The Lamb

I Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.


The people of Israel had observed the Passover for roughly fifteen centuries when Jesus had His last supper with the disciples. Christ not only observed the ancient memorial of Passover, He instituted something new, a Covenant by which we are reconciled to our Heavenly Father. Luke 22:15 tells us that Jesus had given much thought to the Passover meal "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." I wonder if we can fully grasp the significance of the evening with our finite minds. Our perception can be deeply marked by how we perceive Jesus. Is He a name which means nothing significant to us, is Jesus the name of a teacher who lived 2000 years ago, or is He our Risen Lord & Savior. Our Messiah...our Deliverer...our Healer.....our Passover Lamb? Does it astound you that when we drink of the cup and eat the bread, we are dining with our Lord & Savior. Many times as I receive Communion I am reduced to tears at the magnitude of it all.

Christ sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover meal in the room He had chosen. He told them they would find the room by following a man who carried a water jar (Luke 22:10-11). Nothing about the evening was trivial or accidental.

I don't believe Christ simply looked up, saw Peter and John, and decided they'd be as good a choice as anyone to prepare for the Passover. I wonder if they thought they were doing women's work? The Passover involved a fairly elaborate meal with a very specific setting. I wonder if they complained? They had no idea the significance of the supper that was to come. Like them, we may have no idea as to the significance of the work God has called us to do.
Give some thought to what they did, you can read about the original Passover in Exodus 12:1-14.
The bitter herbs represented the bitterness of suffering memorialized in the Passover observance: the bitterness of slavery, the bitterness of death, and the bitterness of an innocent lamb's substitution. The herbs, eaten intermittently during the meal, would bring tears to their eyes as a reminder of the associated grief.
While every part of the meal was highly symbolic, it had no meaning at all without the lamb. The most important preparation Peter and John made was the procuring and preparing of the Passover lamb.

I have not done an exhaustive search, but to my knowledge Peter and John are the only two of the disciples who referred to Jesus as the Lamb. Many years later Peter would write of Jesus that we were redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Pet. 1:19-20). For John's part, you can read Revelation 5, about the Lamb of God.
Is it coincidence that these two apostles wrote about Jesus as the Lamb? No way. Christ's goal in any work He assigns us is to reveal Himself, either through or to us. Keep in mind the sacrifice of our Passover Lamb as He calls you to serve on behalf of the Kingdom.