Vigils Reading

THE ACCURSED ONE

WEARS THE WREATH

From “The Letter of Barnabas”

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Bear in mind, O children of joy, that there is not a single thing which the

Lord in his goodness has not made clear to us beforehand, so that we may know

to whom all our thanks and praises are due. Though the Son of God was the

divine Lord, and the future Judge of living and dead alike, yet nevertheless he

suffered, in order that his affliction might win life for us.

Notice the directions he gave. Take a couple of goats, unblemished and

well-matched; bring them for an offering, and let the priest take one of them

for a burnt offering. And what are they to do with the other? The other, he

declares, is accursed. (Now see how plainly the type of Jesus appears.) Spit on

it, all of you; thrust your goads into it, wreathe its head with scarlet wool, and

so let it be driven out into the desert.

This is done, and the servant leads the animal into the desert, where he

takes off the wool and leaves it there… Now what does that signify? Notice that

the first goat is for the altar, and the other is accursed; and that it is the accursed

one that wears the wreath. That is because they shall see him on That Day clad to

the ankles in his red woollen robe, and will say, ‘Is not this he whom we once

crucified, and mocked and pierced and spat upon? Yes, this is the man who told

us that he was the son of God.’

But how will he resemble the goat? The point of there being two similar

goats, both of them fair and alike, is that when they see him coming on the Day,

they are going to be struck with terror at the manifest parallel between him and

the goat. In this ordinance, then, you are to see typified the future sufferings of

Jesus…

Men whose sins had come to a head were to bring a heifer for an offering,

and slay it and burn it. Then, after gathering up the ashes and putting them into

basins of water, young children were to tie scarlet wool on branches of wood

(here again, you see, we have the scarlet wool and the type of the Cross),

together with sprigs of hyssop; and with these the people were to be sprinkled,

man by man, by the youngsters, to cleanse them from their sins. See how clearly

he is speaking to you here! The calf is Jesus, and the sinners who offer it are

those who dragged him to the slaughter. Why was the wool put on living wood?

Because the royal realm of Jesus is founded on a Tree, and they who hope in him

shall have eternal life. To ourselves it is plain enough that these were the true

reasons for doing things in this way; but to them it was all dark, because their

ears were deaf to the voice of the Lord.