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When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him...From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM."
Old and New. It's hard to believe the God of the Old Testament is somehow related to the one in the New Testament. But upon further review, we see some striking similarities, especially in the Passover and Exodus accounts.
Moses to Jesus. Jesus is the New Moses. He did what the old Moses could not do. He freed us from the chains of sin and from the power of the devil. He is the true Deliverer, the true Liberator. Whereas Moses led his people to the Promised Land, Jesus leads all people to the real Promised Land: Heaven.
lamb to Lamb. At the start of their very long journey, the Jews were instructed by Moses to kill a spotless or unblemished one-year-old male lamb and consume its flesh. Kind of weird, don't you think? Why a lamb? What did this poor creature ever do to desire such a horrible fate? Why did some poor innocent little creature have to pay the ultimate price for the liberation of others? I have a feeling the Jews never fully understood this, until Jesus appeared. And maybe that's the point.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Here is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29).
Jesus is the true Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. He is the unblemished male victim - without sin and totally innocent - who is slaughtered for our sins and for our salvation. He did not deserve to die a death like this. We did! And that's an important point.
There is a law, and the law is well known to all of us: whoever commits a crime must be punished. This is the law of justice. But there is a greater law, and this law is not well known to us: whoever lays down their life for another, pays the price for the other. This is the law of Love.
By Christ's blood we have been redeemed.
water to Water. If the Jews had never passed through the Red Sea, then they would never have made it to the Promised Land. God performed one of His greatest miracles ever, there. He split the sea in two and allowed His people to cross. In other words, He opened the gates wide open for His people to enter the Promised Land.
Likewise, Jesus said: "No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit" (Jn 3:5). Baptism opens the floodgates of graces to flow into our lives. It also opens up the gates to heaven. We just need to Cross over.
i am who I am. There is so much more that could be said. Let me end with one final thought.
Moses is great, but Jesus is the great I AM. He is God. He is our Lord and savior. I am just an image and likeness of the great I AM. Our lives are models of the great one, the great God, the one and only God. What a relief it is to know that we can actually grow up, mature and become more and more like Him. This is our hope. This is our story. It is found in both the Old and New Testaments.
Thank you Father. I love it when you simplify something that had seemed hard to grasp.
ReplyDelete“It's hard to believe the God of the Old Testament is somehow related to the one in the New Testament.” Thank you for saying this out loud! There are only a few books in the OT that I get!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of…. Jesus was called the lamb of God, and in another place: God will separate the goats from the lambs. But I find it interesting that Jesus was the scape“goat” for all of us sinners!
Father, when you have an extra 35 minutes (in your spare time), I recommend you and your readers watch this short film that just came out:
http://www.blackstonefilms.org/the-latest/index.php
It's called 'The Third Way'.
It’s a beautiful piece of art!