MCLEODS, New Brunswick, 10th of Abib, 5784 – I’ve been waiting a long time to post this picture of the adorable little white lamb and the mischievous little black-booted one sneaking up behind him…. It’s a screen shot from a video on jumping baby goats that was made last spring. These lambs are now one year old and ready to be sacrificed for Passover (if they’re male and unblemished). I’ve posted the video of a barnful of jumping baby goats below. If you’ve never seen baby goats jumping for no apparent reason other than for pure joy, I highly recommend watching the video.
God, through Moses, commanded that a yearling be removed from its flock of either sheep or goats on the 10th day of the month of Abib. The lamb was then to be kept separate from the other animals until being slaughtered on the 14th in preparation for the Passover meal that evening. Today is the 10th of Abib, so the little lambs in the picture above, were they in Israel or somewhere else where the slaughter of the Passover lamb is still observed, could potentially be in the process of being whisked away from their family and friends and cloistered somewhere alone for four days before going Home (euphemism for having their throat slit and their blood drained, being thrown onto a fire and roasted whole, and then eaten).
As brutal as it sounds, this is the kind of animal sacrifice I can get behind. First and foremost, the slaughter of the Passover lamb is fully initiated, commanded, and blessed by God, which means it doesn’t matter what I think: The ritual is still right and good. Secondly, nothing is wasted in the sacrificing of the animal and the meat is equitably allotted – each household is to take one lamb only, but if the household is too small for a lamb, two or more households can combine forces until there are enough people to warrant eating a lamb. Thirdly, the lamb is roasted whole, including its head, feet, and innards. Nothing is removed; nothing is wasted; and no bones are broken in the process. Fourthly, any part of the lamb that isn’t eaten during the Passover feast is burned to smithereens either that same night or very early the next morning. So other than for a few ashes, nothing remains.
The process of slaughtering the Passover lamb is as swift, lean, and tactical as a military operation. To me, its urgency seems less a ritual and more a matter of life or death, which in fact the first Passover was. The Hebrews had to hastily repurpose the lamb’s blood as a door marker to indicate that children of Israel lived in that home so that God’s avenging angels would pass over them and head for Egyptian houses. Then the Hebrews had to finish eating the lamb, burn its remains, throw a few things in a backpack, and get the heck out of Dodge before Pharoah changed his mind again about letting them go.
We, if we’re born-again, bear the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God on our souls. This marks us for protection in the spiritual realm and is inviolable. Jesus was God’s ultimate Passover sacrifice, a role that he willingly accepted and perfectly played. We honor Jesus’ sacrifice during the Passover supper when we raise a glass in his memory and eat a piece of unleavened bread in his honor. He asked us to do these things specifically at Passover, and so we do them at Passover.
Like God’s command to the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, Jesus’ request to his followers to celebrate Passover in his memory is also a command that has the same force as God’s: Do not doubt that for a second. Easter is not Passover; in fact, Easter is more an anti-Passover, as the date for Easter was specifically and purposely chosen by Emperor Constantine and the religious powers-that-be in 325 A.D. to defy the Passover date set by the rabbis in Jerusalem. This decision by Constantine and the religious ptb, as well as the reason for it, is a matter of public record.
Passover is a quintessentially Christian feast, and we need to celebrate it as such.
As for slaughtering a lamb, we don’t have to do that anymore, but we do need to raise a glass in Jesus’ memory (as he asked us to do) and to eat a piece of unleavened bread in his honor (as he asked us to do), even if we celebrate alone (because we won’t be alone; Jesus and God will be right there with us). I hope you choose to follow Jesus’ command. If you’re a born-again believer and you’ve never before celebrated Passover and the accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread, it’s high time you did, and “better late than never”, as my grandmother would say!
Enjoy!
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 