LISTEN TO COME AND SEE! CHAPTER 16 – THE PERFECT LAMB
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Welcome to this special Easter edition of Redeeming the Chaos with Laurie Christine!
A FAMILY DEVOTIONAL FOR EASTER
For 30 days leading up to Easter, I will be reading to you from my easter devotional book, Come and See! 30 Family Bible Stories for Easter.
Today, I am reading Come and See! Chapter 16 – THE PERFECT LAMB.
Come and See! invites families of elementary-aged children to experience firsthand the anticipation, the sorrow, the tragedy, the fear, and the ultimate triumph of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Through the eyes of six eye witnesses, you will be led on a journey through the busyness of the streets of Jerusalem, to the despair of Golgotha, and finally to the celebration of the empty grave.
This bookincludes 30 short devotional stories, each with accompanying Scripture references and questions for discussion and imagination.
We are going to be reading one story each day leading up to Easter. You’re welcome to grab the kids and listen together for your family Bible time. Or, if you would rather read to your kids on your own, you can DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE ENTIRE EBOOK HERE.
LISTEN TO COME AND SEE! CHAPTER 16 – THE PERFECT LAMB
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READ COME AND SEE! CHAPTER 16 – THE PERFECT LAMB
THE PERFECT LAMB – Told by Nicodemus, A Pharisee
“I was glad for a diversion that day — thankful for something to keep my mind off the horrific events of the night before. I was familiar with the process of crucifixion, and it wasn’t something I wanted to watch.”
nicodemus, a pharisee
I had left Caiaphas’ house early Friday morning and gone back to the temple to prepare for the Passover. I had been up all night, but there was so much to be done today. Thousands of Jews had come to Jerusalem from all over the land to celebrate the Passover feast. When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he had commanded them to sacrifice a perfect, spotless, male lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their houses. God would then “pass over” each house that had blood on the doorposts, and the oldest child in that family would not die.
Still today, families sacrifice a spotless lamb as a reminder that God had freed us from bondage in Egypt and saved our firstborn sons from death. We Pharisees are pretty strict about following the Jewish laws and traditions, making sure that the Passover lambs are sacrificed in just the right way, with just the right ceremony. No lamb that is bruised or injured may be offered as a sacrifice. Only one that is perfect in every way.
Most of the lambs we use for sacrifice have been raised in the small town of Bethlehem, just a few miles south of Jerusalem. The Levitical shepherds take great care in making sure the lambs don’t get injured by wrapping them tightly in long strips of swaddling cloth.
Needless to say, with thousands of people in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover that day, there was much to be done in the temple. Traditionally, the lambs must be sacrificed beginning at three o’clock on the afternoon of the Passover. Families would bring their lambs to the temple courtyard, where the priests were in charge of killing the lambs and sprinkling their blood on the altar. Thousands of lambs and thousands of families would be coming through the temple that very afternoon.
I was glad for a diversion that day — thankful for something to keep my mind off the horrific events of the night before. I was familiar with the process of crucifixion, and it wasn’t something I wanted to watch. Not only was it an excruciating way to die, it was also incredibly humiliating. I knew exactly what the Roman soldiers would be doing to Jesus this very minute.
After beating him and whipping him, they would lay him on a rough wooden cross and pound heavy spikes into his hands and feet. The splintery cross would be stood on end and dropped into a hole in the ground to support it. Then, the agonizing process of suffocation would begin.
After struggling many long hours, attempting to push himself up and fill his lungs with air, Jesus would eventually die of exhaustion and asphyxiation. Sometimes the Roman guards would break the legs of the one being crucified so that he could no longer push himself up to breathe. It would not be long after that until breathing would be impossible.
I couldn’t bear to think about Jesus hanging on the cross, gasping for every breath, as iron spikes sent sharp stabs of pain through his hands and feet. My stomach was in knots. I tried to focus on my assignment of organizing and directing groups of visiting priests who had arrived to help with the Passover sacrifices, desperate to keep myself busy.
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