Thoughts from Pastor Andreas Weber on Easter: The lamb – a forgotten symbol
Photo: Catholic parish of St. Elisabeth“>
von ANDREAS WEBER
MAIN-KINZIG-KREIS – The following little incident is reported from the Saxon town of Pirma south of Dresden shortly after reunification:
A man from the west is standing in front of a beautiful old patrician house and marvels questioningly at the finely hewn stone coat of arms on a console: on it an Easter lamb with a flag of the cross, white on a red background. In addition, the simple-minded comment of the friend from the East: “It must have been a butcher’s shop.”
Should you laugh or be sad?
Signs can quickly lose their meaning and content is forgotten: education without religion, for forty years with the negation of the Christian-Occidental tradition in the East – but consumerism and superficiality in the West have also helped a lot.
The memory of one of the most beautiful and dazzling symbols of Christianity must not be erased:
The image of the lamb.
In many cultures, the lamb is a symbol of gentleness, tenderness, innocence, worthy of protection – but also a symbol of sacrifice: when the Exodus left Egypt, the blood of the lamb on the doorpost brought salvation to the people of Israel. Celebrated and dined in the Passover festival to this day.
John the Baptist will later point to Jesus and say: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – To this day these words have found their way into the Eucharist of the Church: every day.
Jesus himself takes up the symbol in his language: again and again he speaks of the good shepherd who never abandons his lambs. To Peter he says: “Feed my lambs!”
The image of the lamb also appears in powerful language in the last book of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation: Faith triumphs in the sacrifice of the lamb, at the source of living water in paradise, lying on the book with the seven seals – mysteriously as the epitome of mystery.
All of this has inspired artists again and again. The lamb, from whose heart blood flows into the chalice of the Eucharist, was a sign of hope in the persecution even in the days of the catacombs in Rome.
Later, the cross and halo and the red flag of victory commemorate the triumph of the Risen One.
The lamb is still present in art today: in a simple outline on chasubles and candles – often also in modern church windows – or in tasty Easter biscuits…
It is worth looking behind this symbol and getting to know it before it is forgotten.
In the east, but also in the west and in our region – Happy Easter,
wishes Pastor Andreas Weber, Dean.
