April 27, 2022
Don’t mix metaphors. It is standard advice given in composition classes. If your writing is flowing well, it is like driving down a smooth road, but adding a mixed metaphor can take the wind out of your sails.
You get the picture.
I am not sure the authors of the New Testament were well versed in this wisdom, however. The texts we read in the Easter season are a bit divergent. Jesus is the good shepherd, the sacrificial lamb, the lamb who is a groom, and the lamb who is worthy of worship. A variety of mixed metaphors, if you ask me.
Let me try to untangle these images for you. First, the proclamation of an executed savior has no precedent. The early Christians had to create a way of speaking about the resurrection from the resources they had. They drew primarily from the Hebrew Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. Second, metaphors function as symbols that open up to more than one interpretation. This makes metaphors and symbols helpful when speaking of a God who is greater than our imaginations. So, we need to be careful not to narrow our interpretations of these metaphors to mean only one thing.
Consider the metaphor of Jesus is a shepherd. Shepherd was a common image in the ancient world for a king or queen. Shepherds had superiority and authority over their flock, but also offered them protection. On the one hand, Jesus is a lord, but on the other hand, Jesus is willing to die for his people, a rather extreme commitment for either a ruler or shepherd.
Yet Jesus is also a lamb, a sacrificial lamb. The Apostle Paul’s phrase in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast,” is a helpful starting place. According to John’s gospel, Jesus died on the Cross at the same time the Passover lamb was being slaughtered in the temple. Jesus’ blood shed on the Cross, covers our sins, in the same way the blood of the lamb covered the first born in Egypt before the exodus. But this lamb was raised, revealing that Jesus was the embodiment of God’s salvation, exalted by the Father as head of the Church and the Lord of all creation. So Jesus was a shepherd who was a lamb who was a king, and so much more.
I offer this simply to invite you to consider what a mystery it is to celebrate a crucified and risen savior, and then to enthusiastically worship God with praise and thanksgiving this Eastertide. I also invite you to consider how those with little or no church background find this language so confusing. How do we communicate our belief in a God who has conquered sin and death in this season when sin and death is so prevalent? This question is in the forefront of my prayers these days. Might it find its way into yours.
I hope that life in our church is less mysterious than the resurrection, but to some of you it might be still somewhat unknown. If this is the case for you, I invite you to spend some time after worship, from 11:30-1:30 on May 15th and 22nd to get to know our church better. Please sign up with Cinda Madonna through our church office for these sessions, as we will be serving a light lunch on both days.
Our church softball team will play its first game May 5 at Greenlake Ballfields at 7:30 pm. No sheepish play on our part this season, and the only mystery is how far Coach Nilson will take the team this year.
Praying continued Easter blessings on you all,
Pastor Todd