Isaiah 52.13—53.12; Psalm 30; Hebrews 4.14-16; 5.7-9; John 18.1—19.42
At the centre of the Paschal celebration is a Lamb. At Passover every Israelite is ‘counted in’: the number of lambs is exactly related to the number who will eat; small families are to unite for the meal.
And so the Lamb who uncomplaining goes forth represents the totality of the people. Everyone is counted in to his sacrifice; everyone is touched and healed by his sprinkled blood. He is mute alike in the face of supercilious interrogation and a torrent of ridicule and ribaldry. He is undeterred even by the scorn and hatred of those he has come to save.
The events of the Passion show human beings at their worst—callous, craven, cowardly. Yet our focus is not on the political machinations and manoeuvres. This Lamb, we are reminded, was ‘sacrificed from the foundation of the world’. [Apocalypse 13.8] The sacrifice of this Lamb is the perfect outworking of the immutable will of the Love who is the Maker, Redeemer and Sustainer of the world. He goes forth with trust in the power of that Love. He invites us to follow him and, counted into him, to share in his triumph over Satan and sin and death. For ‘the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.’ [Apocalypse 5.11]