A LENTEN ADVENTURE for 2024 - Monday March 11

 

Dear friend: How has your Lenten journey been so far? What have you learned? What have you changed in your thinking or in your living as a result of what you have been reflecting upon? I would be pleased if you would write to me and tell me what your Lenten walk has meant for you to this point. Send an Email to reflexionesparavivir@gmail.com. I would be happy if you took the time to do so!

As for today’s Lenten reflection, we will talk about the Passover “lamb” and the Passover “Lamb”.

According to Exodus 12:3-6,27,46 we learn that:

• the lamb was taken from the flock on the 10^th day of the first month of the year
• one lamb was taken per family; if the family was too small to eat an entire lamb, a neighbor was to be invited to share the lamb
• the lamb had to be unblemished and without defect
• the lamb had to be a year-old male
• the lamb could be taken from the sheep or from the goats
• the lamb was to be kept in the house until the 14^th day of the month; and then at twilight it was to be slain together with all the other lambs from all the other families from the people of Israel
• none of the lamb’s bones could be broken
• the lamb was “the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians”

These were the specifications for the Passover lamb that the people of Israel were to sacrifice according to the Old Testament ordinances.

As most, if not all, of the literal Old Testament laws have their parallel and their spiritual significance in the New Testament, let’s look once again at the specifications given to the Jews for the Passover lamb; and let’s look how Jesus, “the Lamb of God” (John 1:36), fulfilled each one.

To be honest with you, there are certain stipulations made by God that I simply do not understand or have an explanation for. If any of you have an answer or a thought, please write me what you think, so that we can all learn together. For example: why was the lamb taken from the flock on the 10^th day of the month, but then not slain until the 14^th day? Why could a lamb be taken from either the sheep or the goats? Were goats not considered “cursed”, according to Matthew 25:33, 41? …

But let’s look at the other specifications:

The lamb needed to be unblemished and without defect: in 2 Peter 1:19 we read about “Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect”; in Hebrews 4:15, in 1 John 3:5, and in 2 Corinthians 5:21 we see that Jesus “did not sin”, that “in him is no sin”, and that he “knew no sin”. And why were this perfection and this purity so important? Because, as Leviticus 22:21 tells us, whatever sacrifice was presented as an offering to the Lord, a holy and just God – “it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it”.

The lamb had to be a one-year old male: Jesus died as the Lamb that was slain when we was 33 years old, in the optimum stage of his life, not a child, and not an old man – but a strong and healthy adult.

None of the lamb’s bones could be broken: Psalm 34.20 speaks prophetically about Jesus saying: “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken”. And John 19:33,36 affirms: “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs … These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

Lastly, we see that the lamb was “the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians” (Exodus 12:27). Romans 6:23a says that “the wages of sin is death”: that is why the first-born of all the Egyptians died; but in the case of the Israelites, the lambs died as sacrificial substitutes instead of the all the first-born

• “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” – says 1 Corinthians 5:7b; that is, we do not need to die for our sins, because Jesus gave Himself as our substitute and rescued us from death through His own death on the cross
• 1 John 2:2 says that “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” – the word “atoning” alludes not only to the act of covering our sins, but also includes the work of placating the holy anger of God – Christ is the One through whom our sin is covered and absolved, and He is the One through whom the righteous anger of God is removed from us
• Romans 6:23b finishes by saying that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” – Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) is “the Passover sacrifice to the Lord” who saves us from death and who offers us forgiveness, freedom and new life in Him

The apostle John, exiled on the Island of Patmos, wrote in Revelation 5:6,8,9 and 13: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders … And when he had taken it (the sealed scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb … And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation ... Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”

Dear friends: let’s finish today’s reflection like the living creatures and the elders, bowing down before the Lamb that was slain, offering to Him all our praise and all our adoration. He, and He alone, is worthy! “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12) AMEN and AMEN.

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