Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Dr. Kari Vo "Lamb of God" for Thursday, March 8, 2018
And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where will You have us go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" (Mark 14:12)
Read Mark 14:12-16Mark 14:12 On the first day for matzah, when they slaughtered the lamb for Pesach, Yeshua’s talmidim asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare your Seder?” 13 He sent two of his talmidim with these instructions: “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him; 14 and whichever house he enters, tell him that the Rabbi says, ‘Where is the guest room for me, where I am to eat the Pesach meal with my talmidim?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations there.” 16 The talmidim went off, came to the city and found things just as he had told them they would be; and they prepared the Seder. (Complete Jewish Bible)
***
Perfect. Helpless. Doomed.
From 2,000 years later, those are the only words I can think of to describe the centerpiece of the Passover feast, the lambs sacrificed at the temple. Every year shepherds brought their lambs into Jerusalem. They had to be perfect, without defect or sickness of any kind at all. They were certainly helpless. And they were doomed -- heading for death without reprieve.
What did Jesus think of, I wonder, that last day before His own death? He probably spent it teaching in the temple -- the lambs and their cries and the smell of blood would have been right there in front of Him. His own disciples went to buy and sacrifice one of these small creatures, and then took it away to roast for dinner. Did Jesus look into the eyes of that lamb, His own picture in miniature?
Perfect, yes. A perfect man, without sin or greed or jealousy or violence. A man after God's own heart, like His ancestor David -- a man who is God's own heart, God become flesh. There was no flaw in Him. He was acceptable for sacrifice.
Helpless? -- well, yes and no. "Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?" But helpless for all that, because "how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" (Matthew 26:53-54) Jesus will not help Himself if that means failing to save us. His love for us holds Him helpless.
Doomed -- well, yes. Never was anything in the history of the world so fated to happen. God the Father willed it. Jesus' love for us drove Him to it. The Holy Spirit had promised it again and again, all through the Old Testament. Jesus would die to rescue us all.
And yet ... and yet! Those lambs in the temple would shortly be dinner, the center of a great feast for a people set free by God. Jesus, God's own Lamb, has become the center of a greater feast, celebrating the freedom He won for us by His death and resurrection. Through the body and blood He freely gives, we share in new life and joy. He is not only our Lamb, but our living Host -- our Savior.
THE PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for giving Your only Son Jesus for us. Amen.
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Leviticus 25; Mark 11:1-18
Leviticus 25:1 Adonai spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for Adonai. 3 Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce. 4 But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines. 5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you — you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you, 7 your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.
***
Perfect. Helpless. Doomed.
From 2,000 years later, those are the only words I can think of to describe the centerpiece of the Passover feast, the lambs sacrificed at the temple. Every year shepherds brought their lambs into Jerusalem. They had to be perfect, without defect or sickness of any kind at all. They were certainly helpless. And they were doomed -- heading for death without reprieve.
What did Jesus think of, I wonder, that last day before His own death? He probably spent it teaching in the temple -- the lambs and their cries and the smell of blood would have been right there in front of Him. His own disciples went to buy and sacrifice one of these small creatures, and then took it away to roast for dinner. Did Jesus look into the eyes of that lamb, His own picture in miniature?
Perfect, yes. A perfect man, without sin or greed or jealousy or violence. A man after God's own heart, like His ancestor David -- a man who is God's own heart, God become flesh. There was no flaw in Him. He was acceptable for sacrifice.
Helpless? -- well, yes and no. "Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?" But helpless for all that, because "how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" (Matthew 26:53-54) Jesus will not help Himself if that means failing to save us. His love for us holds Him helpless.
Doomed -- well, yes. Never was anything in the history of the world so fated to happen. God the Father willed it. Jesus' love for us drove Him to it. The Holy Spirit had promised it again and again, all through the Old Testament. Jesus would die to rescue us all.
And yet ... and yet! Those lambs in the temple would shortly be dinner, the center of a great feast for a people set free by God. Jesus, God's own Lamb, has become the center of a greater feast, celebrating the freedom He won for us by His death and resurrection. Through the body and blood He freely gives, we share in new life and joy. He is not only our Lamb, but our living Host -- our Savior.
THE PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for giving Your only Son Jesus for us. Amen.
Reflection Questions
- Have you ever raised animals for eating? Was it difficult or easy to do so?
- Unlike the lambs, Jesus chose to make Himself our sacrifice. What does this tell you about how much He loves you personally?
- When you come to Communion, what kinds of things go through your mind? How do you remember and love Jesus?
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Leviticus 25; Mark 11:1-18
Leviticus 25:1 Adonai spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for Adonai. 3 Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce. 4 But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines. 5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you — you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you, 7 your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.
8 “‘You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; 10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; 12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. 13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.
(LY: ii) 14 “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other. 15 Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised. 16 If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced. 17 Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am Adonai your God.
18 “‘Rather, you are to keep my regulations and rulings and act accordingly. If you do, you will live securely in the land. (RY: ii, LY: iii) 19 The land will yield its produce, you will eat until you have enough, and you will live there securely.
20 “‘If you ask, “If we aren’t allowed to sow seed or harvest what our land produces, what are we going to eat the seventh year?” 21 then I will order my blessing on you during the sixth year, so that the land brings forth enough produce for all three years. 22 The eighth year you will sow seed but eat the the old, stored produce until the ninth year; that is, until the produce of the eighth year comes in, you will eat the old, stored food.
