John, cousin of Jesus, was sent by God to prepare the people and make them ready for the coming of the Lord.  He was to be a witness to the true light of God.  He proclaimed Jesus to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29). Out Advent time is meant to prepare us for the coming of the Lord.

This a photo of my high school girlfriends, dear and wonderful friends!  Every spring we get together and this year we were in Salado, Texas. In our wanderings we discovered this expressive sculpture of Jesus, the Good Shepherd:

Even though it was raining, I could not resist getting out of the car, walking up close, examining this beautiful work of art from every viewpoint.  Here is my favorite…

What a captivating gaze of an obviously deep connection between Jesus and the lamb.  Whatever it is they know and are feeling, it is the same for both of them!

In the Old Testament we are told that a lamb was sacrificed by the people to take away their sin and bring them close to God again.  This was called atonement. It had to be done over and over again.  Jesus came to earth as the Lamb of God to be the sacrifice for all sin once and for all.  In this sculpture the faces of Jesus and the lamb passionately express that they both KNOW…they both understand with all their being what it means to be chosen as the sacrificial lamb.  If you look closely you can see a raindrop has fallen onto Jesus’ face and lingers right at the tip of his nose.  It gives the feeling that a tear has come, and is just about to fall upon the lamb.

Every year I put my lamb under the Christmas tree along with my bears Curly and Dot who are reading “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”.  The lamb is named Beauregard and he is from San Angelo, just like me.

Questions to think about…

Look for any lamb, real or symbolic, that might appear unexpectedly along your path this Advent journey.

Think about the gift of Jesus, Lamb of God.

nk