Latest / Padre Alberto (Father Albert) / LAMB OF GOD - THE ROLE OF THE LAMB IN THE BIBLE

Transcript

LAMB OF GOD - THE ROLE OF THE LAMB IN THE BIBLE · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

• 0:03
  Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
• 0:12
  You know, we've got some church words.
• 0:16
  We've got church words that we get used to using over and over
• 0:19
  again, and we say them, but we may not really know their true
• 0:23
  biblical meaning or the depth of their meaning.
• 0:27
  And I believe one of these phrases is Lamb of God.
• 0:30
  What do we say when we say that Jesus is the Lamb of God who
• 0:34
  takes away the sin of the world today?
• 0:38
  John the Baptist points at him and all those who were there,
• 0:43
  his disciples and followers. Look, behold.
• 0:48
  In other words, pay attention. That's the Lamb of God.
• 0:51
  That's Jesus the Savior. Notice how John did not call
• 0:57
  Jesus a lion or a king. Those were also biblical images
• 1:01
  from the Old Testament. He calls them the Lamb.
• 1:06
  He identifies Jesus with a humble, sacrificial lamb.
• 1:11
  Let's look at the history a bit. In Genesis 22, the first book of
• 1:15
  the Bible, Genesis 22, Abraham was preparing to sacrifice his
• 1:21
  son Isaac. You remember the story?
• 1:23
  They were going to go up the mountain.
• 1:24
  Remember that? Genesis 22 well, and he
• 1:29
  prophetically told him God himself will provide the land
• 1:36
  and God eventually provided. Remember a ram as a substitute.
• 1:44
  It establishes a pattern, right? Here's an innocent life being
• 1:50
  offered for another in Exodus 12 to escape that plague in Egypt.
• 1:59
  Remember what happened? The people of Israel told to
• 2:03
  grab the blood of lambs. The spotless lamb put the blood
• 2:08
  on the posts of their doors, and God promised that he would.
• 2:12
  Then Passover. That's how we get Passover,
• 2:15
  those homes sparing the first born the Passover lamb.
• 2:21
  In Isaiah 53, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the suffering servant
• 2:27
  who will be LED like a lamb to the slaughter.
• 2:32
  And this figure would be the silent and submissive bearing of
• 2:38
  the sins of others. That's as our Lord did on his
• 2:41
  way to Calvary. And there's a practical lesson
• 2:45
  in this for us. When we call Jesus the Lamb of
• 2:50
  God, we're Speaking of the Lord's humility, of his
• 2:55
  innocence. We sometimes run through the
• 2:58
  Christmas store real fast, you know, and we may not pay
• 3:00
  attention to the details, but there's some very important
• 3:04
  symbols in that Christmas story. We just went through the
• 3:06
  Christmas season here, right, all the way through the
• 3:08
  Epiphany. And I want us to just reflect on
• 3:11
  one sign which is so important. Those of you who have come with
• 3:18
  me to the Holy Land know how I like to do it.
• 3:20
  And those of you who haven't, I hope you come soon.
• 3:22
  I hope we can all go soon. I always begin in the shepherd's
• 3:25
  fields. Remember the shepherd's fields.
• 3:29
  The reason we start in the shepherd's fields is because
• 3:31
  that's where the story begins. In the beginning of the Gospel
• 3:36
  of Luke, the angels speak to the shepherds.
• 3:40
  The angels, God's angels, God's messengers from on high, say to
• 3:44
  the shepherds in Luke 2 that they're going to find the baby
• 3:52
  wrapped in swaddling clothes. Most people think of the symbol
• 3:59
  as the Star of Bethlehem. Certainly the Star of Bethlehem
• 4:01
  was important, especially from those who came from far away
• 4:05
  from the East. But no, the first symbol of the
• 4:08
  Savior is that he will be wrapped in swaddling clothes and
• 4:13
  lying in a Manger. So of course you've got the
• 4:16
  shepherds in the fields going out, and to them it meant
• 4:20
  something. To you and I, it doesn't mean a
• 4:22
  whole lot, does it? What?
• 4:24
  What is it with swaddling clothes?
