earlier this week on Ash Wednesday. Like any journey, it’s important to begin by being prepared, Ash Wednesday prepares us by eliminating any unwanted burdens of sin that would make our spiritual journey difficult. By confessing our sins that God knows anyway, repenting of those sins to prevent their recurrence, then asking for forgiveness, those sins no longer need to burden us. This isn’t just done on Ash Wednesday, but for those here on Wednesday, we visualized such forgiveness by listing the sins we wanted to be forgiven for on a paper, thereby confessing them, then presenting them to Jesus at the Cross where He had paid the penalty for those sins so they could be forgiven. As we each placed our papers in the water at the Cross, we watched those named sins disappear, and after expressing repentance of those sins, we were assured they had been removed from us forever. Having ashes imposed on us reminded us of our mortal sinful natures, and sorrow for having sinned. Because, as humans, we continue to sin, confession, repentance, and forgiveness should be a regular part our Christian life.
To continue our spiritual journey on this first Sunday of Lent, we begin with an essential recognition of Jesus’ identity as the Lamb of God. It’s an identity that was previewed in the OT, and developed further in the NT. Christians miss a lot of the rich imagery of the OT if we don’t recognize it as a preview for the NT. We regard Jewish celebrations, like Passover, as OT Jewish religion, separate from NT understandings. But our Christian roots were established in the Jewish faith of the OT, just as Jewish faith has not understood the fulfillment of the OT previews in the NT. Christianity is the evolvement of our Jewish roots into total fulfillment by Jesus in the NT. Our OT and NT readings this morning strongly exemplify that relationship.
Our reading from Exodus is the basis of the Passover. God had heard Israel’s suffering under Egyptian slavery, and had sent Moses to bring them from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was actually the land that God had promised Abraham, by covenant, that would belong to his descendants forever. That promise was passed down through Abraham’s only son, Isaac, then to Isaac’s son, Jacob, the twin brother of Esau, but not to Esau. Many years later, Jacob had to leave that promised land to bring his family of 70 to Egypt to survive a severe famine. You might recall Joseph’s role In bringing his father’s family to Egypt. Joseph had been sold as a slave by his brothers, but he had been elevated to the second highest office in Egypt by interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, revealing to Joseph God’s way to guide Egypt through the famine. The grateful Pharaoh welcomed Joseph’s family, even giving them fertile land to live in Egypt.
But a later dynasty of Pharaohs, with no loyalty to the Hebrews, and because the Hebrews were multiplying so rapidly, feared they would take over Egypt, or side with their enemies to defeat them, and so made the Hebrews slaves for their remaining years in Egypt. Over the years, Israel had accepted the many gods of Egypt, while growing distant from God. But, with the shreds of their Hebrew faith, they cried out to God for deliverance until God decided it was time to bring them back to their Promised Land. But there were major challenges ahead.
During their 400 year absence, the Promised Land had become occupied by pagan nations, who would not welcome Israel back to take over their land. And secondly, they would need to abandon their Egyptian gods and once again trust and obey only God. But, the once 70 people of Jacob’s family residing in Egypt now numbered over 600,000 men, plus their families. They were the major part of the Egyptian labor force, so Pharaoh refused to simply set them free. Through Moses, God levied nine progressively more difficult plagues on Egypt to force Pharoah’s hand, but the hardened heart of Pharaoh remained unmoved. God’s final plague would cause the liberation of His people from slavery to Egypt under Pharaoh, but would also be a preview of God’s greater plan to liberate His people from slavery to sin under Satan.
From our OT reading, on a date God specified, the Angel of Death would pass over the land of Egypt, killing the firstborn of every household. But, the Israelites were told that each man was to choose a one year old lamb unblemished lamb, in other words, a perfect lamb, for his family on the tenth day of the month, and care for it for four days. At twilight of the fourteenth day of the month, the lambs were to be slaughtered. Then, they were to put the blood of that perfect lamb on the top and sides of the doorframe of the house where they would eat the lamb. The complete lamb was to be roasted and eaten completely that night, with nothing being left until morning. Anything uneaten was to be burned completely. At midnight, the Angel of Death would pass over the land, killing the firstborn of both people and animals unless protected by the blood on their doorframe posts, identifying those who had trusted and obeyed God.
This was a very detailed preview, call it a prophecy, of the Crucifixion, that would free all people from slavery to sin. But let’s take a close look at the details of that preview. The most central, of course, would be the lamb. The perfect lamb for the sacrifice signified purity and perfection, symbolizing the sinlessness required of a sacrificial offering. The specification of a "year-old male lamb" indicated maturity and strength, representing its prime of life. This lamb would be a substitute for the firstborns of the Israelites, just as Jesus, at the prime of His life, was the perfect substitutional sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humanity.
The twilight slaughter of the lambs would have been at 3 in the afternoon, the ninth hour of the Jewish day, which would later become the time for the sacrificial lamb of Passover to be killed as the annual sacrifice for Israel’s sins. It would also be the exact day and time Jesus gave up His life on the Cross.
