5. Passover Sacrifice

Short Meditations for Easter on the Cross: 5. Passover Sacrifice

Mt 26:2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

It is almost an oblique reference made by Jesus that links his death with the Passover and yet it is a very real connection. John had recorded John the Baptist’s words about Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29) Later Jesus was to be identified in prophecy as a lamb who had been slain (Rev 5:6)

Now a lamb featured strongly in Israel’s history having been a key feature of the original Passover, a perfect lamb to be slain by each Israelite family in Egypt and the blood smeared on the doorposts of their home so that, “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Ex 12:13)

At the Last Supper, speaking of the wine, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27,28). The blood, the lamb, his death and our salvation are all closely linked.

I have referred to this, in the title, as the Passover sacrifice for the word ‘sacrifice occurs over 350 times in scripture. A dictionary defines it as, “the act of offering the life of an animal or person or object in propitiation (appeasement) or of homage to a deity,” and the central aspect of ‘a sacrifice’ is the ‘giving up’ or ‘relinquishing’ of life.

Although Jesus himself is not recorded as having used that term of himself (which might sound a bit self-aggrandizing if he did), the apostle Paul did (see Rom 3:25, 1 Cor 5:7, Eph 5:2) and also the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 7:27, 9:26, 10:10-12) and the apostle John (1 Jn 2:2, 4:10) It is a clear and distinctive teaching.

Now we could use this term in a forensic or legal sense and leave it at that, but we have already noted in a prior study the fact that this act was something to be endured, something which Jesus naturally shied away from as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, yet he taught, “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (Jn 10:16,17) i.e. this was a voluntarily, sacrificial laying down of his life for us.

One cannot at this point, help remembering Pauls challenge to us: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Rom 12:1) It is a call to similarly give up claims to our own lives and instead submit them to the will of God, not in harsh conforming to the rules, but in loving response to how we see Christ gave his life for us.