The Lamb in the Manger
Christ, our Passover Lamb, was born to die
On our Christmas tree each year, we hang a little lamb. It helps us to remember what that famous story in Luke 2 is all about. In fact, thinking about Jesus as a Lamb unlocks a richness in the Christmas story that we might miss because of the familiarity of it all.
In his gospel account of the life of Jesus, Luke never states outright, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That statement is found in the gospel of John. And yet in Luke chapter 2, Luke uses his own beautiful literary way to show us that this beautiful baby is the Lamb of God, born to die for the sins of the world.
1. Jesus was born in a barn
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
We don’t actually know whether it was a stable or a barn (most likely it was a cave), but Jesus was born in a place where a lamb would likely be born. Luke tells us that he was laid in manger, a feeding trough for animals. I’m pretty sure there were no animal feeding troughs where I gave birth to my children. This detail is enough to make Luke’s point. This baby is no mere infant; he is the Lamb of God.
2. Jesus’ birth was announced to Shepherds
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Shepherd are the ones who care about the birth of a lamb. It is appropriate that they would receive this good news. The shepherds are the ones who would be comfortable going into a stable to look for a newborn lamb. They would have been familiar with searching for a lamb, as they were told to do that night.
Yes, the announcement to the Shepherds demonstrates that this Kingdom is for the lowly. But the Shepherds are also the only ones who could rightly attend the birth of a Lamb.
3. Jesus was carried into the temple at the time for sacrifice
The law of Moses required that after childbirth a woman needed to go to the temple and offer a lamb and a small bird for her purification (Leviticus 12:1-8). In Luke 2:22-24, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem to complete these requirements:
And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
Mary and Joseph brought two birds as their sacrifice because they could not afford a lamb, an accommodation the law allowed to the poor. And yet when they walked up the steps to the temple with their two little birds they did indeed carry with them a Lamb.
At this time, the Lamb was simply dedicated to the Lord, but he, too, would one day die to make purification, to make us clean from the stain of all our sin.
4. Jesus Spends the Passover in Jerusalem
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.
At the Passover Festival each year, lambs were sacrificed in remembrance of the great event in Jewish history where the angel of death was sent by God to kill all the firstborn sons of Egypt. The angel of death “passed over” the homes of the Hebrews because they had painted the blood of a lamb over their doorposts. (Exodus 12:13)
In Jesus’ day, the Jews still sacrificed lambs in celebration of the Passover. The temple sheep, the ones raised for the purpose of these Passover sacrifices, would have been pastured and born in the fields outside Bethlehem.* They were led into the city at the time of the Passover Festival to shed their blood like the ancient lambs before them.
Just like every Passover lamb born near Bethlehem and destined to be sacrificed at a Passover feast, Luke tells us that Jesus was brought to Jerusalem at Passover every year. At age 12 he sat among the temple teachers, and it was a lovely scene of welcome. But at one of these Passover feasts in his future, he, too, would shed his blood as a Passover Lamb is destined to do (Luke 22:1-2).
Behold, The Lamb of God
When he tells of the birth of our Savior, Luke is ever aware of the cross. And so without ever saying it outright, Luke carefully selects his details to declare: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world…”
When you think of that baby in the manger, I hope you see a Lamb. Like the lambs who came before him, this Lamb was born to die. He was born to die for you and for me, to save us from the penalty of death by shedding his precious blood on a cross. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior…” And salvation belongs to the Lamb.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, ... crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
*Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (public domain) at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/luke/2.htm
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