• 4:26
  I'm going to tell you it's a very biblical thing.
• 4:31
  See, these shepherds that were out by Bethlehem in those
• 4:34
  shepherds fields, they were responsible for racing the
• 4:40
  unblemished lambs that were used for the temple sacrifice.
• 4:45
  Now all the lambs couldn't be, you know, unblemished.
• 4:50
  They were lambs that had different things, you know, with
• 4:52
  their spots or different things and they couldn't be used
• 4:55
  properly. But when the shepherd was able
• 4:58
  to see that there was a, a, a, an unblemished lamb, they would
• 5:04
  take that lamb and they would wrap it in strips of swaddling
• 5:09
  clothes before they would place it in a special Manger that they
• 5:14
  had a stone Manger. They called it for inspection.
• 5:18
  Now, most of us don't really know that or, you know, this is
• 5:22
  a wild moment for you. I've been studying the Bible for
• 5:24
  years and years and preparing this sermon.
• 5:25
  I kind of paid attention to that swaddling clothes.
• 5:28
  Are you kidding me? Yes.
• 5:30
  To the shepherds, it meant a lot because when they found Jesus in
• 5:35
  that state, when they found Jesus wrapped in swaddling
• 5:40
  clothes, they knew he was the unblemished lamb, indeed the
• 5:46
  Lamb of God, God's own lamb that would be offering himself as a
• 5:52
  sacrifice for our sins and to redeem all of humanity.
• 5:56
  So it's a big deal, isn't it? The lamb wrapped in swaddling
• 6:01
  clothes lying in the Manger. And when he uses that word,
• 6:05
  behold, pay attention, look. In our translation there, it
• 6:09
  says, look, he's saying pay attention.
• 6:16
  Who is Jesus? And so I asked you the question,
• 6:19
  pay attention. I love it.
• 6:21
  In the Orthodox liturgies, if you ever go to the Orthodox
• 6:24
  liturgy, besides it being long and in another language, they do
• 6:29
  sing something right before the Gospel.
• 6:30
  You know how we do Hallelujah and all that.
• 6:32
  Before the Gospel, they do a thing.
• 6:34
  It goes something like this, wisdom, be attentive.
• 6:41
  And you're like, if you were distracted at that moment, you
• 6:44
  stop your multitasking and you focus.
• 6:47
  Because when that guy with a big old Greek voice says, wisdom, be
• 6:51
  attentive. What's coming is important in
• 6:56
  the words of Jesus. And that's what it reminds me of
• 6:59
  John the Baptist in the desert saying, look, behold, look,
• 7:03
  that's not just anyone. It's the Lamb of God who takes
• 7:07
  away the sin of the world. My friend, my friends, we are
• 7:12
  being called to pay attention to Behold, who is Jesus in our
• 7:17
  lives, this Jesus that comes to us to save us.
• 7:21
  You know, sin creates heavy burdens, not just for our souls,
• 7:25
  for our entire lives. Some people live in guilt all
• 7:28
  their life, something that happened when they were a child.
• 7:32
  They still carry it with them and they carry it and carry it
• 7:35
  and carry it. Or maybe they believe that their
• 7:38
  sin is the greatest sin of all. I'm here to tell you, guess
• 7:41
  what, get over it. Jesus came to save us all, to
• 7:47
  redeem us from our sins. And he, if he is able to take
• 7:51
  away the sins of the whole world, he's able to deal with
• 7:55
  your little list. You know, I was just reminded by
• 8:03
  Deacon Deb, wonderful priest died this week.
• 8:08
  Reverend Denise Hudspeth, always mess up her name.
• 8:12
  She was my confessor, Mike Russio.
• 8:15
  And there's a time in Chrisio where they offer confession.
• 8:17
  A lot of people don't go. You know, for us Episcopalians,
• 8:19
  we have that thing, you know, some should non must, you know,
• 8:24
  some should, some don't. It's like you don't have to go
• 8:27
  face to face. All can go, some should, none
• 8:34
  must, but face to face confession is a pretty good
• 8:39
  thing because you're affirmed in a personal way of the healing.
