The Passover Lamb: Mark 14:12-16
Jesus’ death opens the door to eternal life for anyone desiring to receive it. It is a simple thing to say; it is a difficult concept to fully grasp. Jesus’ death and the eternal life it brings profoundly impacts how we live, who we are, and the decisions we make.
Fundamentally, the crucifixion of Jesus is God’s plan. That always sounds odd to me. Normally, people try to work things out with an easy path, or a successful conclusion, or a joyful process. We don’t typically set upon a course of action that is intentionally difficult or painful. Granted, with the resurrection comes a happy ending. Yet, it still feels odd to say God’s plan was to send His Son to us knowing we would kill Him.
The oddity of the idea doesn’t change the truth, though. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we know forgiveness. Through Jesus’ death, we know relationship with God. The death of Jesus was not the plan of the religious elite, it was not the plan of Pilate, and it wasn’t the plan of the crowd. Jesus’ death was God’s plan.
As proof of concept, go back in time fifteen hundred years or so. The Hebrew people had become numerous in Egypt. They were slaves and indentured servants working the land helping to create one of the greatest empires of the time. They cried out to God to save them, and God called Moses to deliver them. The plagues happened, hardening the heart of Pharaoh to the point of wanting to be done with them. The last plague killed the firstborn of all of Egypt, and only those who painted their doorway with blood from a sacrificial lamb were spared from God’s angel of death. The angel quite literally passed over the house. As Egypt suffered, Pharaoh sent away the Hebrew people – only to have his anger boil over so much that he followed them to his own peril.
That is an incredibly gross oversimplification of the Exodus story, but it sets up God’s action in Jesus. Passover is the time when God’s people celebrate liberation, a liberation coming with sacrifice at its core. The Hebrew people were saved – and the firstborn of every Hebrew family even more so – because of the sacrificial lamb.
Return to Jesus’ day. It is the festival of Passover. Jesus sends two disciples – Luke’s tells us it is Peter and John – to go and prepare the Passover meal. The disciples don’t realize they are preparing a commemoration of God’s liberation as God sets Jesus up to be the greatest Passover sacrifice to ever exist.
The Hebrew people will be celebrating their freedom from bondage in Egypt. They will be remembering God’s ability to save us. As Jesus is led to the cross, it is God’s plan that we should be saved from eternal bondage. We are eternally spared from eternal death. Jesus’ death opens the door to eternal life for anyone who desires to receive it.
