Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Passover

Reading through Exodus these days. This season has led to some feelings that I am wandering and don't know exactly where I am headed, so I thought maybe I could sympathize with the Israelites.
Anyway, I skipped over the plagues a bit because I wanted to get to the Passover and the part in the desert. Today I read about God's instructions for the Passover in Exodus 12
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LordThe blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.  
What struck me about this today was the instructions on how to eat the food-don't leave any for tomorrow, eat in haste, eat with your clothes on ready to go. Eat bread without yeast-there is no time to wait for it to rise. For the Israelites, they had to eat in haste and be ready, for literally their life was at stake-to not have the blood on the door or to not be ready when the Lord called them to go meant death. They were trusting that the unknown was better than their life of slavery.
As I think of it for me today, I think about not leaving any food for tomorrow referring to my ability to trust in God each day to provide. I don't need to put something back just in case tomorrow I don't have what I think I need-He is saying he will provide. This beautiful sacrament we remember and celebrate-the body and the blood shed- the body is my sustenance, my daily bread...all that is provided for me.
This part of Exodus is really the beginning of God's covenant to the Israelites...He is promising to take them out of their slavery and into new life (sounds familiar, huh?). 
Do I trust that God will fulfill his covenant promise to me now? Do I trust enough that I am eating in haste, ready to go? Do I trust enough to not put something back for a rainy, hard day? Or I am I the one tucking meat into my cloak and too scared to walk out the door into the unknown? Do I even know how to listen to his voice telling me it is time to go?
 

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