The Lamb

 "Look, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!" 

- John the Immerser, John 1:29

Today, Aviv 10 on the Hebrew calendar, I am honoring the Lamb of God.  I am commemorating the prophetic day so long ago, when Israelite families, still slaves in Egypt, took little lambs to live with them as pets!  For four days, these unblemished, male, year-old lambs or goats, dwelt with families to receive special attention and care.  I wonder what it was like to have these bleating, fuzzy creatures living with them?  Was it annoying and messy and noisy?  Were the lambs sweet and scared and shy?  I'm sure the children loved the lambs!  I can imagine the excitement that such a novelty would bring.  Undoubtedly, a special attachment was formed by some, even in such a short amount of time.

And then came the fourth day, the afternoon when all attachments ended.  Throughout the Israelite community, the little lambs or goats were slaughtered as children looked on.  I wonder how the daddies felt?   They let the blood and collected it from the limp and lifeless little bodies.  The life was in the blood.  The blood became a saving signal as it was painted on the door frame of each family home.  One innocent life was given.  Other lives were spared.

   The scent of roasting lambs filled the community, along with bittersweet thoughts of life and death.  All around, busy women prepared the symbolic bitter herbs and the bread made in haste, without yeast.  Families gathered for dinner, but not with the usual sitting and savoring.  They were standing, dressed in their traveling clothes, eating hurriedly of this significant meal that the LORD had commanded.

They had been warned of what was coming.  They knew to remain inside.  They knew that they were safe, that they were protected by the blood, the blood of the lamb.  And yet, I expect that they harbored some reverent fear.  They knew that Death would be passing right over their heads.  They knew that some would die, and some would live.  

It was then as it is now.  It is the blood of the Lamb that saves.  Jesus, the Messiah, has become our Passover lamb.  It was his blood that was shed on the cross as he was punished for sin in our place.  An innocent and sinless life was given so that sinners could be spared.  Each of us must choose to come under the blood of the Lamb in order to be saved.  It is His blood that is painted across the door frames of our hearts when we believe, when we choose to follow Him.  The Angel of Death will "pass over" each one of us sooner or later. The question is, "Will we choose Life or Death?"  Will we follow our Shepherd or go our own way?

In fulfillment of prophecy, over 2,000 years ago today, the Lamb of God came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  The people shouted, "Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!"  The crowds were so excited, it would seem that they understood that this Jesus was the promised one, who would save his people from their sins.  They waved palm branches and laid robes on the road for Jesus' donkey to walk on.  But the people thought that Jesus had come to reign as a victorious king, they didn't know that he had come to die as a lamb.  But it was the 10th of Aviv
.....Lamb Selection Day.
It was the day that a perfect male lamb was chosen
as the sacrifice for sin.
 

Paintings are from the "Little Lambs" room I painted at my church; the other design is a card I made with my son when he was little.  The poem has been a favorite of mine since high school, when I had the assignment of writing it out and illustrating it.