Loving God, you reveal yourself as the God who sets people free, leading us from bondage into freedom.  Help us to know the joy of your salvation, that we might never want to return to bondage again; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    If you were to hear today’s reading from Exodus without knowing the rest of the story, I would imagine that you might have a few questions.  You might wonder why God would ever even consider killing all the firstborn in Egypt.  You might wonder about some of the details - like why they were supposed to eat with their sandals on and their staff in their hand, or why they were supposed to eat in a hurry.  You might wonder what the big deal is about unleavened bread, or why they were supposed to eat bitter herbs, or why they weren’t supposed to have any leftovers.  It might be possible to hear this as a whole bunch of meaningless instructions.  However, the Passover was anything but.

    In order to make sense of all these instructions, one of the first things that you need to know is what happened between last week’s reading about Joseph and this week’s reading about the first Passover.  The thing is that last week was a happy ending.  Jacob and his whole family had gone to Egypt to live, and Joseph had forgiven his brothers and promised to take care of them.  However, as time went on and as the book of Exodus begins, a new Pharaoh arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph and who was afraid that the Israelites might multiply so much that they would take over.  And so Pharaoh institutes some new policies in order to allow for some population control.

    First he makes all of them slaves and sets taskmasters over them so that they can build some supply cities for the Egyptians.  Then, believing that they are still multiplying far too quickly, he orders every baby boy who is born to the Hebrews to be thrown into the Nile river and killed.  Of course, you might have heard of that guy named Moses who was born at that time and who was put in a basket in the river in order to save him.  Moses is the one who grows up and eventually goes to Pharaoh as God’s messenger, asking him to let God’s people go.  And Pharaoh’s first response is to increase his oppression of the people, ordering them to make the same amount of bricks every day, but no longer supplying them with the materials needed.

    And so, all of this and more has taken place before we ever get to the death of all the firstborn in Egypt.  It is a response to oppression.  It is a response to the killing of the Hebrew babies.  And it is carried out by the angel of death, and not by human beings.  It is the last thing that happens before the Hebrew people are finally allowed to leave Egypt.  The Passover, then, is instituted in order to help the people to remember how God had rescued them from oppression and set them free from the bonds of slavery.

    A few Passover questions, then: First and foremost, why is it called the Passover?... [the angel of death passed over the houses with blood on the doorposts] And why were they supposed to eat unleavened bread?... [no time for the dough to rise]  Eating with their sandals on and their staff in their hand and in a hurry was for the same reason. [they left in a hurry] That was also the reason for no leftovers.  And the bitter herbs?  Why did they eat those?... [reminded them of the bitterness of slavery] In the history of God’s people, and in the entire Old Testament, the exodus out of Egypt is the single, most important event, and the Passover became one of the most important festivals for the Jewish people.  It continues to remind them of the God who rescues from oppression and who sets God’s people free.

    Later, along comes Jesus, and the Passover takes on a whole new meaning for Christians.  In our case, it is not slavery in Egypt that oppressed us, but sin, death, the devil and the Law.  In our case, it is still God who sets us free, and there is still water involved, but instead of crossing the Red Sea, we are baptized.  In our case, the Passover from death to life happens through Jesus.  He becomes our Passover lamb, the one whose blood sets us free.

    Have any of you heard the words Pesach, or Pascha, or Paschal?...  Do you know what they mean?... [Passover] The Hebrew word Pesach became Pascha, or Paschal, which are associated with Easter.  Easter became the Christian celebration of our Passover from death to life through Jesus.  And the Lord’s Supper became our Passover meal.

    It became not only our bread for the journey through the wilderness of this world, but also our means of remembering how God has set us free from the power of sin and death.  It helps us to remember how Jesus gave himself for us in love.  It helps us to remember how God has acted throughout history in order to save.  It helps us to remember how God forms us into one family and one community - especially when we all eat from the same loaf and drink from the same cup.  And as we re-member, we are changed.

    We are changed from individuals who care only about ourselves to members of a community who love God and love one another.  We are changed from people who live in fear of death to people who look forward to meeting our Lord and Saviour.  We are changed from people who slavishly try to please God to those who have been set free from the need to try and save ourselves.  We are changed from people of fear to people of faith.

    And so, as we gather together today, remember Jesus.  Remember your baptism, and how God has set you free from the power of sin and death.  Remember the new covenant that God has made with you through Jesus - the covenant of love.  Remember how Jesus gave himself so that we might have life.  Remember, and become what you eat - the body of Christ in this world.  For God has set us free to be the people we were created to be - loving God and one another by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Pentecost 20 (NL 3)                        Exodus 12:1-13; 13:1-8
October 2, 2016                            Luke 22:14-20
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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