The Lamb

A Christmas Eve Sermon

The Lamb is a poem by the 18^th century poet, painter, printmaker and mystic William Blake.  It has been set to music by the contemporary British composer John Tavener.  Both the poem and the music function on two levels, simple and complex.  The poem has a childlike nursery rhyme character about it, the choral work uses only 7 notes in simple phrases.  At the same time there are deep theological inferences in the words Blake uses, and Tavener combines the 7 notes in complex harmonies that point to something more than childlike innocence.

The poem begins with the poet asking a lamb (or perhaps a child) “Little Lamb, who made thee?”  In the second stanza the poet answers his own question by saying the lamb’s Creator calls himself by the same name: Lamb – describing the Creator with the lamb-like characteristics of ‘meek and mild.’

What a contrast!  The creator of all, the all-powerful force behind the vast universe, is given the name “Lamb” - Why?

Part of the answer comes in the nativity story – the birth of Jesus.  Echoing the Gospel of John’s proclamation that the Word became flesh, Blake reveals that the Creator who is a Lamb “became a little child.”

The descendants of Abraham and Sarah were familiar with God appearing in spectacular ways. Mighty and powerful, smoke and fire, thunderous voice, shaking mountains!  This is why the incarnation, the birth of Jesus, is so astonishing!  God choose to enter the world, our world, as a baby – completely opposite to what was expected.

Instead of power, Jesus came as a vulnerable baby. Instead of loud booming thunder – the tiny cry of an infant.  Instead of fire on the mountain – a bed of straw in a stable.  Jesus enters our world as a meek and mild baby, dependent on the care and compassion of others.

A lamb and a baby have some things in common: they’re both cute, they’re both soft, they’re both nonthreatening.  This is the opposite of the fierce, hard and forbidding.  By coming into the world he created in this lamb-like way Jesus tells us something about God and us.

About God - the incarnation tells us that God wants to draw close to us, to all of us.  As a fiery presence on Mount Sinai only a select few could draw close to God, any one else would die if they got too close to the holy mountain (Exodus 19:9-24).  As a baby in a manger all could draw close, as illustrated by the shepherd’s coming to see the child (Luke 2:15-17). God does not want us to stay clear because of fear, rather God draws us close with love.

About us - the incarnation tells us that God wants us to enter into the lives of those around us in a similar manner – gently and humbly, nonthreatening and mild.  As God has come to us in love, we are to go to one another in love.  In teaching his disciples Jesus makes this clear: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  (John 13:34)

There is another reason the Creator is called The Lamb in this poem.  In the salvation history of the descendants of the Abraham and Sarah the lamb is a significant animal.  The lamb was an important part of the Passover, when the Hebrew slaves were set free from slavery.  The lamb was sacrificed for the freedom of others (Exodus 12:3-13).  After the Exodus the sacrificial lamb became part of the ritual worship life of Jewish people, offering forgiveness for sin and restoration of the covenant.  For the people of Israel the lamb was a symbol of freedom and forgiveness.

Jesus is also killed for the freedom of others – in this way he is like the Passover Lamb – but for all the world.  We too are freed from slavery, not from human masters, but freedom from sin and death.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus went to his death quietly and humbly, not using his immense power for personal rescue or revenge – rather ending his life the way he began it, like a lamb – humbly, non-violently, peacefully.

The Lamb reminds us that we need not fear.  We need not fear God because God loves us. Nor do we need to fear earthly powers because they are limited and will end.  We need not fear even death, which is no longer the end of our story because of our connection with Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

The Lamb reminds us that peace is what we should strive for, it should be the very core of who we are. We are reminded that “Peace on Earth” is not just for one night a year – but it is God’s intention for all people, in all places, and all times.

The Lamb reminds us that the Creator is a God of surprises, that God will show up in the most unlikely places and people – thus we should treat all places and all people as holy, as part of God’s good creation.

The Lamb reminds us that God, who could have blazed into the world to set things right, instead choose to do things differently – using love and self-sacrifice to do what power and might could not. We are reminded to live as lambs ourselves – to recognize that more of God’s will is accomplished by humble love and sacrifice than any other manner.  To be lamb-like to one another is the greatest gift we can give at Christmas or any other time.

May you find the peace and love of the Lamb of God filling you to overflowing this day and in the year to come.  “Little Lamb, God bless thee!”

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Click here to hear a version of John Tavener’s composition based on William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” sung by The Choir of King's College, Cambridge.