“Jesus the Passover Lamb” John 19: 31-42

  I’m in the midst of packing my parsonage, currently. One of the shocking things that I discover every time I begin to pack is how many pictures I have. Some are in frames. Some are in boxes. Some are in frames in boxes. But I have all of these photos because my family values snapshots - capturing moments in time forever in a photo. 

In many ways, we read scripture like we look at photographs. We read bits and pieces, sometimes forgetting what comes right before or right after the snapshot of scripture we are looking at. Now, there is a lot of value in snapshots - they help us remember some of the most memorable moments of our lives. But, they never tell the full story - not on their own. 

I told the folks here at Grace last Sunday that part of the job of a pastor is to disappoint congregations at a rate they can handle. And once again, I am going to be the pastor who disappoints you this evening. If you came to hear the familiar story of the last supper or Jesus washing the disciples feet, you are going to be disappointed. But I want to move us beyond the snapshot into the wider story of what is happening and why. With that in mind, let us turn our attention to tonight’s text from the Gospel of John. 

John is a bit different in how he approaches the telling of the life, ministry and purpose of Jesus that the other Gospel writers. For John, Jesus being the Messiah isn’t a secret. It’s something that he will tell anyone who would listen. The problem is that people weren’t all that interested in hearing what Jesus was trying to say.

But regardless if people were going to listen to Jesus’s proclamation, Jesus was going to show them. He chose to go to the cross because of us and for us - to set us free from sin and give us victory, even over death itself. In John, no one takes away Jesus’s life - he gives it away. Freely. 

For he is the Messiah. The Passover lamb. He was slaughtered for the sake of the world. (Exodus 12:6). John even puts in this detail about how Jesus’s legs did not need to be broken because he had already died, harkening back to the instructions for the Passover found in the book of Numbers -  They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.

We also know that Jesus is the Passover Lamb because John the Baptist told us way back at the beginning of the Gospel - when he declared “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29, 36).

But even though Jesus is the Messiah, fully divine, John also does not want us to miss the point that he is fully human - with a body - that poured forth blood and water after it was sacrificed. 

The problem is that folks still missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah - even when it was shown through actions taking place right in front of them.

But is that not the case for us as well? How often do we miss something because we are in a rush? Or because we have already made up our minds? Remember that a great crowd is in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover - this meal that commemorates the amazing act that God had set them free from slavery in Egypt and delivered them to the promise land. To which Jesus is trying to say and show - yes! God is good! But God is not finished! I have come to set you free from sin that has bound you for so long and deliver you into the promised land of the heavenly Kingdom. 

And the people won’t hear it. 

Ironically, they don’t and won’t hear it because they are in such a rush to celebrate the holy day, the Sabbath, and make preparations. Under Jewish law bodies that have been executed must be removed and buried before the next day, so in haste to fulfill the law, there is a rush to make sure the three people being executed were killed before sundown. While crucifixion is a long, slow, painful way to die - the soldiers decide to speed it along by breaking the legs of those still hanging onto life. 

Yes, there is a law, but is this what God really meant to be the end result?

We cannot read this passage from the Gospel of John that calls us to come face to face with our Savior and not walk away thinking about the sin in our own lives. The ways that we have compartmentalized our lives - into thinking first about ourselves, and rarely about how our actions and decisions effect other people. The ways that we have been so focused on the letter of the religious law that we totally miss God’s point in giving it to us. The ties our religious behavior has been hypocritical and not honoring to God. 

Everything that Jesus came to set us free from. 

A few weeks ago I had a fascinating conversation about John 3, specifically about whether I thought Nicodemus was saved. While that final judgment rests in God’s hand, what I said is that I did see at the end of the Gospel of John a Nicodemus who bore the fruit of repentance. One who no longer lived in fear. Nicodemus who was no longer caught up in his own head. Nicodemus who responded to Jesus, along with Jospeh, as the king he truly was. 

Tonight, I wonder about us. I wonder about whether we both hear and see that Christ is our Passover Lamb, the one who set us free, and how we will respond? I wonder what sin we have tried to hide that needs to come to the light so the that the Way, the Truth, and the Life can set us free? I wonder how our lives will be made different all because of Jesus?

When we move past the snapshots of Holy Week, we see what this meal really means to us. That it is one that we come together and celebrate again and again and again because it calls us to remembrance of what Christ has done for us, but also continual examination of our hearts and reclaiming of the call that Christ has upon us. To go. To serve. To love. All because of the Passover Lamb, King, Savior, and Lord who laid down his life for us. Amen.