My Name on the Lamb

So yesterday began the Passover season with the first seder last night.  We had a few friends over, told the old and the new Passover stories (the one about the Israelites salvation from slavery to Egypt and the one about our salvation from sin and darkness).  We broke the bread and drank the wine.  All in all, we had a great time and it was very meaningful...

But there is always something that stands out to me...  Here is an excerpt from A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce (they say it better than I can):

During the Passover time, a sign hung on each lamb's neck, bearing the name of the owner of the lamb.  Jesus was crucified with a sign hung over His head with the name of His Father.  Studies have shown the Tetragrammaton probably appeared over Jesus when He hung on the cross.  During Bible times, messages were commonly written with the first letter of each word.  An example in English:  UPS, stands for United Parcel Service.  The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews" was written in three languages on a sign above Jesus as he hung on the cross (John 19:19).  The Hebrew initials for "Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews" was YHWH.  That is why the priest asked Pilate to change the writing.  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written (John 19:21-22).

I don't know... It just overwhelms me to think that had I been around during that time... my family name would have hung around a lamb's neck... reminding me that that lamb would have to die for the sins of my family that year...

And then the realization that when the last sacrifice was made, when the Lamb of God was sacrificed... it wasn't my name on the sign, but the Father's.  He ransomed Jesus for me and returned Him as something sweet... 

And then I think about the Jewish people today and just my very soul cries out for them in their lostness...  That God did all that with such intentionality...  so that they would understand and come to Him...  

Today begins The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and while my meals are already planned and I have not removed all the yeast from my house, I am going to be spending the next 7 days searching for "leaven" in my life...

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast- as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.  (1 Cor. 5:7-8)

What kind of bread are you celebrating with?