In elementary school, we were told the old proverb: March comes in like lion and goes out like a lamb. I remember doing art projects gluing cotton balls to a cut-out lamb and doing the same with brown, tan, and yellow yarn to a lion’s mane. This, of course, points to the weather patterns that typically define March: usually the weather is fierce in the first week and more spring-like in the last week.

 With Easter falling on March 31 this year, the Church will see that Jesus does the opposite of this old saw. He will come in like a Lamb and go out like a Lion.

 As we journey through this season of Lent in our Wednesday services, we see Jesus as a Lamb. When the guards who have come arrest Him, He gives no resistance. When Annas questions His teaching, He gives no defense. When Pilate asks if He is a King, He promises that His servants will not invade. When sent to be flogged, He offered His back. When the crowd called for His crucifixion, He didn’t say a word. His only words from the cross are words to commend His mother to John’s care and to ask for something to drink. As Isaiah foretells: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus begins this March as a Lamb.

 But He will end this March like a Lion. Jesus is laid to rest in a borrowed tomb… not a permanent one. Like a lion devouring his prey, Jesus gobbles up His enemies. Sin is atoned for by His death and the guarantee given by His resurrection. Death is made a temporary setback because Jesus’ resurrection ensures us of our own resurrection when He comes again. By allowing His sinless self to suffer a sinner’s death, Jesus defeats Satan at his own game, taking away all the devil’s lies. There is nothing that stands between us and God anymore. As St. Paul writes: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). 

As St. John writes in Revelation: Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered… (Revelation 5:5). On Easter, March 31, we remember that Jesus leaves this March as a Lion.

 I don’t know what the weather will be like on March 1 or March 31 but I know for sure that Jesus will come into the month of March like a Lamb: humble, submissive, and sacrificing Himself for us. Likewise, I know that He will leave like a Lion: victorious, conquering, and triumphant.

 In Christ,

  Pastor Tom Vanderbilt