December 2, 2009 – Little Lamb
Scripture: Revelation 5: 11-13 (NAB)
I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”
Devotion:
It is easy for me to picture Jesus as the Lion of Judah, especially after seeing the recent Narnia movies. The image of the lion is regal, powerful, and imposing. But the image of the Lamb – gentle, weak, almost helpless; how can this be Jesus?
I think we fall too easily into the trap of trying to make Jesus fit into our image of what He should be like. We are told that many fell away from following Him when He didn’t turn out to be who they thought He should be. Even those closest to Him didn’t fully understand that He came to be The Lamb.
But The Lamb is anything but weak and helpless. Can you imagine the sound of that worship song in heaven? We don’t shout our praises to weak and helpless images. At the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We don’t need to wait until the end of time – we can worship Him now – worthy IS the Lamb who was slain; He who sits on Heaven’s mercy seat offered Himself for us – choosing all the “wrong” images: child, servant, lamb and turning our world upside down but also setting everything right. Funny how that works when we let Him out of the box of our limited image of Him.
O Sweet Mary’s Lamb, clear our heads and our hearts of the muddled images we have of You. Help us to see You and to love You. Thank You for the gift of Yourself. To You be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever. Amen
