Christmas: Lamb of God

It’s fairly obvious – we’ve entered the Christmas season. The number of carols being sung in churches has gone from nought to ninety almost overnight and many worship teams will already be dusting off their jingle bells and elf hats.

But what do all these carols actually mean? Do we understand the cultural significance of lyrics we can almost recite from memory? Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to dig deeper into the reality of those well-known songs.

Let’s start with the sweetness of ‘Away in a Manger’. Ignoring the fact that baby Jesus apparently didn’t cry, already behaving like the dream child, we also have a birth happening in a manger - the feeding trough for the animals. Jesus was born in the specific building where lambs would be birthed, washed, cleaned and prepared ready to send to the shepherds. The Lamb of God, born with actual lambs.

Let’s stick with that image and move onto ‘While Shepherd’s watched their flocks’. These flocks were special – they weren’t just any old lambs! We’re in Bethlehem, which means that these were the chosen sacrificial lambs. They were prepared for the priests in the temple – a short term fix for the problem of sin that was more fully resolved in the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lamb of God, Jesus.

This deep connection between the shepherds, the image of Jesus as Lamb of God, and His birth in a manger take these classic carols to the next level. As we play and lead with these songs, let’s worship with them, recognising with greater understanding that Jesus is the centre of this story, the lamb of God, born into this world to save humanity from sin.

What a story!