It was the beginning of a new year when they found that borrowed room.
The Jewish year begins with The Passover.
A holiday of Holy Joy! The
holiday that celebrates the great liberation God has given. It sounds quite strange to our ears,
especially the bloodiness of the remembering. The moment itself, the moment of
freedom was surely mixed with anxiety and fear as the people awaited on God’s
promise. We might feel the same, for in
the re-membering, the re-living of this historical moment of freedom, we know
the end of the story: both the evil of the cross and the final great victory
over death. The covenant that God makes
with God’s people: first in the Passover, then again in Jesus. For us, a life of promise and hope, a life of
justice and breaking oppressive forces.
A life of joy and freedom! To get
to the fullness of that promise, we must understand something of what the
Passover was like for Jesus and the disciples.
As we hear in Exodus, that first Passover was a meal, but it was far
more. Each household slaughtered a first
born unblemished lamb. The innocence,
perfection and value of the animal mattered. They carefully drained
the animal of its blood out of respect for the life of the animal. The blood was seen as the source of life –
literally “lifeblood” – as we say. The
blood was used for a sacred purpose.
They put some of the blood on their doorframe. They marked the entrance to the house they
lived in so that the angel of death would know that God’s faithful people were
there. Who would do this if they were
not trusting in God to save them? It was
an outward sign of the invisible God. A
foretelling of the covenant that named and claimed them as God’s people. This is the night they remembered their
identity. With this lifeblood, marking
the doorway to their homes, they claimed the promise God made to them: that
they would be set free!
It is helpful to remember that this festival is full of anticipation
and joy! It is easy to lose this feeling
tonight. It all sounds very earthy, and
maybe horrifying to us. But we hold the
same sacred attitude towards blood, if you think about it. A bloody scene makes us recoil, it tells us
that life is in danger here, and we move immediately to keep the blood where it
belongs. This act of using animal blood
was a great sacrifice, an act not in one’s own self-interest if you wanted to
keep your flock growing. This very human
act was not for the sake of gore, but a sacrificial offering to honor God as
the one who gives us life in the first place.
The blood was first put on the doorways the night that God showed
God’s power with the 10th plague.
It was extreme. But it was the 10th. Nine signs had been given before this to
Pharoah and to the whole people of Egypt.
God commanded that the oppressors stop oppressing. God demanded that the slaves be let
free. And God showed God’s power 9
different ways before this so that they might be sufficiently warned. So that they might clearly understand that
God meant for the command of freedom to be obeyed. A parent warning a child 9 times is either
ineffective or incredibly patient. In
either case, grace, not punishment, is clearly the goal. And so on the 10th plague,
arguably the most horrific of God’s actions in scripture. God allows the killing of all the oldest sons
in every household in Egypt. Every
household who does not have the blood on a lamb on their doorframe. Every household who is not faithful to God’s
command of justice, freedom, grace and love.
The blood in itself is a powerful reminder of salvation from this
death toll. Yet, the remembering doesn’t
stop there. In this holiday called The
Passover, the Jewish people roast the lamb and eat a very special meal where
each dish on the table symbolized the experience of the people. They eat bitter herbs which represent the
bitterness of the slavery in which the faithful people are trapped. They eat flatbread, because there is no time
for waiting on yeast to rise when they await the call to flee. They drink from four cups of wine, at the
beginning, the middle, the end of the meal – each time focusing on what God is
about to do. The lamb itself is
consumed, every bit of it, any leftovers are to be burned, for this is a sacred
meal, not to be boxed up in Tupperware for the next day. There is no next day in this memory. Only this moment of faithfulness.
There is no next day in this place.
Not even time for yeast to rise! No
tomorrow in the depths of hell on earth.
Tonight we will be set free.
Tonight we will escape the trap of our bondage. Tonight we will leave this existence where we
are worked to death and broken by the oppressive forces that hold us back from
seeing God’s created humanity in one another.
Tonight we will leave Egypt.
This is the meal that Jesus was eating for his Last Supper as we call
it. This is the remembrance he and his
disciples were enacting. Faithfully,
they lived again the moment of salvation.
The moment when God took away the chains of hopelessness and despair and
gave them a new life!
This is the bread that was on Jesus’ table. These are the cups that were poured out. This is the blood that the disciples had
drained from the lamb.
The same bread of life Jesus gave to them, saying this is MY BODY. Now this is more than bread in a hurry. This is
bread that graces our table with the urgency of the new life that is coming ! This bread that nourishes your body, your
actual body, and our actual community.
The same cup of life Jesus lifted up, saying this is MY BLOOD of the
covenant, poured out for you. Now this is
more than blood from a precious lamb. [More
than the blood of the Saini covenant for Atonement.] This is blood from God’s firstborn. Now this cup is more than remembering the
salvation of God from Egypt, it is the salvation of God for the slavery to sin.
{Joy} In this meal Jesus brings us in to experience the Passover of
the plague and freedom from Egypt by his Passover from the death which is on our
doorstep to the new life that is promised, once again. In this meal, Jesus
transforms US. By eating and
drinking his very body and blood, a thing we would never do otherwise, this is what makes us one with the one who
embodies the kingdom. This is where we
know God shows up – each time we gather around Christ’s table. By eating and
drinking we become the Body of Christ in the world!
Standing at the door, waiting to take a life, is the evil that God has
not stopped. The killing in which God
will not intervene. The violence that
God has entered with a body just like ours.
God’s very kingdom has come near to the earth in flesh and blood, and
yet we have rejected it. Betrayed it
with 30 pieces of silver and a kiss on the very night when the joyous kingdom
is lived out in this Meal! Fell asleep
when we were to keep awake for this kingdom.
Denied the kingdom three times while it was on trial. Shown our allegiance is still handcuffed to
the belief that we know best. Our
loyalty is found where our security is best served, rather than our neighbors.
And so the story of Jesus and his followers continues tomorrow… the
story of what happened when God’s heavenly kingdom showed up on earth. The
story of God making yet one more cosmic covenant with us: the promise of
freedom, redemption and hope. Let us listen,
receive and pray…
Holy and Gracious God you have given us the gift of this new covenant
in your blood. You have given us the
story of your people and grafted us into it, even us who were not of Abraham’s
line until the baptismal waters hit our head.
Thank you for making us your people.
Thank you for your continual promises that evidence your deep and
abiding love.
Amen.
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