Such contrasting images are used for Jesus, Lamb of God among them. First, it's odd to picture God as an animal, a lesser creature even than man. Thought to be without free will, easily led (like a lamb to the slaughter), mild (meek as a lamb). A lamb does not present a flattering picture of God Almighty.
Second, lambs were routinely offered as sacrifices to God (sacrificial lamb). Only the best lamb would do. It had to be a lamb without flaws in body, coloring or wool in order to be given as a sin offering to God.
So why would God permit his divine Son to be called "the Lamb of God?" For that is what John the Baptizer calls Jesus when he first points him out to his followers. "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). John is speaking far beyond human understanding when he identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God who is capable of taking away the sins of the world. What a wild statement that is - a man, as a sacrificial lamb, who can somehow obliterate the sins of the entire world. Really? Who would believe that?
And yet Jesus did it. He offered himself as a sin offering to God, his Father, not just for one person's sins for one year but for the sins of all the people in the world for all time. He and the Father had that plan in mind before the first human came to be and the first sin was committed. The plan of the lamb came before the fall of man.
For Reflection: See Genesis 22:8, Exodus 12:21, Isaiah 53:6-7, Luke 10:3, 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Let us pray. With the elders, we sing: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." With the angels, we sing: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" With all creation, we sing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (based on Revelation 5:6-14)
Second, lambs were routinely offered as sacrifices to God (sacrificial lamb). Only the best lamb would do. It had to be a lamb without flaws in body, coloring or wool in order to be given as a sin offering to God.
So why would God permit his divine Son to be called "the Lamb of God?" For that is what John the Baptizer calls Jesus when he first points him out to his followers. "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). John is speaking far beyond human understanding when he identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God who is capable of taking away the sins of the world. What a wild statement that is - a man, as a sacrificial lamb, who can somehow obliterate the sins of the entire world. Really? Who would believe that?
And yet Jesus did it. He offered himself as a sin offering to God, his Father, not just for one person's sins for one year but for the sins of all the people in the world for all time. He and the Father had that plan in mind before the first human came to be and the first sin was committed. The plan of the lamb came before the fall of man.
For Reflection: See Genesis 22:8, Exodus 12:21, Isaiah 53:6-7, Luke 10:3, 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Let us pray. With the elders, we sing: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." With the angels, we sing: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" With all creation, we sing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (based on Revelation 5:6-14)
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