The slain Lamb freed us from death to life
Many things were predicted by the prophets about the mystery of Easter, which is Christ, to whom be given glory forever and ever. Amen (Gal 1,5). He came down from heaven to earth to heal man’s illnesses; he clothed himself with our nature in the womb of the Virgin and became man; he took upon himself the sufferings of the sick man in a suffering body, and destroyed the passions of the flesh; His spirit, which cannot die, killed homicidal death.
He was led like a lamb and killed like a sheep; He freed us from the seductions of the world, as he once brought the Israelites out of Egypt; he saved us from the slavery of the devil, as he once brought Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh; he marked our souls with the sign of his Spirit and our bodies with his blood.
It was he who conquered death and confused the devil, as Moses once did to Pharaoh. It was he who destroyed iniquity and condemned injustice to sterility, like Moses to Egypt.
It was he who made us pass from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life, from tyranny to the endless kingdom, and made us a new priesthood, a chosen people forever. He is the Passover of our salvation.
It was he who took upon himself the sufferings of many: he was killed in Abel; tied hand and foot to Isaac; exiled from his land in Jacob; sold in José; exposed in Moses; sacrificed in the paschal lamb; persecuted in David and outraged in the prophets.
It was he who became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin, was suspended on the cross, buried in the earth and, rising from the dead, ascended to the highest heaven.
He was the lamb that did not open its mouth, the slain lamb, born of Mary, the beautiful little sheep; removed from the herd, he was taken to the slaughterhouse, sacrificed in the afternoon and buried at night; when he was crucified, they did not break any of his bones, and when he was buried, he did not experience corruption; but rising from the dead, he also raised humanity from the depths of the tomb.
From the Homily on Easter, by Meliton of Sardis, bishop
(N.65-71: SCh123,94-100)
(2nd century)