• 8:43
  And I so I spoke to Reverend Denise and I just thought of
• 8:46
  this Deacon when you were talking, you know, after we were
• 8:50
  talking and confession was over, you know, she shed tears.
• 8:55
  I think I may have shed tears. And we hugged and we talked and
• 8:58
  all that. It was just a wonderful moment
• 8:59
  of peace and reconciliation. And I think sometimes we forget
• 9:05
  that Jesus comes to our lives to save us, and sometimes we carry
• 9:09
  burdens that are not ours because, look, he went up to the
• 9:13
  cross and shed his blood as the Lamb of sacrifice, beholding the
• 9:23
  Lamb of God. Look, beholding and recognizing
• 9:28
  Jesus, the Lamb of God takes it a step further is acknowledging
• 9:33
  that the only perfect sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient to cover
• 9:38
  our mistakes, our sins, our weaknesses.
• 9:42
  Jesus came to save you from your sins.
• 9:45
  You do not have to live in guilt.
• 9:47
  You don't have to live in the past.
• 9:49
  You don't have to live in whatever was wrong.
• 9:51
  Then you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
• 9:55
  We don't have to be perfect. We just have to trust the one
• 9:58
  that is perfect, the Lamb of God.
• 10:04
  You know, at the Eucharist we get up and we say Hallelujah,
• 10:10
  Christ, our Passover is sacrifice for us.
• 10:14
  And we respond. Therefore, that's not what we
• 10:20
  say. People of God, it's almost 11:00
• 10:23
  in the morning. Wake up.
• 10:25
  Hallelujah, Christ. Our Passover is sacrifice for
• 10:29
  us. Yeah, the last word is important
• 10:35
  because it's actually the recognition that Jesus has
• 10:39
  sacrificed himself for us. That every time we come to
• 10:44
  Eucharist, we remember that he is the Lamb of God, and that if
• 10:48
  we are fed by the bread of life and the cup of salvation, it's
• 10:52
  because Jesus instituted the Eucharist to remind us of this
• 10:55
  saving grace. Listen to this, Alleluia.
• 11:00
  Christ. Our Passover is sacrifice for
• 11:02
  us, therefore. But we don't say the rest of the
• 11:07
  hymn, and I'm going to say it for you.
• 11:09
  It's called in Latin the Pasca Nostrum.
• 11:12
  It's in the Book of Common Prayer.
• 11:13
  We use it in morning prayer. Those of us who are clergy or
• 11:16
  others who pray the office, remember hearing it.
• 11:19
  It starts with Alleluia Christ, our Passover sacrifice for us.
• 11:21
  Therefore let us keep the feast. And then it says, not with the
• 11:26
  old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the
• 11:31
  unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
• 11:36
  Hallelujah, in other words, the bread from heaven given to us by
• 11:39
  Jesus himself, the bread of life, the cup of salvation.
• 11:44
  Because on the night before he died, Jesus brought his
• 11:48
  disciples together. And that's why right before we
• 11:52
  receive Holy Communion, we say, O Lamb of God, that take us
• 11:56
  away. The sins of the world have mercy
• 11:58
  on us. That's right, we say it three
• 12:00
  times and it ends with grant us your peace.
• 12:03
  In other words, imagine for how many centuries the people of
• 12:08
  Israel had the lamb of sacrifice in the morning, in the temple in
• 12:12
  one altar, the lamb of sacrifice in the evening, and another one
• 12:17
  they had the lamb of sacrifice in John Kippur, you know, the
• 12:20
  atonement lamb. Once a year they had all these
• 12:23
  sacrifices and burnt offerings and Holocaust as we hear in the
• 12:28
  Hebrew Scriptures. And then comes Jesus and becomes
• 12:32
  the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God.
• 12:36
  So through this meal that Jesus created, when the people of
• 12:40
  Israel would gather to remember their liberation in Egypt,
• 12:43
  remember the blood in the post Passover, Jesus brought them
• 12:47
  together in the Passover. And what did he do?
• 12:50
  He said to them, this is my body broken, given for you.
