Celebrating the Lamb of God

We began some new Easter traditions this year.  This year we decided to celebrate with a sheep.  

In the book of John, Jesus is called the Lamb of God, and in Isaiah 53, it says this of him, 

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

...he bore the sins of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."

Friday afternoon, James and John Hardy went to the meat market, and with the help of a couple neighbors, they picked out a sheep for our family.  We brought the sheep home and the next morning all the kids went to the neighbor's house with James to watch them kill the sheep and butcher it.  The kids were fascinated with the whole process, and even Noa, who is honing her language skills came home repeating over and over again, "sheeps dead".  It is one thing to imagine Jesus being the lamb of God, slain for our sins, but it is a different thing to see an animal killed, and see the blood pour from his veins onto the ground. Pictures really are worth a thousand words.  I think God made it that way so that when the real 'lamb of God' came, we would recognize him right away.  

After butchering the sheep, we divided the meat into portions to give to our neighbors in hopes that we would have the opportunity to tell them about the real "Lamb of God."  It amazed me time and time again to realize that none of them had ever really heard the story of Jesus coming alive from the dead.  There is so much to tell them, and so little time!