Loading...Have you ever spent any time in the presence of a lamb? This week my friends Kathy and Pam took their 5 day old lambs to the U of L campus to help students de-stress during finals week. It was a cold blustery day but the students flocked to the lambs. As each student held the lamb the stress melted away.
The students began to snuggle them and then slowly begin to cry. I placed photos on the bulletin board in the hallway if you want to see the sweetness of the students. They are in school to learn very important things and take very important tests to become very important adults. Believe me when I tell you they are reduced to blubbering over a ten pound creature who simply rested in their arms.
Incidentally those lambs will be attending the 10:30 service and will stick around for the egg hunt afterwards. If you are a very important adult who like the opportunity to blubber over a lamb please come back then.
In Holy Scripture lambs are the sign that where the powerful and mighty come to God’s holy mountain they will be welcome only in the company of the small and meek. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together says Isaiah.
What we celebrate today is what happened after Jesus goes to the holy hill of Calvary, like a lamb led to the slaughter. All the important adults in Jerusalem decide that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice to resolve the political tension between Roman oppression and Levitical law. Does that remind you of another story where an innocent is the hero? Remember the Passover story our Jewish friends are celebrating today. In the book of Exodus Moses is instructed to tell the Israelites to slaughter a lamb at twilight and wipe its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. Then, the Lord says, when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:1-32
Small, young, and powerless — what is a lamb good for? If you were struggling with slavery and oppression would you want an important adult to help you or helpless farm animal? For God the blood of the lamb contains the power to take what is powerful and make it meek and conciliatory and melt away that which needs melting away. In the case of Egypt slavery is melted into freedom. In the case of Calvary sin is melted into forgiveness.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to the end that all that believe him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 might sound like an idle tale to some. I can understand that. I myself have been given a heart to believe the unbelievable. How did I get that heart? For one thing I spend time in the presence of lambs. And I think lots of crying.
To those of us who have been reduced to blubbering — over the power of forgiveness, the women’s story of the empty tomb, the men dressed in bedazzlement and words “He is Risen” — “Jesus is Risen” is a story worth believing.
