Monthly Archives: June 2015

The Momentous Lamb

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Inspiration, Observations, Spirituality

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Some people make a big fuss about when Jesus was born. The thing is, we are 99% sure that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25. The evidence suggests he was born in September-October probably at the Feast of Tabernacles; the time when the Jewish people would remember when God made his dwelling with them in the wilderness. Ultimately, the Bible tells us the year but it is silent about the exact day and I suspect it’s because we’re not supposed to make an idol out of a day.
I would like to suggest that more important than when he was born is WHERE he was born.  Do you know where he was born? In Bethlehem. Why there? What’s the big deal?

Do you recall the story about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son? It was a lesson for Abraham about who God really is. Abraham was faithful, he trusted God, and he prepared the sacrifice but at the last moment he was stopped. Then a miracle happened. Close by in a bush was a male sheep – a sacrificial lamb was provided in the place of Abraham’s son! Now that’s where that story usually ends in the Bible but I’m told that in the Quran, it states that there would be another sacrifice beyond Abraham’s son, beyond the lamb provided on that mountain, and it would be a momentous sacrifice; a more excellent, better, sacrifice.
Where would that sacrifice come from? What or who would that sacrifice be? As the story unfolds through time we get more insight about this sacrifice. The prophet Isaiah revealed this momentous sacrifice to be a suffering servant. He wrote:

“He will be led like a lamb to the slaughter.  And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he won’t open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he will be led away. No one will care that he dies without descendants, that his life will be cut short in midstream. But he will be struck down for our brokenness, suffering, and pain so he can heal all of us.”

And that brings me back to Bethlehem. Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Why were events arranged to get his parents to that town at that time? Why not just stay home where it was warm and safe?

Because Bethlehem was where the sacrificial lambs came from.

And who were the first to hear the Good News? Who were the first to witness this new baby born in a manger? Shepherds – those that cared for the lambs. And when the time came for Jesus to begin his mission, the prophet John the Baptist saw him and told everyone – “Behold! Look! Understand! There is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world.”  The momentous lamb had arrived!

Never Let Go

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

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I confess I like Radio Babylon’s “Coffee with Jesus” comic strip. They have some good points and they get me thinking. This one takes on an event in the eighth chapter of John’s Good News letter about Jesus.

Coffee with Jesus

The leaders of the community want to set a trap for Jesus so they manage to catch a woman in the very act of adultery. The whole thing stinks of deception, manipulation, and hypocrisy. Fortunately, Jesus turns the tables on these evil people and saves the woman from certain death. Their conversation concludes:

“Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.””   John 8:10-11 NLT.

This got me thinking about how we often approach this beautiful passage in John 8. Whenever it comes up in a discussion, there’s always one person who really wants to stress “Go and sin no more.”

But what a minute. Let’s put ourselves in the woman’s shoes. It’s very likely that this woman is the same one who would later take every penny she had to buy ointment that she would use to wash Jesus’ feet. That means it’s very likely she’s Mary, sister of Lazarus and niece of Simon the Pharisee. How did she find herself being accused of adultery and being threatened with death? Evidence suggests that her uncle Simon, led Mary into it and may have even led her to a life of prostitution. That would not have been a life with very many options. Today we know that most prostitutes are not choosing that life because they are licentious, sin-loving, women enjoying the profits of their sin. More often they are in that life through a series of abuses in a society that chews women up and spits them out.

So the one way to look at this is Jesus saves her from being murdered and then says, “Stop being such a screw up.” My initial thought is, that doesn’t make me want to take every penny, buy ointment, and then fall at Jesus’ feet as I weep in gratitude.

But what if we see that sin is much more than the bad things we do? Ultimately sin is being separated from God; alienated, unreconciled, broken. What if we brought this deeper, broader, understanding into this passage?

Jesus saves her from being murdered and then says to this woman who has been abused, manipulated, and then left for dead, “I will never condemn you; never let go of me.” Would that make your heart sing?