For the Great 50 Days of Easter!

For the Great Fifty Days of Easter!

"This is the Pascha of our salvation:
this is the One who in many people endured many things.
This is the one who was murdered in Abel,
tied up in Issac,
exiled in Jacob,
sold in Joseph,
Exposed in Moses,
slaughtered in the lamb,
hunted down in David,
Dishonored in the Prophets.

This is the One made flesh in a Virgin,
who was hanged on a tree,
who was buried in the earth,
who was raised from the dead,
who was exalted to the heights of heaven.

This is the lamb slain,
this is the speechless lamb,
this is the One born of Mary, the fair ewe,
this is the One taken from the flock,
and led to slaughter.
Who was sacrificed in the evening,
and buried at night,
who was not broken on the tree,
who was not undone in the earth,
who rose from the dead and resurrected mankind
from the grave below"  

—Melito of Sardis (+ c. 180)
Offered by Pastor Paul F. Becker, Concordia Lutheran Church