'My friend struggled with the zip of her suitcase. ‘I’ve got a souvenir from Switzerland for you. I do hope it hasn’t got squashed!’ Fortunately it wasn’t. It turned out to be a Swiss Easter delicacy – a cake in the shape of what I instantly recognized to be a lamb! Far too cute to be cut into with a knife, but delicious when I eventually bowed to temptation. I had never heard of Easter lamb cakes before. But actually, they are far more meaningful symbols of Jesus’ death and resurrection than the more common Easter eggs and Easter bunnies. His death on the cross is predicted in these words from the book of Isaiah.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

In the New Testament Jesus is described as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ My Easter lamb cake became a wonderful reminder that Jesus stood in my place at the cross taking the wrath of God upon himself in order that I might be forgiven and come into an intimate, close relationship with my Creator and Father God. Do click on the link below if you would like to read more about the significance of the phrase ‘the Lamb of God.’

By Revd. Miriam Davis