“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.” – Exodus 12:1-14
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Next week our Partnership will be starting a new sermon series in Philippians, so we’ll be spending a good bit of time with the apostle Paul over the next month or so. But before we go there, there’s one last lesson in the Old Testament that I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss.
This summer we’ve been studying the book of Genesis, and Genesis provides a firm foundation for both the Old and New Testaments. But there’s one last story in the Old Testament that is central to both the Jewish and the Christian faiths, and is also key to understanding Paul’s teachings – and that’s the story of Moses and the Passover.
When we left off a couple weeks ago in Genesis, the people of Israel – that is, Joseph’s family – had moved to Egypt to escape a famine, and they settled in Egypt. As time went on, and Joseph and his brothers passed away, their descendants became part of Egyptian society – and they were there for about 350 years or so.
But as time passed, and as Pharaohs came and went, the leadership of Egypt began to forget Joseph and all the good things he did for Egypt, how he saved them from the famine… and they began to make slaves out of the Israelites.
Our scripture reading today talks about the last night of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, and the beginning of their liberation. This story is the turning point in the Old Testament – the defining moment. It’s the moment when God begins to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give them a land of their own. This moment is the touchstone of the Jewish faith – and it’s the event God’s people look back to and remember whenever we talk about God saving us and setting us free.
And for us Christians it also looks forward to the Last Supper, which was a celebration of the Passover night.
As we dig into the reading. I’d like to focus on three things: first the human aspect of the story – what it might have been like to be living in Egypt back then as a Jewish person. Then we’ll take a look at what God told the people of Israel to do – how to prepare for their freedom. And finally we’ll bring all of this together into the teachings of Jesus, to see how it applies to us today.
So imagine yourself living in ancient Egypt. You are living in one of the most advanced and wealthy civilizations of the ancient world. The culture is sophisticated, very well educated, and there are plenty of goods and services to be had. There are perfumers, jewelry-makers, and traders in cloth and in spices – every luxury you can imagine.
But you and I don’t see much of that because we’re descendants of Israel – and we’re slaves. We are looked down on, prejudiced against, subject to injustice… and our people have been down for so long we sometimes wonder if God even notices any more.
The memory of Joseph – who saved Egypt from famine – is kept alive by our people. But most of the rest of the Egyptians have forgotten Joseph. They’re more worried about the growing tension and violence in their nation. There have been rebellions, assassinations, a few coup attempts, and the current Pharaoh seems to enjoy leading by intimidation rather than by negotiation. He rules in a spirit of fear.
Just to give an example of how he rules with fear: In the first chapter of Exodus, Pharaoh says to his people:
“Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we [are]. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. (Exodus 1:9-11)
What Pharaoh says about the people of Israel being more numerous and more powerful isn’t true – at least not yet. At this point in time they’re the least powerful in Egypt. The more they’re oppressed the more they will become numerous and powerful.
As a side-note, this is an irony that repeats throughout history whenever leaders try to rule in a spirit of fear. Where leaders rule with fear, government policies fail, people suffer, and the result is usually the opposite of what was intended. As an example we see this in the Russian Revolution of the early 1900s – which promised a ‘workers paradise’ but resulted in the deaths of millions. Or in the Nazi movement, which promised a ‘master race’ but resulted in the deaths of millions and in the near-destruction of the German nation. The spirit of fear is the opposite of the spirit of faith to which we are called by God.
So God, through Moses and Aaron, confronts Pharaoh. He says ‘let my people go so they may worship me’. God is letting Pharaoh know that Pharaoh is not the biggest man on campus. And God sends plagues to prove his point; and time after time Pharaoh says “OK, OK, you’re right, you win – take away the plagues and I’ll let your people go” but as soon as the plagues are gone, Pharaoh changes his mind and says “sorry, no, the people can’t go.”
As we look at this series of plagues from a 21st century point of view, all these plagues don’t seem quite fair to the everyday Egyptians, that they have to suffer for Pharaoh’s bad judgement. But it’s true to life. Ungodly leadership – whether in government, or in business, or wherever leadership happens – always leads to suffering for average everyday people. God has promised to set that right someday. God’s kingdom will come and God’s perfect will, will be done one day.
But for today, what God is concerned about – God’s whole point in this passage from Exodus – is found at the end of the reading where God says: “on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.” (Exodus 12:12)
With God, the main issue is always ‘who or what is being worshiped’? Are people worshipping Pharaoh? Are they worshipping power or wealth? Are they worshipping idols? Are they worshipping their taskmasters? Or are they worshipping the one true and living God?
