October 4, 2020

Exodus 12: 1-13; 13:1-8

Thanks to Hollywood, today’s story from Exodus has become pretty well-known.

Moses is locked in a battle of wills with the Pharaoh … plagues have been unleashed and the Egyptian ruler still won’t budge. The Lord has hardened his heart to the plight of others … a condition that is common in an economy focused on wealth and power … one that is based on the concepts of abundance and scarcity.

Just before today’s passage, God tells Moses that he will unleash one more plague on the Egyptians … God will go out in Egypt and all the firstborn of the country will die. Then, God tells Moses, the people will plead with the Pharaoh to let the slaves leave the country.

Today, God gives Moses and Aaron instructions on how the Israelites are to prepare for the evening … what they need to do for death to pass over their homes.

God gives the men instructions on what the people are to eat … how they are to prepare the food … and what to do with any leftovers. The people are to be dressed a certain way … prepared to leave for the promised land at any moment.

And since they need to be ready to move, God instructs them to eat unleaven bread … bread made without yeast … because there won’t be time to wait for the dough to rise … especially when they are on their journey east.

God tells them that the blood from the slaughtered lamb is to be wiped onto the home’s door posts and lintel as a sign for death to pass over the home and spare the firstborn.

This passage from Exodus is the first biblical account of Passover … the moment when God called upon Israel to remember God’s deliverance of the people from bondage.

In the centuries that have passed, this meal … the Passover meal … is a foundational moment for the Jewish community.

It is a ritual of remembrance of God delivering the people from oppression and cruelty. It is a remembrance of God keeping God’s promise. It is a reminder of what God has done and what God calls the people to do.

In a discussion on today’s passage from Exodus, pastor and scholar Jacqueline Lapsey said:

“Telling the story in every generation … that God delivers those who suffer from oppression, that God works for the flourishing of the world … is a central task for those who trust in God. The Bible itself puts forth the idea that the testimony of those who have experienced the benefits of God’s saving power is vital and necessary for God’s work in the world to go forward.

At the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, we also mark the Passover meal as part of our Maundy Thursday service.

We do this as a means of understanding the shared connection between faith communities and as a material way to better understand the foundation of our own faith … to better understand the connection of Passover to the death of Jesus … the Passover lamb.

And we do it as a means of building community.

And that’s where I’d like to take us this morning …

In amongst all the details for preparing the meal and the impending arrival of death, it can be easy to overlook one aspect of God’s instructions. That of community.

God tells Moses and Aaron that the people are to take care of other members of the congregation.

God tells them:
“If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.” 

This means that while the families are working to protect themselves and prepare for the long, arduous journey ahead, they also need to remember the less-fortunate around them. That God calls them to work together and even to divide the lamb evenly among all the people at the meal so that all will be fed and protected.

The meal and deliverance mark a new beginning for the people. God tells Moses and Aaron that the year starts fresh … the beginning of months is how God puts it. The instructions represent a new way of thinking for the slaves … a departure from the economy and society that oppressed them and made them a commodity to be exploited.

God’s instructions underscore the biblical conviction that the good of the community as a whole must be intentionally cultivated. That a life of faith necessitates caring about those around us.

This communal approach will be essential as the people journey from bondage … through a time when food and water will be scarce. They will need to shed past practices … such as hoarding of food and possession … and embrace faith in a God who delivers them.

This is the emphasis in the Bible … the responsibilities of members to the welfare of the community and not on the individual rights of particular individuals. The latter is more the focus of a materialistic society where individual achievement, wealth and power are the measurements of success and well-being – regardless of how it is attained. And this what … in the midst of a pandemic … we are called to remember. That at a time when we can be grateful if Covid has passed over our home … we are called to be mindful of our neighbours … to ensure they know they are not alone or forgotten … that their welfare is our concern … and that through our actions God’s abundant love is shared by all.

AMEN