• 12:55
  This is my blood shed and poured out for you for the forgiveness
• 13:00
  of sins. And with these words, Jesus, the
• 13:04
  Lamb of God demonstrates the fulfillment of God's Passover.
• 13:10
  And then at the end of the New Testament, in the Book of
• 13:15
  Revelation, chapter 19, this comes up again.
• 13:19
  Look, in the last chapter of the Bible, you're going to see the
• 13:22
  wedding feast in Revelation. Do you remember that?
• 13:25
  Who is the groom, the Lamb of God?
• 13:28
  Who is the bride? The Church.
• 13:32
  So Jesus implies that at the end there will be a wedding feast.
• 13:37
  It implies that human history will culminate with the marriage
• 13:40
  supper of the Lamb, when Christ, who is the Lamb of God, is
• 13:45
  united with us forever. And by our baptism we are united
• 13:50
  to Christ forever. And it is fulfilled when all is
• 13:56
  finished, when heaven and earth pass away.
• 14:00
  In a Greek word that I love to say every once in a while, it's
• 14:02
  called the Pirusia. When all of it is complete, When
• 14:07
  all of God's plan is complete and we're united forever with
• 14:10
  God. The wedding feast of the Lamb.
• 14:14
  Wow. Are we able to behold the Lamb?
• 14:19
  Are we able to understand the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross?
• 14:22
  Are we able to to remember that as Christians, we're called to
• 14:26
  emulate? Jesus will not ask you to get on
• 14:28
  a cross and die. No, but we're called to emulate
• 14:31
  his life of sacrifice and service and giving of ourselves
• 14:35
  for others because that's what puts our faith into action.
• 14:38
  You see, tomorrow we celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
• 14:41
  Do you know how many sacrifices Martin Luther King made in his
• 14:45
  following of Jesus? Do you realize Martin Luther
• 14:49
  King graduated from high school at the age of 515?
• 14:53
  He graduated from college at the age of 19.
• 14:57
  Do you realize that Martin Luther King had a PhD at the age
• 15:01
  of 25, 25? How many people do you know got
• 15:06
  got a PhD at the age of 25? I finished my doctorate at 45.
• 15:17
  Lord have mercy. Martin Luther King had a
• 15:23
  doctorate APHD at the age of 25. He could have been, you know,
• 15:30
  Nobel Peace Prize winner. He could have been like an
• 15:34
  academic, a quiet academic, right?
• 15:38
  The university with his wife and children, living a healthy,
• 15:41
  happy life. Guess what?
• 15:42
  He got stabbed at the age of 29 at a book signing. 10 years
• 15:48
  before he died, he was stabbed. Did you know that the knife was
• 15:50
  7 inches long? It almost hit his aorta.
• 15:53
  He was alive by a miracle. The lady grabbed the thing and
• 15:55
  put it next to his chest. How many times did he receive
• 16:02
  death threats? Have you seen the movie or read
• 16:05
  the story? His children, his wife, scared a
• 16:11
  lot by people doing horrible things to them.
• 16:13
  He didn't give up. He didn't give up.
• 16:17
  He decided that racial equality, justice, that the dignity of
• 16:23
  every human being was more important than his own personal
• 16:27
  comfort. That's why it's important for us
• 16:33
  to stop on a daylight tomorrow and celebrate the life of the
• 16:38
  great doctor Martin Luther King Junior, because he taught us
• 16:43
  what it means to follow the Lamb, to follow the sacrificial
• 16:49
  love of Jesus. Who gave it all, didn't count
• 16:52
  the cost. The Lamb of God did not count
• 16:55
  the cost. He gave it all.
• 16:59
  You and I are called to emulate the sacrifice of Christ by the
• 17:03
  way we live. We may not be asked that as much
• 17:07
  as Martin Luther King was asked, but you know what?
• 17:09
  All of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, who seek to follow
• 17:12
  the way of Jesus, have to pay attention.
• 17:15
  Behold, look, follow the way of Jesus, which is always the way
• 17:22
  of love, sacrificial love. O Lamb of God, that take us
• 17:28
  away, the sins of the world have mercy upon us.
• 17:32
  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
• 17:34
  Spirit, Amen.