The Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist…4a

                                                                                                                 

“Behold, the Lamb of God.”  Have we ever stopped to think and ask; ‘But why a lamb to represent Christ, and not a majestic horse, a strong lion,  an unbeatable tiger….or some other wonderful animal ?Why do we always read, in The Apocalypse, that He is represented as a Lamb, ready for slaughtering? (5:6). Why, during Mass, do we always address Him as a Lamb ? And a lamb ready to offer Himself as a victim for us according to the Plan of Salvation ?                                                          

Then, what does ‘Lamb of God mean‘? Why do we call Christ ‘Lamb of God’, the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world?”   From the study of  reliable source we know that these are the words of John the Baptist. Then, we have two references from the Old Testament, namely, the Song of the Suffering Servant of God. According to Prophet Isaiah, wherein he compares the pain endured by the Suffering Servant to the lamb being condemned for slaughter: “He was afflicted, He submitted to be struck down, and did not open His mouth; He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, like a ewe that is dumb before the shearers.” (53:7)

Another point, Jesus was crucified on the feast of the Jewish easter…and so from that moment onwards He became the true Lamb of God. Thus in Him, and through Him, were accomplished the figure of the Jewish lamb in the Exodus from Egypt, the liberation of the Israelites from the Egyptian slavery and their freedom in the Promised land.                                                                      

Pope Benedict XVI quotes the German Theologian, Jeremias, who gave his studied observations on the Hebriac word  “talia” which could mean ‘ boy’, ‘lamb’ or ‘servant’. Now we remember that Isaiah referred in his prophecy to the ‘Suffering Servant’ of God. It also means ‘lamb’ and we know that Jesus was the ‘Lamb of God’. About the meaning of ‘boy’ we read in the New Testament the episode when Jesus, a boy of twelve, was found in the Temple doing His Father’s Mission…though still a ‘boy’.                                                           

If at a point in time, in the History of Israel, the blood of a slain lamb meant the deliverance of a people, a nation, how much more, NOW, that the Son of God, the Suffering Servant, the Lamb of God and the Shepherd meant  so much more, not for the deliverance of one nation, but for all humanity. ..../5