The Lamb of God

What do you think is meant when Jesus is called the "Lamb of God"?

Today most people think it means He was kind, gentle, and innocent.  That He was like a lamb in demeanor.

While that may have been true some of the time, Jesus also taught some hard lessons, rebuked heretics, and physically drove the money changers out of the temple in a fit of righteous fury.

1st Century Sacrifices

In truth, the real meaning of "Lamb of God" is "Sacrifice of God".  It means the sacrifice chosen specifically by God.  And this would have been obvious to 1st century Jews.  Everyone would have understood.

That's because sacrifices were a fact of life in the time of Jesus.  The people of Israel had been making offerings and sacrifices to the Lord ever since God established his covenant with Abraham.  For centuries, the sacrifices had been well regulated by Mosaic law as documented in the Torah (examples in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers).  They were important and integral to the culture.  That's why we see Joseph and Mary taking Jesus to the temple when he was eight days old to offer a sacrifice. (Luke 2:22-24)

The Paschal Lamb

Further, there was the Passover sacrifice.  Passover was the most important celebration on the Jewish calendar.  For example, we know the Holy Family traveled to Jerusalem every year to celebrate Passover. (Luke 2:41-51)

During the feast of Passover, the Jews would slaughter a lamb and eat it all.  This sacrifice was called the paschal lamb.  They could not leave any to waste.  They would paint their door frames with the blood of the lamb and sprinkle each other with the blood of the lamb.

All this was done in remembrance of the first Passover during the time of Moses.  (Exodus 12)  The sacrifice signified the people of God and saved them from God's wrath as he went through Egypt killing the first born of each family.

The Lamb of God

These were cultural norms for 1st century Jews.  When people talked about "the lamb", it would have been understood that they were talking about the paschal lamb, the sacrificial lamb from Passover.

And when John the Baptist announced "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," (John 1:29) everyone would have known John was saying this was the sacrifice prepared by God.


Keep pursuing,

Additional Resources

The Need for Context:

As with so much that is written in the Bible, you cannot get the real message if you do not understand the cultural context within which the words were written.  Put another way, it is faulty to assume our cultural norms, saying, and definitions apply to works written 2000 years ago.

If you want to understand the Bible, you need to read foot notes, introductions, and supporting materials to get a feel for the intended audience, intent, and message.  And if you really want to be on your game, you can begin reading books about the life and times of Old Testament and New Testament Jews and Gentiles.

Now and at the Hour of Our Death Book Review

I just finished a book written by my friend JSB Morse called Now and at the Hour of Our Death.  The premise of the book is striking: How would the modern world react if the miracle of a virgin birth happened today?  

The Plot

The story is told through the eyes of Mary, a young woman in high school, a devout Catholic, and the recipient of a miracle.  Mary's father is running for the US Senate so news of his daughter's illegitimate pregnancy causes a scandal that impacts countless lives in unexpected ways.  

Time and again we get to see how various paradigms react when confronted with this surprising claim.  Tensions rise as opinions clash and, before long, many have staked their reputation on whether this girl is telling the truth.

All the while, Mary is dealing with a teen pregnancy and struggling to use this miracle for the conversion and hearts, minds and souls.  But how can she possibly do that if she can't even convince her own family?

As the book climaxes many lives are changed permanently because they stood up for their varied and conflicting beliefs and refused to back down.  When the book ends you are left breathless and wondering, how would I react to same thing?

The Good

There are a lot of good points about the book, but the most important is its incredible treatment of the characters.  JSB Morse did three amazing things:

1. He created a large and diverse cast of characters, representing vastly different paradigms
2. He made each of these personalities feel real, with touching stories and sound logic for their opinions
3. He was fair in his treatment, revealing that all positions have good guys and bad guys

The result was very believable dialogues and highly entertaining interactions.  You feel what the characters feel and understand their anger, joy, and sadness.  

The Bad

Which leads me to my next point.  This book is visceral.  And it might be too much so for some readers.

The vivid descriptions of societal decay in the book left me wincing.  It was hard to finish some of his paragraphs that fully indulged the materialistic, misogynistic elements of our culture.  It was sickening to read the hate-filled thoughts of a bigot.  He did a brutally good job of making you feel your disgust for the parts of our lives we try to ignore.

Why You Should Read It

That being said, it was a page-turner.  I had a hard time putting it down...and once I did my wife couldn't put it down.  I highly recommend this book to everyone for two reasons.

First, this novel is written from a point of view that, I feel, has not been captured in fiction in the past decade.  How refreshing to read a book that is not written from the point of view of a disenchanted skeptic but, rather, a well-formed believer.  For anyone who champions the value of diversity, this books represents a voice that is rarely heard and a face that is rarely seen. 

Second, this book is provocative.  It forces you to feel.  It causes you to think.  And it makes you wonder.  It confronts you about your personal beliefs and the beliefs of others.  And it presents problems there may not be answers to.  

Long story short, I can’t give a better summary than this: 

This visceral story made me wince, made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, and made me pray. When was the last time you read a book that did that?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the book in the comments!


Keep pursuing,