Remember the Lamb!

When you were growing up, I am sure all of you remember being asked, “What is your favorite animal?” Go ahead and think about it for a second. Now, when I count to three, let’s all say what our favorite animal is, “One, two, three…Buffalo.” There are lots of different answers to this question, although some of you may have the same favorite animal. Animals are mentioned throughout the Bible and although God does not tell us what his favorite animal is, there is one in particular that helps us remember our Savior, Jesus.

Before we get to the animal that helps us remember Jesus, there is another animal we need to remember. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent deceived Adam and Eve. When they listened to the snake, they brought sin and death into the world, and ruined their relationship with God. God then promised to punish the devil and send a Savior in Genesis 3, 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God’s promise to send the Savior continued through Noah and his son Shem. Then, to Shem’s descendant, Abraham. God told Abraham in Genesis 12, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” When God said this to Abraham, he had no kids, and was 75 years old and his wife Sarah was 65. Yet, God blessed them 25 years later with their first child, Isaac. Isaac’s son Jacob, later given the name Israel, had 12 sons, who all moved to Egypt during a severe famine and grew into a great nation. At first, they lived as invited guests in Egypt, but over time they were forced into slavery. Over 400 years later, God delivered his people through ten miraculous plagues because they had no way to deliver themselves from slavery.

The tenth plague showed God’s love for Israel using an animal. In the tenth plague, God promised to put to death the first-born son of everyone living in Egypt unless they sacrificed a lamb or goat and put its blood on the top and both sides of the doorframe of their homes. The Israelites who listened to God’s Word by sacrificed a lamb, were passed over by God. On the other hand, we hear what happened to the Egyptians who did not listen to God in our Old Testament Reading from Exodus 12, 29 “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” It was this final plague that caused Pharaoh to tell Moses and the Israelites to leave Egypt. God wanted the Israelites to remember his deliverance for those who listened to his Word. Israel would be tempted to forget God once they were free from Egypt, which would leave them defenseless against their greatest enemy of sin and death. So, God told Moses to tell the Israelites, 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Unfortunately, Israel repeatedly did not obey or remember. They did not celebrate the Passover and did not teach the next generation. Instead, they repeatedly needed God’s deliverance when they fell into sin and were attacked by other nations.

You and I repeated fail God like Israel. We fail God by not obeying his commands, not remembering all he has done to save us and failing to teach the next generation. Tonight, we will narrow our focus to that third point. As with the Israelites, you and I are called to teach the next generation about God. We must teach the next generation because they are not conceived with faith, born with understanding of God or growing up in a world that for the most part loves God and each other. We fail the next generation when we let them choose their path. Kids are not able to figure out life; they must be taught. You teach your kids about sports, music, manners, swimming, food, personal hygiene, strangers, etc. More important than all of those is teaching them about God. And if you do not teach them, then they will learn from things like cartoons. Again, animals make up many of the programming each generation encounters whether in books, movies or shows. And when you and I allow the next generation to be taught about life by random cartoon animals like a mouse for instance, they will remain spiritually lost, confused, guilty and condemned to hell. You and I fail God and the next generation when we do not remember what God taught Israel. God revealed that he alone has the power to deliver us.

 God used the lamb to show his power of deliverance. The Passover revealed God’s power to deliver Israel from slavery, but it also pointed to the way he saves us from sin and death. The lives of Israel were spared because innocent lambs were sacrificed. Then, we see the connection to God’s deliverance of all people from sin and death when in John 1, we hear, 29 The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John recognized Jesus as the innocent sacrifice who would take away the sin of not only Israel, but the world. God kept his promise to Adam and Eve to send one male offspring to crush the serpent’s head. On the cross, Jesus suffered the serpent striking his heal in his death and three days in the tomb, but the devil was crushed and emptied of his power through the resurrection. God delivered Israel from Egypt and delivered them time after time to preserve Abraham’s descendants so that Jesus would be born. Jesus is the one who made Abraham’s descendants into a great nation to bring blessings to all nations to all who believe in Jesus as their Savior. Jesus is the sacrificed and now living Lamb of God in heaven as is repeated in the book of Revelation as we read in Revelation 5, 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Jesus deserves all praise because he delivered us from sin and death as the sacrificial Lamb.

Tonight, we remember the reason Jesus sacrificed himself. Tonight, is called Maundy Thursday. The term ‘Maundy’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘command’. On a Thursday almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus commanded his disciples in John 13, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus’ love brought him to this world to save us through his life, death and resurrection. That Thursday night, he also gave his disciples the Lord’s Supper or Communion during the Passover meal, the night the lamb was slaughtered, as we hear in our Gospel reading from Luke 22, 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Because of his love Jesus gave us his own body and blood to eat and drink. This new covenant was explained in our New Testament reading from Hebrews 10, 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Because of Jesus no more lambs need to be sacrificed. Because of Jesus there is forgiveness. A few verses later in Hebrews 10, we get the reminder to love and we see what it means to show love to one another and the next generation, 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. The day the Lamb of God will return is approaching. God wants you and the next generation to remember the Lamb who delivered us all from our sins and death. Gathering is one way to show love by encouraging one another to remember the Lamb of God, our Savior Jesus. You can encourage the next generation by using the list of questions and answers in the bulletin.

We all have a favorite animal. Perhaps God also has a favorite animal, a lamb perhaps. Maundy Thursday is named for Jesus’ command to love as he loved us. He loved you by sacrificing his life to deliver you from your sins and death, and to give you eternal life and a home in heaven. You are no longer required to put lamb’s blood on the top and sides of your doorframe. Instead, you get to eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Remember the Lamb who delivered you. And love the next generation by teaching them to remember the Lamb. Amen.