The people of Israel know – as we know – God is the one true God. There is no other. And Pharaoh has been confronted, again and again, with this truth, but he still refuses to bow the knee. He still insists on ruling in fear, as a tyrant.
So at this point God stops speaking to Pharaoh (who isn’t listening anyway) and God starts talking to Israel. And God’s message is “get ready! It’s time to go. It’s time to move. Here’s what I need you to do.”
The first thing God commands is that this night – this night of liberation, this Passover night – is to be set apart in Israel’s history as a memorial, forever. We as Americans have days like Memorial Day, and Martin Luther King Day, and Thanksgiving Day, as memorials to important events in our history. This Passover night will be Israel’s defining moment – the Night of nights. So much so, God is making this night the beginning of months – in other words God is making this their new year’s eve (even though it’s actually in the spring).
Then God tells each family to take one lamb per family and set it aside on the 10th day of the month. If the household is not big enough to eat a whole lamb, people are to go in together with their neighbors and share a lamb – the result being, no one will eat this meal alone. And no one will miss out on eating it because they can’t afford a lamb. Every Israelite is to be included, and nobody is to eat alone.
The lamb is to be without blemish – a year-old male, strong and healthy. The lamb is to be kept until the 14th day of the month, when it will be slaughtered at twilight.
And then the family is to take some of the blood, and dip in a bunch of hyssop, and paint the blood on the doorposts and above the door of the house where they are eating. Once the blood is on the door they are not to go outside for the rest of the night.
The lamb is to be eaten with unleavened bread – baked quickly, no time to let it rise – because the call to leave could come at any moment. The lamb is also eaten with bitter herbs as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery. The lamb is to be eaten completely, including the organs, and anything left over is to be burned.
The people are to eat fully dressed, with their sandals on… because sometime during the night the call will come, that Pharaoh wants all the Israelites out of the land. The Lord will pass through Egypt, and the firstborn of all Egyptians will die. But any house with lamb’s blood over the door will be passed over – and from this comes the name of the holiday of Passover.
God says again: this will be a night of remembrance for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord forever. And to this day Jewish people celebrate Passover every spring, remembering this night.
For us as Christians this holiday has a second meaning: it is also the holiday on which the Last Supper was eaten and Jesus was crucified. Jesus has been called “the Lamb of God” because he is for us our spotless Passover Lamb. Jesus was sacrificed for us, so we could be free from slavery to sin. And whenever we take communion we share a meal in celebration and remembrance of what God has done for us. We remember Jesus’ body broken for us and his blood shed for us, and we celebrate the power of his resurrection when he walked out of the grave alive three days later.
It is the blood of Jesus, spread over the doorposts of our hearts, that causes death to pass over us. Moses said the blood is to be placed there using hyssop. King David wrote in Psalm 51: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:6-7)
In ancient Israel, hyssop was often used to clean things. And at the crucifixion, it was also attached to a sponge to offer Jesus a drink. All these things are brought together in the book of Hebrews, where the writer says:
“…when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.” […] Indeed… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9:19-22 edited)
Jesus’ death and resurrection becomes our Passover, our holiness… not anything we could ever deserve, but given freely, according to God’s plan. And that plan began back in ancient Egypt when God commanded hyssop to place the blood over the doors at the first Passover.
God commanded Israel: “you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, throughout your generations” – and that command applies to us today. We honor God’s command whenever we have communion and remember what God has done for us. So keep on remembering… and keep on encouraging others to remember.
I am encouraged whenever I see members of this congregation reaching out to people, who for whatever reason have not been able to be with us on Sundays. There are people here who call and say, “we missed you” — “we hope you’ll be back soon” — “can I offer you a ride?” And I want to encourage you to keep on doing this, because it is God’s wish that all of us eat this meal together, and celebrate this memorial together, as family, and that no one be left out. Moses said ‘no one eats alone’ and that still goes today.
And if some folks have gotten a little hard to persuade – maybe try sharing today’s scripture with them. Tell them how God is concerned that no one eat alone, and that no one be left behind, and ask if they’d like to come back to the family meal.
In the meantime, as the larger picture of history continues to unfold, keep in mind: just as God’s concern and thoughts were with the people of Israel back in the days of Pharaoh, God is still concerned with everyday people today: the people who don’t call the shots, the people who don’t have the power, the people who suffer when there’s ungodly leadership in the world. Be assured, no matter what happens, God has a plan, and the plan is unfolding. Just like Israel in Egypt, God sees our troubles, and God is on the move. We just keep our eyes on him, keep our ears open… and keep our sandals on our feet. AMEN.
Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 9/10/17
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