After the study on Thursday night, some of the ladies and I were discussing the story we’d heard of the Shepherd and the wayward lamb. At this point, one of the lovely girls there recalled that Jesus’ bones were never broken. And there the story took on additional meaning and significance.
Jesus is referred to as both the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God. As the Good Shepherd, He cares for us, His sheep. As our Shepherd, He breaks us to bring us back to Him. But when we look at Jesus as the Lamb of God, the perfect Lamb, we find He never strayed from the voice of His Father. A Lamb who walked with His Shepherd all of His days here on earth. Jesus had to live a perfect life in order for Him to be the perfect sacrifice. He had to live a blameless and pure life if He were to take the sins of the entire world onto Himself, and if we were to then be pardoned from them through His sacrifice. This was God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus died for our sins and yet, as John states, as a perfect Lamb, “not one of his bones will be broken” (19:36).
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor5:21). The Good Shepherd became the perfect Lamb so that we might be made righteous. The sacrifice of His life justifies us before our Creator and Father. He healed the broken relationship between God and the human race, saving us from death. The Healer, never broken, restored us to our Father and gave us new life. And if that isn't enough to make me say "thank you", i don't know what is.
Did you know when a lamb or sheep ran away, the shepherd would break it's legs in order to carry it back? Just another thought to throw into Jesus' bones not being broken. Not sure if that's what you were referring to int he beginning of your blog, but I just found that out a couple weeks ago and have been dwelling on it a lot.
ReplyDeleteLeash, my love! you got it, that's exactly what i was getting at here! (: the post before this one explains (: pretty incredible, huh?
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