Every year Samaritan’s Purse distributes millions of shoeboxes across the globe through its Operation Christmas Child. This is an amazing ministry that puts a gift and the Gospel in the hands of needy children all over the world. Recently, SP shared one amazing story about a shoebox that was received in 1996 by a six-year-old boy, Luis from Panama.
Luis
recalled the utter joy that exploded from his heart when he opened his shoebox and
found a stuffed toy lamb that played the melody of “Jesus Loves Me.” He wrote,
“The stuffed lamb in my shoebox was the first toy I ever received. I still have
it. It was really a treasure. It played a little song and was so beautiful. It
was so tender, so soft.
The
little face of the lamb was something I loved. I used to pretend I was playing
with a real lamb. After I finished playing with it, I always put it back inside
my plastic shoebox. The lamb made me smile every time I saw it because I would
remember the day people gave me the shoebox.”
Luis
came from a family that had never been to church, much less heard the name of
Jesus. Yet, his life changed when he read the letter inside the box which said,
“Jesus loves you and I love you.” Luis said, “Because someone took a moment to
write down “Jesus loves you and I do too,” it allowed me to see that even
though I didn’t have a father and even though I don’t have a perfect life, He’s
there for me. I lived in the ghetto. We didn’t have anything. I was hopeless.
The shoebox allowed me to understand that God cared for me.”[1]
At
age fourteen, the dots were all connected for Luis when he understood the
Gospel message and the significance of the lamb in the shoebox. It’s a story
that goes back long before the first Christmas to Exodus 12, the first Passover,
which today still commemorates God delivering the Hebrew slaves from bondage.
Every house that was covered with blood of the lamb escaped death. In the same
way, Jesus became our Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) when He perfectly fulfilled
everything in the symbolism of the sacrificial lamb. Those who are covered by
the blood of Christ have forgiveness of their sins (John 1:29) and escape God’s
eternal wrath (John 11:25).
That
incredible story highlights the importance of this special season. In so many
ways, Jesus’ birth was like that of a lamb. The birth of this Messiah-King was
celebrated that night only by Mary, Joseph and a handful of shepherds. The
shepherds had been in the fields around Bethlehem, guarding the lambs which
would die at the next Passover.
When
the angels appeared to them they told them about a special sign to look for
when they went looking for the Christ-child. In Luke 2:11-12 we read, “For unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And
this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths
and lying in a manger.” Have you ever wondered why this would be a sign?
We
gloss over that verse and don’t catch the significance of what God was trying
to communicate to the shepherds. But this sign was something they would
understand because of their occupation. The shepherds knew what this sign was
all about because they had done it.
Sheep
that were raised in the fields of Bethlehem and destined to for the Temple in
Jerusalem had to be perfect specimens. They could have no spot, blemish or
broken limbs. When the shepherds would birth new born lambs they would reach
into the mother’s womb, pull the lamb out, then they would wrap the lambs in
swaddling because if it harmed its limbs in any way it would be disqualified as
a sacrifice. Once the lamb was wrapped, he was laid in a manger until it was
calmed down and ready to return to its mother.[2]
No
wonder then that the shepherds recognized the significance of what they saw in
the manger. The birth of Jesus was orchestrated in such a way that it would be
a preview of his sacrificial death as the Lamb of God. The angels declared to
men who were considered sinful and out of fellowship with God that the ultimate
Passover Lamb had been born and His blood would cleanse sinners and bring even
the outcasts into fellowship with God. Mary’s little lamb, was destined for the
altar of Calvary.
I
am reminded of a poem that I first heard Adrian Rogers recite:
Mary
had a little Lamb. His fleece was white as snow.
Son
of God from Heaven above, for sinners here below.
Mary's
Son, Eternal God, He — the Great I Am,
With
wool so white on Christmas night became a little Lamb.
Mary
had a little Lamb. His fleece was white as snow.
That
spotless Lamb was crucified to pay the debt I owe.
Oh,
spotless Lamb, with wool so white, Thy crimson blood, I know,
Can
take away my crimson sin, and wash me white as snow.[3] -DM
[1] “Luis
and a Lamb,” Samaritan’s Purse <http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/shoebox-stories-luis-and-a-lamb/>
[2]
Michael Norten, Unlocking the Secrets of
the Feasts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson/Westbow, 2012), 5-6.
[3]
Adrian Rogers, “Mary’s Little Lamb,” Love
Worth Finding <http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/read/articles/marys-little-lamb-9632.html>
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