The Paschal Mystery… What is it?

Paschal refers to Lamb. The two significant and pivotal events which are centered about Lamb are the Passover and the Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection. The Passover is the event of God’s love for His people demonstrated through leading them from slavery to freedom, from Egypt to the Promised Land. More will be said about this later.

The word mystery is a stumbling block to understanding. The mystery is not how did God do this but WHY? And the answer to that is LOVE. “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” [John 3:17].

 The redemptive act of Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to be saved through His generosity. “In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of time, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.” [Ephesians 1:7-10]

 How did Jesus do this? “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave [servant], coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8]. Servant …Wheat … “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” [John 12:24]

From slavery to freedom --- The Israelites were made ready for the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land on the night of the Passover. The Tenth Plague, “Moses then said, ‘Thus says the Lord: At midnight I will go forth through Egypt. Every first born in this land shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first born of the slave-girl at the handmill, as well as the first born of all the animals.” [Exodus 11:4-5].

The Passover Ritual Prescribed … “The lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month--Abib [ripe grain] –shall at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: on the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month and then with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered in the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.’ “[Exodus 12:1-8]

“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking every first-born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you, thus when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.” [Exodus 12:11-13].

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. In the Old Testament, God protects and moves His people from slavery to freedom. He provides a place for them,”The Promised Land” where they might fulfill that for which they were created. In the New Testament God, in the person of Jesus Christ, redeems His people from slavery to sin to the freedom that has made us adopted children of God. Now we are able to call Him, Abba!!!! Father.  We, like Christ are to die to ourselves so that we may rise with Him and have a richer life more intimately connected to Him so that we become more like Him. In this, there is the opportunity to become all of who and why we were created….  It is all about becoming the image of God.