I love analogies, especially biblical ones, because they give me a picture that sticks with me.  I have found that the Bible is full of analogies – word pictures – from old testament to new, and, more than just flowery poetry, they communicate deeply, to the heart.  Sometimes biblical analogies and the events of life align in a way that give us a little glimpse into the realities that lie beyond what we can see, hear, and touch.  This was such a time.

The other week, I had the privilege of attending  a memorial service to celebrate the life of a dear friend’s mom, who was also my friend and neighbor.

The family had a photo of this woman with a baby lamb peeking over her shoulder.

It is a sweet photo.  Most would see the purity and innocence of a baby white lamb.

The photo story, though, reveals much deeper truths than purity and innocence.  It is a story of life, death, salvation, resurrection, comfort, hope, and healing.  Which is the story, quite simply, of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Three years ago, on an Easter Sunday, I was hosting an open house for my family and local friends.  My mom, a sheep farmer, had promised to bring a lamb for the main course of the meal.  When she arrived at the door, instead of holding a plate, she was holding a squirmy, white, baby lamb in her arms.  The lamb had lost its mother during childbirth, and my mom had “adopted” the baby.  The little creature couldn’t survive on its own without my mom offering it an hourly bottle.  It’s little life depended on human kindness.

“Lambkins” visit was a big surprise that Easter Sunday, to me and to my guests.  Interest in the dinner was quickly surpassed by interest in “what the lamb was up to” in its cage on the sun porch.  My friend’s mom got her photo with Lambkins on her shoulder, but she wasn’t the only one who held Lambkins in her arms that day.

The analogies – a baby lamb that could have died, alive and bringing joy and bringing people together on Easter Sunday, resurrection morning.

My friend’s mom had an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.  Just 20 months after her diagnosis, she was lying in a bed in the hospice unit of St. Francis Hospital, unable to move and barely able to breathe.  She breathed her last, and she left this world.  Instantly, she was healed from her cancer and her spirit went to be with her savior, because, in her life, she had embraced the sacrifice the Lamb of God had made for the whole world’s sins.

The analogies – death, life, healing and resurrection as my friend’s mom entered heaven and came into the presence of the Lamb of God.

The service was beautiful.  My friend’s mom was honored. Her picture with the lamb from that Easter morning was a memento that all who attended were able to carry home with them.  I came away feeling the sorrow of her loss, but also the comfort of knowing my friend’s mom was healed and in the presence of the Lamb.

The analogies – could it be that her holding the lamb that Easter Sunday morning, three years ago, was symbolic of her clinging to Christ’s sacrifice for her – and opening the way for her to join Him forever, in heaven?  The place of a lamb – that Easter, in the photo.  The place of a lamb, forever slain from the foundation of the world, sitting at the right hand of God.  The comfort of knowing that the same woman who held the lamb on the Sunday of resurrection was now resurrected and being held in heaven by the Lamb of God.