The blood of the lamb was also essential for the Passover. Blood was life, and associated with covenant and purification. The doorframe, being the entrance to the home, symbolized the threshold between death and life. So purifying the doorposts with the blood of a perfect lamb was a public declaration of faith and trust in God's promise of protection and obedience for those inside.
The preparation of the Passover meal was also significant. Roasting the entire lamb signified the completeness of the sacrifice. Nothing was to be left out, indicating that the offering was whole and perfect. The head of the lamb represented leadership and authority, its legs symbolized the journey ahead of them, and the inner parts denoted a heart and soul commitment. Forbidding leaving any of the lamb until morning signified completion of the sacrifice, just as Jesus’ sacrifice was complete, sufficient for salvation.
Each of the ten plagues was more than a strategy to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave. Each plague was directed at a specific Egyptian deity to show God’s power over that deity. This last plague was a direct judgment against the Pharaoh, who was considered a deity who protected life. God’s protection of Israel from death proved His sovereignty and faithfulness to His covenant people. It also illustrated God’s justice and mercy to spare those who obeyed God from destruction.
God knew Pharaoh would give in by this final plague. The Israelites were even told to eat this Passover meal with their cloaks tucked under their belts, their sandals on their feet, and their staffs in hand, ready to leave. They were also to take unleavened bread for the journey. Unleavened bread, or matzah, had no yeast, which involving a process of fermentation, was symbolic of sin. It would also last longer during their travel.
Exactly as God had prepared them for, the blood of a perfect lamb protected those who had obeyed God’s instruction, sparing them from the Angel of Death that passed over the land. Pharaoh, mourning the death of his firstborn Son, freed Israel to leave. God then decreed it would be an annual celebration, on that specific date and time. A time of recounting the events of that day, remembering God’s protection and care. But it was also a means of keeping the imagery alive for succeeding generations, as it has been.
Our Gospel lesson then becomes the first stop of our Lenten journey, when God began to reveal His Perfect Son to fulfill His Perfect Plan for the redemption of His people, our liberation from slavery to sin, and being spared from the Angel of Eternal Death.
John had been born to be Jesus’ frontrunner. Although it was likely that John and Jesus, as cousins, knew each other in their early years, John didn’t seem to have physically recognized Jesus as an adult. He knew about Jesus, that He was the Messiah, and that by John baptizing for repentance was to prepare them for Jesus’ being revealed to Israel.
As Jesus steps into the Jordan where John was baptizing, John becomes very aware who Jesus is. John had been told the One he would see the Spirit land on and remain, would be the One who would baptize by the Holy Spirit, the Chosen One. John’s baptism of Jesus would not be a baptism of repentance. but rather an anointing to prepare the human Jesus for His ministry, baptizing Him by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, as the Voice of the Father announced, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”
The next day John sees Jesus walking toward him, and announces to those nearby, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” He testifies that this was the One whose Coming he had been preparing them for. That this was the Chosen One. The next day John points out Jesus to two of his own disciples, Andrew and John, by announcing “Look, the Lamb of God!” and his former disciples become Jesus’ first disciples. John’s testimony that Jesus was the Lamb of God connected Jesus to the sacrificial system of the OT. But now the Lamb of God was ready to begin His ministry that would lead to Him becoming the Perfect Lamb of God sacrificed as the Angel of Spiritual Death passed over mankind.
With the OT’s preview given by the Passover events, we are better able to understand the full meaning of Jesus as the Lamb of God. We might have read John the Baptist call Him that, without fully understanding the depth in his testimony. The Lamb of God concept helps us understand the link between liberating one nation from slavery and bondage to mankind’s freedom from slavery to sin and death. Seeing a deeper perspective of Jesus as a perfect lamb, a symbol of innocence, sacrifice and atonement.
But the richest imagery is in the saving power of the blood of a Perfect Lamb painted on the doorpost of a home, protecting them from the Angel of Death, so they would be freed from their slavery to be led to the Promised land of God. The power of that blood was in their obedience and trust in God.
Our Christian faith is rooted in these Passover events, that the blood of the sacrificed perfect Lamb of God, Jesus, is the power to save us from sin’s spiritual death. That the power of His blood is not in the actual blood of Jesus.
Jesus had completed His sacrifice when He died, giving up His Spirit, saying “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”, before breathing His last, before the soldier pierced His side, and blood and water flowed from the wound. The power of His blood is in the trust and obedience we place in His sacrifice for us on the Cross, the Lamb of God giving His Life that we might live. His blood symbolizes life, eternal life.
Whatever our particular belief may be in the bread and juice of Communion, the power of His blood is in our faith that He was the sacrificial Lamb of God taking our place on that cross, and by His Resurrection, we will be resurrected with Him to eternal life. When we put our faith, our trust and obedience in our Perfect Lamb of God, the Angel of Death will have passed over us. Amen
