Back in the olden days, I went to Morocco for the first and only time (So far!) to visit a cultural research team we had working in Casablanca. By the grace of God and the whims of the Islamic calendar, I was there for Eid Al Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.
This celebration, one of the two biggest of the Muslims’ year, commemorates God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice his son and God’s provision of a ram in the son’s place. The Bible says “Isaac,” while the Quran simply says, “son.” Muslims assume it was Ishmael.
Some of the team took me with them to a family celebration. They, like many in Morocco, had a sheep on their roof, waiting to serve as a special guest in the festivities.
I experienced two things for the first time that day: I ate sheep liver, which turns out is a delicacy offered to guests. I also participated in helping the sheep transition from cute fuzz-ball to flame-grilled delicacy! (Although, tbh, “participating” consisted mostly of triumphantly not throwing up. Same with the liver.)
You don’t have to be Hudson Taylor or Samuel Zwemer to sense the cultural, biblical and missiological connections flashing like a neon sign in this celebration. We should be the son taking the knife, but God provided another sacrifice.
Eid al Adha starts today (June 5th) and runs through the weekend. May that Moroccan family (or their descendants, it’s been a minute) sense the reality of Jesus’s gracious, redeeming sacrifice.
May Muslims all over hear whispers of “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1.29), and join in the eternal chorus, “saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev. 5.12)