Called to die with the first-born (Easter 2015)
Allow me some reflections today, on a connection to Passover which isn't always appreciated. On the first Passover, the Hebrews (the dusty ones) were instructed to escape the destroyer sent by God (leaving aside whether the destroyer was or wasn't God Himself in action), by painting the blood of a slain lamb around their doors. On the last Passover (or the greatest Passover so far anyway, since we still celebrate it every year in remembrance as though we are participating in the event ourselves at that time), the One Who authoritatively sent the destroyer (or Who possibly even was acting as the destroyer Himself), voluntarily dies in a way the lambs had been symbolizing for centuries (as well as fulfilling other Jewish sacrificial prefigurations). The Lamb of God dies in solidarity with the lambs. But not only in solidarity with the lambs. The Only-Begotten of God dies in solidarity with the firstborn sons of man (and beasts) who were destroyed by the d...