23 “‘The land is not to be sold in perpetuity, because the land belongs to me — you are only foreigners and temporary residents with me. 24 Therefore, when you sell your property, you must include the right of redemption. (LY: iv) 25 That is, if one of you becomes poor and sells some of his property, his next-of-kin can come and buy back what his relative sold. 26 If the seller has no one to redeem it but becomes rich enough to redeem it himself, 27 he will calculate the number of years the land was sold for, refund the excess to its buyer, and return to his property. 28 If he hasn’t sufficient means to get it back himself, then what he sold will remain in the hands of the buyer until the year of yovel; in the yovel the buyer will vacate it and the seller return to his property.
(RY: iii, LY: v) 29 “‘If someone sells a dwelling in a walled city, he has one year after the date of sale in which to redeem it. For a full year he will have the right of redemption; 30 but if he has not redeemed the dwelling in the walled city within the year, then title in perpetuity passes to the buyer through all his generations; it will not revert in the yovel. 31 However, houses in villages not surrounded by walls are to be dealt with like the fields in the countryside — they may be redeemed [before the yovel], and they revert in the yovel.
32 “‘Concerning the cities of the L’vi’im and the houses in the cities they possess, the L’vi’im are to have a permanent right of redemption. 33 If someone purchases a house from one of the L’vi’im, then the house he sold in the city where he owns property will still revert to him in the yovel; because the houses in the cities of the L’vi’im are their tribe’s possession among the people of Isra’el. 34 The fields in the open land around their cities may not be sold, because that is their permanent possession.
35 “‘If a member of your people has become poor, so that he can’t support himself among you, you are to assist him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue living with you. 36 Do not charge him interest or otherwise profit from him, but fear your God, so that your brother can continue living with you. 37 Do not take interest when you loan him money or take a profit when you sell him food. 38 I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to give you the land of Kena‘an and be your God.
(RY: iv, LY: vi) 39 “‘If a member of your people has become poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him do the work of a slave. 40 Rather, you are to treat him like an employee or a tenant; he will work for you until the year of yovel. 41 Then he will leave you, he and his children with him, and return to his own family and regain possession of his ancestral land. 42 For they are my slaves, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; therefore they are not to be sold as slaves. 43 Do not treat him harshly, but fear your God.
44 “‘Concerning the men and women you may have as slaves: you are to buy men- and women-slaves from the nations surrounding you. 45 You may also buy the children of foreigners living with you and members of their families born in your land; you may own these. 46 You may also bequeath them to your children to own; from these groups you may take your slaves forever. But as far as your brothers the people of Isra’el are concerned, you are not to treat each other harshly.
(LY: vii) 47 “‘If a foreigner living with you has grown rich, and a member of your people has become poor and sells himself to this foreigner living with you or to a member of the foreigner’s family, 48 he may be redeemed after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or any near relative of his may redeem him; or, if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself. 50 He will calculate with the person who bought him the time from the year he sold himself to him to the year of yovel; and the amount to be paid will be according to the number of years and his time at an employee’s wage. 51 If many years remain, according to them will he refund the amount for his redemption from the amount he was bought for. 52 If there remain only a few years until the year of yovel, then he will calculate with him; according to his years will he refund the amount for his redemption. 53 He will be like a worker hired year by year. You will see to it that he is not treated harshly.
54 “‘If he has not been redeemed by any of these procedures, nevertheless he will go free in the year of yovel — he and his children with him. (LY: Maftir) 55 For to me the people of Isra’el are slaves; they are my slaves whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.
Mark 11:1 As they were approaching Yerushalayim, near Beit-Pagei and Beit-Anyah, by the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his talmidim 2 with these instructions: “Go into the village ahead of you; and as soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it, and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it,’ and he will send it here right away.”
4 They went off and found a colt in the street tied in a doorway, and they untied it. 5 The bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They gave the answer Yeshua had told them to give, and they let them continue. 7 They brought the colt to Yeshua and threw their robes on it, and he sat on it.
8 Many people carpeted the road with their clothing, while others spread out green branches which they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who were ahead and those behind shouted,
“Please! Deliver us!”[Mark 11:9 Psalm 118:25] [Mark 11:9 See note, p. 1249.]
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai!”[
Mark 11:9 Psalm 118:26
]
10 “Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David!”
and,
“You in the highest heaven! Please! Deliver us!”[
Mark 11:10 Psalm 118:25
] [
Mark 11:10 See note, p. 1249.
]
11 Yeshua entered Yerushalayim, went into the Temple courts and took a good look at everything; but since it was now late, he went out with the Twelve to Beit-Anyah.
12 The next day, as they came back from Beit-Anyah, he felt hungry. 13 Spotting in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came up to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it wasn’t fig season. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his talmidim heard what he said.
15 On reaching Yerushalayim, he entered the Temple courts and began driving out those who were carrying on business there, both the merchants and their customers. He also knocked over the desks of the money-changers, upset the benches of the pigeon-dealers, 16 and refused to let anyone carry merchandise through the Temple courts. 17 Then, as he taught them, he said, “Isn’t it written in the Tanakh, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the Goyim[
***
Mark 11:17 Isaiah 56:7
] But you have made it into a den of robbers!”[
Mark 11:17 Jeremiah 7:11
] 18 The head cohanim and the Torah-teachers heard what he said and tried to find a way to do away with him; they were afraid of him, because the crowds were utterly taken by his teaching. (Complete Jewish Bible)
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