• Call Alyssa and Nic up and share how much you love them.
• Illustration - Memphis Express
• I don't know if I could ever do that. I don't know if I could ever sacrifice my children for someone else.
• Yet that is exactly what God did for us in Jesus Christ.
• Sacrificial love costs. Sacrificial love gives - and keeps giving.
• As we come to the communion table today I want you to first Behold the Lamb

Behold the Lamb!

• Realize that Mary was a witness to the horror as her son was sacrificed like a lamb.
• This was not a new concept for her. It was fortold by Isaiah, Isaiah 53:7 "He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."
• She no doubt remembered the words of John the Baptist, her nephew John 1:29, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
• As she stood there she saw the Lamb, and the fulness of what was transpiring. Let's look deeper at the Lamb that Mary gazed upon, her child as He was sacrificed.

Characteristics of the Lamb

• There are some well known characteristics of lambs, and Jesus was constantly being referred to as a Lamb, but I get the feeling that Mary may have struggled to see this designation for her son:
• Lambs wander aimlessly, but Jesus had always been purposely focused.
• Lambs need constant care, but Jesus had always consistently given care.
• Lambs are slow to respond, but Jesus had always quickly responded to those in need.
• To Mary, he was much more like a shephard, his other favorite designation than a lamb.
• But Jesus was a lamb and there was something very important about that.

Importance of the Lamb

• It would seem that for Mary's lamb, there was only one meaning, one ultimate purpose: sacrifice.
• Mary's mind could have raced back to the night when shepherds came to visit her in the manger. These men had been tending sheep, sheep which would be used at the temple.
• No doubt Jesus as a child, was taught like all Jewish children, about the lamb throughout the redemptive history of God:
• Abel had sacrificed a lamb. Is awas a sacrifice for an individual.
• Lambs were slaughtered on the nigh tof the Exodus. These were sacrifices for families.
• On the day of atonement, a lamb was sacrificed. It was a sacrifice for the whole nation.
• Now, as Mary stood before the cross, her Lamb was being sacrificed. He was a sacrifice for the whole world
• But there was a cost.

Cost for the Lamb

• As Mary stood there, the religious leaders around her yelled, "It is over!"
• As the disciples began to walk away from the cross, Mary probably heard the disciples express, "We're through!"
• And then Mary heard the cry of her Son from the cross: "It is finished"
• Let us not forget of the agony endured by this spotless Lamb and the supreme cost for our salvation.

Conclusion

• That is why we come to the table today, to remember and reflect upon that sacrifice.
• Today may be a day for you to make a decision to put your faith in Jesus, he sacrificed His child so that you may have eternal life.
• Today you may need to prepare yourself to come to the table in remembrance.
• Come today.