I’ve been teaching classes on the Eucharist for years. Researching the Jewish Passover liturgy for years. And slowly, ever so slowly, I have been piecing together some incredible connections between the slaughter of Jesus and the Passover Lamb. It just keeps going deeper and deeper …
It is still not widely known — even with the Church Fathers discussing it and great books like Dr. Brant Pitre’s The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist — that the Passover lambs were crucified just like Jesus. And all the implications!
But there’s more … and this is what has taken so long to piece together … every Sorrowful Mystery — the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, AND the Crucifixion — they ALL match the sacrifice of the Passover lambs. ALL of them.
I’ve finally made a video presentation putting all this together:
“Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29) St. John the Baptist tell us, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.
Here’s a preview of everything discussed in the video linked above:
A River of Blood and Water, Just Like From the Side of Jesus
Enough Blood to Fill the Entire Temple!
Josephus, a First Century Jewish priest and historian, reports that 256,500 lambs would have been slaughtered every Passover during the time of Jesus.
» Here’s the link to this part of the video presentation.
AND all 256,500 lambs were slaughtered IN THE TEMPLE. First, the Temple priests would drain all that blood. A literal river of blood and water flowing from the side of the Temple — which Jesus described as His own body, from which, when pierced, will flow a river of blood and water!
How much blood are we talking about? A LOT. Enough to fill the entire Temple.
The 1st Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony in the Garden
Jesus praying in the garden. He’s about to fix what happened in the original garden. And he’s praying again in the Garden of Gethsemane.
If you’re familiar with the geography of Jerusalem, Jesus in on the edge of the Kidron Valley. Looking across the Kidron Valley, Jesus would have been able to see directly into the outer courts of the Temple, and even to where the flocks of sheep were being kept in preparation for their slaughter the next day.
The 2nd Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the Pillar
The Passover Lambs, after their blood was drained, needed to be skinned and dressed for roasting. They weren’t just skinned — they were scourged at the pillar!
» Here’s the link to this part of the video presentation.
The lambs were scourged at the pillar, just like Jesus!
And note the two men in the bottom-right hand corner of the image above. There were only so many places at the pillars to skin the lambs. If you could not find a spot, two of your friends would hold a post across their shoulders, and the lamb would hang between them for you to skin.
The lamb would hang between two men … just like the Lamb of God hung between two thieves!
The 3rd Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning with Thorns
God says to Abraham at Genesis 22: 9-14: “‘Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold …” the lamb of God.
The same words that St. John the Baptist used could be used here.
The scene continues, “Behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’”
The ram — a male lamb — is caught by his horns in a thorn bush! The lamb is wearing a CROWN of THORNS, just like Jesus!
Not only that …
Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord will provide,” also translated God Himself will provide the lamb. Because at that very same location, 2,000 years later, God will provide Himself as the lamb of sacrifice.
» Here’s the link to this part of the video presentation.
It’s the same location!
We still have the stone where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac. It’s called the Foundation Stone, and is now covered by the Muslim Dome of the Rock. Mt. Calvary or Golgotha are right next door! AND right next door to the temple!
See all this in the image below:
The 4th & 5th Sorrowful Mysteries: The Carrying of the Cross & the Crucifixion
The Jews actually crucified the Passover lambs!!
» Here’s the link to this part of the video presentation.
The lambs were crucified in a two-step process:
Mishna Pesahim 5:9: The Jews would drive “thin smooth staves” of wood through the lamb’s shoulders to hang and skin it
Mishna Pesahim 7:1: The Jews would also “thrust” a “skewer of pomegranate wood” through the Passover lamb “from its mouth to its buttocks”
It's not just me saying this, by the way. This ultimately comes from the Church Fathers. Here is St. Justin Martyr on the Crucifixion of the Lambs [Dialogue with Trypho, Ch. 40, (110-165)]:
The mystery, then, of the lamb which God enjoined to be sacrificed as the Passover, was a type of Christ; with whose blood, in proportion to their faith in Him, they anoint their houses, i.e., themselves, who believe on Him. For that the creation which God created—to wit, Adam—was a house for the spirit which proceeded from God, you all can understand. And that this injunction was temporary, I prove thus. God does not permit the lamb of the Passover to be sacrificed in any other place than where His name was named; knowing that the days will come, after the suffering of Christ, when even the place in Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would undergo. For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb. And the two goats which were ordered to be offered during the fast, of which one was sent away as the scape [goat], and the other sacrificed, were similarly declarative of the two appearances of Christ [Ecce Homo & Crucifixion]: the first, in which the elders of your people, and the priests, having laid hands on Him and put Him to death, sent Him away as the scape [goat]; and His second appearance, because in the same place in Jerusalem you shall recognize Him whom you have dishonored, and who was an offering for all sinners willing to repent, and keeping the fast which Isaiah speaks of, loosening the terms of the violent contracts, and keeping the other precepts, likewise enumerated by him, and which I have quoted, which those believing in Jesus do. And further, you are aware that the offering of the two goats, which were enjoined to be sacrificed at the fast, was not permitted to take place similarly anywhere else, but only in Jerusalem.
"Do This in Remembrance of Me"
Finally, this celebration of the Passover, the slaughter and crucifixion and eating of the lambs, was to last FOREVER. An everlasting covenant!
The terms “memorial” or “remembrance” are used in Exodus (12:14), just as Jesus says "Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19). "Remembrance" is Anamnesis (ἀνάμνησις) in Greek. It means making a past event present and real again rather than just a simple mental thought or recollection.
It's not just a memory recalled. It's time travel!
We are not re-sacrificing Jesus. We are bringing the Passover of 33AD to today.
As St. Paul says, “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast!” (1 Cor 5:7-8).
So, how do we eat the Passover lambs today? How do we keep the feast?
There's only ONE way. We have to really eat Jesus, God's Passover Lamb, body, blood, soul, and divinity. Not just a symbol of Jesus' flesh. Jesus' real body, real flesh, and real blood.
The Eucharist! The Real Presence of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Lamb of God, Jesus. Read more HERE.
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