Traditional Catholic Teaching

Appendix to Supplement B of Lesson 11

Appendix: The Paschal Lamb and Jesus

by Bishop Frederick Kneckt

The Paschal Lamb, a type of Jesus Christ. The paschal lamb was a sacrifice, for it is expressly said (Ex 12: 27) that it was "the victim of the passage of the Lord". As such, it was pre-eminently a type of our Lord, and principally in the following ways. The paschal lamb was to be without blemish: Jesus Christ is the Most Pure, the Most Holy, "a lamb unspotted and undefiled" (1 Peter: 1: 19). The paschal lamb was killed, and its blood spilt Jesus Christ was slain for us the altar of the Cross, and shed all His Blood for us: Of the paschal lamb "no bone was to be broken" contrary to the usual custom with those crucified, not one of our Lord's bones was broken. Through the blood of the paschal lamb the Israelites were saved from temporal death through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ we are saved from the spiritual death of sin, and the eternal death of hell. The paschal lamb, therefore, foretold that the future Saviour would be unspotted; that He would sacrifice Himself for us, that He would give His Life Land Blood for us, that not one of His bones would be broken, and that we, through His sacrifice, would be saved from death.

There is no salvation, except through Jesus Christ. The blood of the paschal lamb obtained mercy for the Israelites, and saved them from death, only because it was a type of the Redeemer of the world. Its atoning and saving power did not lie in itself, but came from the blood of Jesus Christ whose sacrifice and death were prefigured by the death of the lamb. The Israelites, because they sacrificed the paschal lamb and sprinkled their houses with its blood, having faith in the future Redeemer, were spared by reason of that faith: Even in the Old Testament, it was only through faith in the future Redeemer that men could obtain pardon.

The meaning of the Paschal Feast in the Old Law and the New Law. The Jewish Pasch was instituted by God through Moses, in thankful commemoration of the deliverance of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, and also as a type of their future deliverance from sin and hell. The Christian Paschal Feast was instituted by God through His Church, in thankful commemoration of the redemption of all mankind from sin and hell by Jesus Christ, of our deliverance by Him from the bondage of Satan, and of His overcoming the death of the body by His glorious resurrection. The former was a reminder of the promise of redemption, the latter a reminder of its fulfilment, of our real redemption by the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.

The importance of the Paschal Feast, as a type of our redemption, is shown by the command of God to make it from thenceforth the beginning of a new year.

The Paschal Lamb, a type of Holy Communion. The paschal lamb was not only a sacrifice; it was also a food which had to be partaken of. In Holy Communion our Lord, the true Paschal Lamb, gives Himself to us to be the Food of our souls. This priceless Food, if It is to nourish us, must be partaken of, mingled with the "bitter herb" of penance and a sincere confession of our sins. If we receive It worthily, It strengthens us for our journey through the wilderness of this life, and will enable us to reach the Promised Land of everlasting happiness. "He that eateth this bread", said our Lord, "shall live for ever" (John 6: 59).

The connection between type and fulfilment. It could not be said that the bones of our Lord were not broken, because the bones of the paschal Lamb, which was a type of Him, were not broken. The case must be reversed; for a type points to the person typified, and not the person to the type. Because, therefore, God in His omniscience knew that no bone of the crucified Redeemer would be broken, He commanded that no bone should be broken of the paschal lamb, which was intended to be a type of that Redeemer. It is the same with all types. The omniscient God has so disposed them that they point to the Redeemer, to His work and His kingdom.

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