I have been reading through Luke and a reading a little more slowly through Exodus. I started my reading yesterday in Exodus 12. This is the chapter where God describes to Moses the process of smearing the blood of the lamb over the door of the house, how to eat it, not to use yeast, and then explains that Passover must be kept from generation to generation.
As I was reading it I was thinking about how absurd it must have sounded to the Israelites. God says " I want you to kill a healthy one year old male lamb, take the blood and smear it on the doorways and on the lintels of the house, the lamb must be roasted that night in fire, you are to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs with it, burn the leftovers, and eat it fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand, and oh yeah eat it fast". I am no expert on Israelite culture and maybe these directions weren't as absurd to them as they are to me and of course they did just see water turned to blood, frog and locust taking over the land, darkness, flies, hail and so forth. Still I believe these directions from God probably sounded a little bit strange. I am sure there where thoughts like "Why in the world do we have to do this?", "I don't want blood on my lintels", or "I prefer my bread with yeast in it". If God asked me to do this I am sure I would be like "What? Are you serious? I will look weird painting blood over my blood post." But, if the Israelite hadn't obeyed God the consequence would have been death.
The blood was a sign that the household belonged to God, so that the house would be passed over when God came to strike the firstborn of Egypt. The annual Passover feast was to serve as a reminder to the Israelites of God freeing them from slavery. Unfortunately even thought the Passover continued to happen year to year the Israelites again and again failed to remember God the rest of the year.
If we skip forward several hundred years it brings us to the chapter in Luke I was reading the very same day. Luke 22 is the story of Jesus’ Passover meal with his disciples. This night as Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the freedom of the Israelite from Egypt, Jesus ushered in the idea of a new covenant and a new freedom. Jesus was arrested this night and he died so that we can live in freedom. Let us remember that Jesus freed us, let us remember to serve and obey him between our Sunday services and time of communion. Finally, let us remember that while sometimes obedience may make us feel like fool or sound strange that God knows best and the consequence of disobedience may very well be death. God may not be asking us to smear blood on our door post, but he does ask us to live lives that are very different from the world we live in. Making these life decisions may very well make us stick out like a blonde in Latin America =).
I hope all of you are doing well. Thank you for the continued prayer and financial support. I know things are financially tight in the United States right now and so I appreciate the continued support. I pray that you will be blessed and taken care of in this time of financial uncertainty. Thankfully we believe in a God who can turn a few fish into a meal for thousands. I am here because of your obedience and faith in this God. Thank you!
Live in His Love! Claire Balch
No comments:
Post a Comment