When he [John]
saw Jesus passing by, he said,
“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:30
“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:30
Very early in Jesus’ ministry, John
identified him in a very unusual way, and proclaims quite clearly the work that
Jesus had come to do. But as I read the entire passage, I saw no evidence that
those hearing him understood what he was saying.
We seldom see lambs, but lambs were all
over the hillsides in Jesus’ day. For the most part they were good for their
wool and for their meat, but Jews also knew very well their importance for sacrifice.
The priest sacrificed lambs for the sins of the people, an extremely important
ritual in the temple.
When they heard John say that Jesus was
a lamb who would take away the sin of the world, they would have heard a
totally different message than we hear today. If they were listening, they
would have heard death. They would have understood that atonement only comes
through the shedding of blood, and they’d have known that to be God’s lamb was
to be sacrificed!
From early in Jesus’ ministry to the very
end, the message was clear. Jesus was going to die. But everything in the
gospels encourages us to believe that nobody understood the message.
Why didn’t they hear? Why didn’t they
see what was coming? Why didn’t they understand what the prophets had said,
carefully recorded in their scrolls and read in the synagogues? I must not be
too harsh in my criticism of them, for I know that I don’t really understand!
It hurts to think about Jesus – God’s Lamb that died for my sins. But it’s
true.
Prayer:
Father,
open our eye to see the enormity of this fact: Jesus, your Lamb, has taken away
our sin. Amen.
And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem
A Lenten
Devotional Guide
prepared forHomosassa United Methodist Church
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator
prepared for
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator
