The Mystery of 'The Lamb' and why it is 'Good 'Friday.

THE SACRIFICE OF 'THE LAMB' ON GOOD FRIDAY

'Good Friday', I used to say as a child-what is 'good' about it for heaven's sake? I remember it as a time when there was doom and gloom, a horrific crucifixion story. I did not like the story of poor Jesus being tortured like that and spat on-exactly like poor Aslan when the wicked queen mocks and humiliates him before having him killed. But Aslan knew the 'deep magic' he could not be killed.He put himself in as an innocent to save someone else. The nature of Sacrifice is very old.The idea of the 'Scapegoat'someone who takes the punishment for someone else.

The ancient Druids in Britain too, sacrificed people as well-usually undesirables-in giant wicker men. These sacrifices were as offerings to the great Creator for salvation from starvation or for a better harvest next year.It was to atone because they had displeased their deity.

It was not difficult to persuade the original Druids, who believed in one Deity, who believed in an underworld , the earth where one learnt wisdom and became initiated into mysteries and Heaven, which was the destiny of those who had become enlightened, and their rather cruel idea of human sacrifice, that no more sacrifice was neccessary, not of humans nor animals, because Christ was the Full and Final Sacrifice.This is why it so quickly superceded the Druid religion.

But the idea of the Sacrificed human is here, is the same, except the stripes and scourging ,the blood, the cruel crown of thorns, these are the sins of mankind, put on the back of Jesus , who is then ritually sacrificed, and with him the sins of the World. Imagine the agony of that Load! Imagine the Love which prompted the Sacrifice. Imagine what our gratitude should be! We who can't get much right in our lives are helped in this divine way! And yet Jesus did not come as a Lion to be sacrificed-like C.S.Lewis' 'Aslan' but as a Lamb. The Lamb that has made us Sons and Daughters of the King of Heaven-how good that is! That with death we could be initiated into the heavenly saints, if we call upon his holy Name, believe and act according to the Commandments-not easy in today's world.
Last night I could only watch befoe the Altar of Repose for ten minutes because my family wanted to go to the Supermarket before it closed-but Seeing Father there -all on his own, before the Blessed Sacrament really brought home to me, the fact that Christ had prayed all alone in Gethsemane when the disciples fell asleep.

Today, following the long standing tradition at Abergavenny, and in many other place in Monmouthshire and everywhere else, Christians will accompany the Cross to a High Place, where due honour will be given to the Lord. Catholics in Abergavenny will once again climb the Holy Mountain, the Skirryd, where at the hour of 3, the time of Jesus Sacrifice, legend says St Michael struck the mountain, for in that hour, the Prince of Evil gave up hope of every completely conquering the Earth.

Jesus left himself in the Eucharist on earth with St Peter and the apostles, to teach and guide and serve.He gave us a Way Out of being slaves to ourselves and focused us on the next world

THE VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS RITUAL

When I survey the wondrous Cross, on which the Prince of Glory died...
My richest gain I count by loss, and pour content on all my pride...

Death is swallowed up in Victory.And it is the Victory and Triumph of the Holy Cross
we celebrate at 3 o'clock, as we sing

Hagios o Theos-Holy is God
Hagios ischyros-Holy and Mighty
Hagios athanatos-Holy and Immortal- Have mercy on us.

I have been an admirer of Dr Scott Hahn's book'The Lamb's Supper' -The Mass as Heaven on Earth. I hope it will be a great revelation and joy to read bits and pieces of it. For the full effect, however, you need to get it and read it yourself. It is the greatest explanation of the book of Revelation I have read.I will carry on with the theme tomorrow.

'Lamb of God'-why Jesus the 'lamb'.

References to lambs are all over the gospels-the sheep at Christmas, 'I am the good shepherd', 'the Lord is my Shepherd' and every Sunday at Mass we sing before we receive the Lord's body

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Dr Scott Hahn writes in his wonderful book 'The Lamb's Supper' :'The phrase that knocked me out was 'Lamb of God' because I knew that this Lamb was Jesus Christ himself.

No one has to tell you that. Perhaps you have sung or recited the words a thousand times....Just as many times, you have seen the priest elevate the broken host and proclaim

'This is the Lamb of God....happy are those who are called to His Supper'. The Lamb is Jesus. This is not news, it's not the kind of thing we gloss over. Jesus is many things after all: He is Lord, God, Saviour, Messiah, King , Priest, Prophet...and LAMB.

Yet if we were really thinking, we wouldn't gloss over that last title.Look again at the list: Lord, God, Saviour, Messiah, King , Priest, Prophet...and LAMB. One of these things is not like the others. The first seven are titles with which we could comfortably address a God - Man. They are titles with dignity, implying wisdom, power and social status. But 'Lamb'Again I ask you to divest yourselves of two thousand years of accumulated symbolic meaning. Pretend for a moment you have never sung the 'Lamb of God''.

ON THE LAMB

the angels and saints sang

Blessing and Honour, Glory and Power be unto Him be unto Him
That sitteth upon the Throne
And unto the LAMB......(Revelations)

Dr Hahn points out that the title is almost comical. Lambs are not on the list of admired animals, not strong, clever, quick or handsome. There are other animals Christ could have been 'Lion of Judah' for example. Lions are the King of the Jungle strong and agile-Dr Hahn points out though that they only appear once in the Book of Revelation.The Lamb dominates and appears 28 times.

'The Lamb rules, occupying heaven's throne.(Rev 22:3) It is the Lamb Who leads hundreds of thousands of men and angels, striking fear in the hearts of the wicked (Rev6:15-16) This last image , the fierce and frightening Lamb, is almost too incongruous to imagine with a straight face'.So what is this great mystery and miracle and what has it to do with Good Friday?

It is John the Baptist who first says 'Behold the Lamb of God' and thenthe title appears almost exclusively in John's Gospel and Revelations.

Jesus is often called 'like the Lamb of God'but never do they dare to call him 'Lamb of God'(John 1:36 and Revelations) Dr Hahn goes on to point out that the Lamb is central to the Mass and to Revelations.If we want to experience the Mass as heaven on Earth we need to know whyhe is called the 'Lamb'.

Dr Hahn in his excellent and readable book looks at explanations and the Jewish history for the background to the mystery.

WELL BREAD

Lamb always identified with sacrifice in ancient Israel.(cain and Abel-Abel brings lambs to the sacrifice). Noah (Gen 8.20-21) Abraham , Jacob and others. The Jewish fathers were always making offerings and building altars and sometimes poured sacrificial offerings of wine over them .

Melchisidech

Melchisidech is the first priest mentioned in the Bible and many Christians have seen in him a forsadowing of Christ. He was a priest and king-a king of Salem a land that later became 'Jeru-salem' - meaning 'City of Peace'. JEsus would one day be King of the New Jerusalem and like Melchisidech-'King of Peace'.
Here Dr Hahn says
'Finally Melchisidech's sacrifice was extraordinary-it involved no animals. He offered bread and wine, as Jesus did at the Last Supper, when He instituted the Eucharist. Melchisidech's sacrifice ended with a blessing on Abraham'.(page 17)

NEAR SACRIFICE OF ISAAC

The next point made is about the Sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham's most dearly loved son. God asks Abraham to sacrifice him to test his obedience. When it appears Abraham is going to obey, God realises Abraham's faith and stops it.The words of Abraham to Isaac are telling: When Isaac asks who will be the offering, Abraham says:'God will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son '(v8)Abraham's descendants are made a mighty nation.God says:

By myself I have sworn...because you....have not witheld your son....I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven.....and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves'.(Gen 22:16-17) 'That was God's IOU.It was Israel's Life INsurance policy . In the desert at Mount Sinai when the Chosen People earned death by worshipping the Golden Calf, Moses invoked God's covenant oath to Abraham in order to save them from divine wrath. (Ex 32:13-14)(DR Hahn)


Later Christians looked on this incident as a profound allegory for sacrificing his only son on the cross.As Paul later mentions of the incident 'that in Christ Jesusm the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles (non Jews).(Gal 3:14 and Gen 22:16-18)


ANIMAL SACRIFICE

This is a central part of Israels' worship.The Egyptian overseers in Exodus complain the Israelites spend too much time sacrificing animals...when Moses makes his appeal to Pharoah to let the people go, he demand the right to sacrifice. So why animals?

Sacrifice was

Man gave back to God what was His because 'the earth is the Lords.'

An act of thanksgiving.We can only give bakc what we have received.

Solomnly sealing an oath a covenant before God.

Act of renunciation and sorrow for sins.Person sacrificing knew he deserved death fo sins and offered the animals life in exchange for his own.


PASSOVERExodus 12:1-23

When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, for the last plague, God asked the people to take an unblemished lamb without broken bones, kill it and sprinkle its blood on the doorpost. That night, Israelites were to eat the Lamb. If they did, their first born would be spared. If they didn't their firstorn would die with all the others. The sacrificial lamb died as a ransom, in place of the first born of the household. The Passover was a redemption-a 'buying back'.They had to recreate this passover every year.

JERU-SALEM AS A ROYAL CAPITAL

When the Temple was built about 960 BC , the sacrifices took place in a royal setting. Every day, the priests offered two lambs in the morning and in the evening to atone for the sins of the nation and there were many private offerings too.The High Priest could only enter the 'Holy of Holies' (sacred space where God is) once a year, because he too was a sinner.The Temple was built on the place where Melchisidech had offered bread and wine, and where Abraham had offered his child and where God had sworn an oath to save all nations.Each year at the Passover two and a half million pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all over the known world came there. Now they come to the Wailing Wall, an old remnant of the Temple, I believe.

Jesus obeyed the sacrifice laws

Jesus celebrated the Passover every year in Jerusalem and ate the sacrificed lamb-first with his family, then with the Apostles.The Passover as Dr Hahn says' was central to his Mission', a definitive moment. Jesus isthe Lamb. When Jesus stood before Pilate. John notes it was the 'day of the preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour when the priests were beginning to slaughter thePassover lambs. This, then, is the moment of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

John , in speaking of the garment of Jesus at the time of the crucifixion, John uses the precise term for the vestments the High Priest wore when he offered sacrifices such as the Passover Lamb.

John records that none of his bones were broken-(Just as above at the old passover in Egypt.)Jesus was a Worthy Offering a perfect fulfilment.

Jesus was given sour wine from a sponge on a hyssop branch The hyssop was the tree used by the Jews for the sprinkling of the Lamb's blood. This moment marked the beginning , when Jesus suffered on the Cross of the new and perfect redemption. Then Jesus cried out :


'It is finished!'



Thanks be to God.


(to be continued)

Quotes and materials from Dr Scott Hahn's book
The Lamb's Supper2007 Darton, Longman and Todd
IBSN-10:0232-52500-5

Southwark Cathedral bans 'Jerusalem' and ;I vow to thee my country'!

I was absolutely amazed to read in the Mail that Southwark Cathedral is banning the hymn Jerusalem. It is almost an ultimate Christian hymn and marries together many Christian themes, particularly spiritual combat. The only issue I have with the hymn is that it was ‘England’s mountains green because if Jesus as a child did visit this country as a child with Joseph of Arimathea-his uncle, according to the legend, he would have arrived possibly in Cornwall or Wales ,Britain being a Celtic Society with not an Anglo Saxon in sight! It is believed Joseph of Arimathea, (who provided Jesus’ tomb in the Bible), was a merchant trading for tin and often visited Britannia.
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Jerusalem

And did those feet in ancient times
Walk upon England's (!) mountains green
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On Englands pleasant pastures seen?
And didte Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builden here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear O clouds unfold! (see picture and ref in Rev)
Bringe me my cariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fightNor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
On Englands(!) green and pleasant Land.
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Recent archeological finds do indicate that this trade was going on between the two countries at this time, as first century artefacts have been found in Tintagel.After the crucifixion and Whitsun, when the Apostles had been told to go into all the world, St Peter sent St Philip to Northern Europe and Philip sent a group of disciples led by Joseph to Britain, where they were granted twelve hides of land at Glastonbury or Ynys Witrin (The Isle of Glass) and built a small mud and wattle church there. St Patrick saw and recorded this church several centuries later and St David also created a small Celtic monastery there. It was always considered a very holy and special place.The Lamb of God, relates to the early Christian Church or Living Body of Christ coming to Glastonbury and establishing the Christian religion, which first taught that every human was precious in the sight of God, who wanted them all to be saved and live with him in Heaven and united its members by the Eucharist.Below:' Bring me my spear, O clouds unfold...


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Blake contrasts this first coming of Christianity on these shores (GB), with the menace of rampant dehumanisation in factories, mines and places of business, which render people slaves again to machines with worldly masters making excessive profits at the expense of the good and happiness of all people, something that has become a fact of life from then till now. (Children in mines, long hours in factories, etc) Eventually even the people freed from the machines are chase riches and so forth which is not a problem as long as it is not at the expense of others as then they do not concentrate on spiritual gifts of lasting value.

This introduces an escalation in the realms of spiritual combat against evil. What these clerics call ‘militaristic’ overtones are connected with this. So are they objecting to God fighting evil, or even the teaching of St Paul? The Bow of Burning Gold belongs to the Victorious One, Jesus on his white horse in Rev 6:2, vanquishing evil with his arrows of desire at the end of Time, the chariots of fire accompany Jesus also –(Psalm 68:17 and Revelations). Christians are asked to fight evil and keep themselves fit for spiritual battle (filled with God not evil). St Paul himself says so in Ephesians Chapter 6:10-17. ‘Put on the whole armour of God so you can resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies we have to struggle but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness of the world, the spirits of evil in the heavens.So stand your ground, with truth as a belt around your waist,and an upright life as your breastplate …always carrying the shield of faith so you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil one. You must take salvation as your helmet and the Sword of the Spirit that is, the Word of God. It is not for nothing the church on earth is called the Church militant. Are they perhaps criticising St Paul as well-or don’t they understand the hymns?


The hymn ‘I vow to thee my country’ also, contrasts our known country with the country of God-the New Jerusalem building in the hearts of the Faithful. Just as warriors lay down their lives for their country, so do the spiritual soldiers do this for God This is a sort of ‘inner country’ of faith, suffering for it, being loyal to it, in fact the country of the Body of Christ, which increases silently as a bastion of love and endurance in the world and in heaven and works for peace. I find this beautiful and as for this spiritual plan of salvation of God’s how is it not glorifying Him? Or is the Church of England dumbing own now? Will the clergy not understand there is a spiritual war raging now, with people all doing their own thing and not worrying how it affects others. Snatching children the innocents, using them as a commodity, youth acting like aliens, no moral rules. Yet they ban hymns which encourage the church Militant (those of us stil here on earth) from fighting evil. How do they think God wants us to fight evil, not by talking it to death that's for sure. The Church, the Body of Christ, we are God's hands in the world and we need help and spiritual direction from clergy not discouragement and spurius disapproval of hymns which have inspired millions to do God's Will and fight evil, with a vision of New Jerusalem a symbol of heaven.
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I am at a loss to understand this ban, and wonder whether the clergy have gone soft .. I would have thought in my own little way, that to fight Evil (and just look around to see his work and how it possesses people to do terrible things!) was to glorify God, Love and Truth. Perhaps they should also look at the origins of the flag of St George of England which enfolds all these principles-the red blood on the white Lamb-the flag of Paschal Sacrifice.