Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Lamb of God Who Takest Away the Sins of the World

When Jesus the Christ was crucified, the slain lamb of the Passover, he was already defiled under the Rabbinic law, and, had he been living that evening, would have been prohibited from sharing the passover meal with the rest of his people, precisely through the fault of the high priest, who arranged the defilement. Yet another aspect of his alienation, and the greater glory of the new law of grace, for now we feed of that once-defiled Lamb. It is very beautiful.

John 18:28: "Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover."

and then

John 18:33: "So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?'"

So Jesus, presumably under Roman guard, has entered the headquarters with Pilate, and, unlike the servants of Caiaphas the high priest who wait outside, is now defiled.

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