The Christmas Lamb

@audreycfrank

I struggled to open the lock on our massive wooden front door. Bang, bang, bang! Whoever was on the other side was impatient.

Finally, the latch gave way, the weight of the door pushing it inward.

Standing in a pool of golden lamplight was a woman about my age.

The burqa she wore was shabby and torn but tidy and clean. Chin held brave and high, she looked directly at me with dignity despite her apparent poverty.

“Peace be upon you, honored woman, pleasing to the Prophet,” the woman greeted. I returned her peace and waited expectantly to hear what promised to be an urgent message. Her words came tumbling out like an avalanche.

“Please have mercy on me and my children. It is said that you are kind and generous. We do not have money for a sacrificial lamb. Can you provide a lamb for me?”

Eid al Adha, the “Festival of Sacrifice” or “Feast of Sheep”, was a week away. It was Christmastime, and this year, the major Islamic holiday would fall exactly on Christmas Day. Our Muslim friends were busy preparing for their holiest holiday when they would commemorate the patriarch Abraham and his obedience to God when he climbed the mountain to sacrifice his son. According to Islamic belief, that son was Ishmael, not Isaac. However, in both the Judeo-Christian and Muslim narrative God provided a sacrificial lamb to take the beloved son’s place. 

Every Muslim family who could afford it would buy a sheep to fatten up for the day of sacrifice. One third of the meat would be reserved for the family, one-third given to the needy, and one-third shared with friends.

The implication of her request was staggering. I invited her inside to discuss her need further. As we settled on the long couches in my living room, I stared at the nativity scene nestled on the corner table, the baby Jesus peacefully sleeping in the wooden manger. The Christmas lamb, unblemished, who would take away the sins of the world.

“A lamb has already been provided for you, my sister,” I began.

Her eyes grew wide as I shared with her the story of the Christmas Lamb, the One foretold by the ram caught by its horns in the thicket as Abraham faced the greatest test of his life. She grew quiet as her eyes glistened with tears.

Taking the Bible from its stand on the highest place in the room, I read to her the words of Revelation 5:12,

“‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!’”

(Revelation 5:12, NIV)

This is the Lamb, given by God, for you.

I wish I could say my visitor gladly embraced the Messiah Jesus that day. Instead, she left disappointed and deep in thought.

She had come to my door for a physical lamb, a lamb that would fill her stomach and the stomachs of her children, a lamb whose sacrifice would add weight to the scales of good, over the scales of bad, in her religious paradigm. She could not believe that sacrifice for sins was no longer necessary. For her, heaven was not guaranteed. Until Judgement Day, she would have to prove to God that she was good enough to be considered for entry, and even then it may not be enough.

The Christmas Lamb was enough, and therefore, we are enough.

I wonder if you, like my visitor that Christmas, struggle to believe the deed has already been done for you. Perhaps you feel too dirty to ever be made clean or holy. Or maybe you are so good, so busy with good deeds, that you believe you don’t need God’s help at all. Maybe you are tormented by the accusation that you are simply not enough. We all have a story, a belief system, and the Lamb gave his life for every last one.

God has provided a Lamb, and He came in the form of a baby to a little village called Bethlehem on a silent night long ago. #Christmas #Advent (Click to Tweet)

He grew up and gave himself for you and for me, that we could enter heaven, guaranteed. No more striving to make ourselves clean and holy. No more trying to make the good outweigh the bad. Simply acceptance of the One who died to stand in our place before a holy God that we might be able to stand before Him forgiven and clean, forever and ever.

If you have never received your Christmas Lamb, pray the following prayer and experience true Christmas peace that will last far beyond this season of tinsel and lights.

Dear God, I need a Lamb this Christmas. I believe that you sent your Son Jesus to remove my shame and forgive my sin. I believe that He died for my sin and shame and that you raised Him to life again. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow Him as my Lord. Help me trust you and grow my faith. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, write to me for next steps in your relationship with God at audreyfrank139@gmail.com