The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.
This Sunday we will hear the story of the first Passover. The story of how God passes over the Israelites and sends death to the homes of the Egyptians. There is a hypnotic rhythm to the story as it carefully outlines each step the Israelites must take to protect themselves.
If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.
It clearly is a story meant to be spoken and shared aloud. The repetition and the rhythm need a voice for the reading to have its true power. The reading offers safety and comfort in the clarity of purpose and instruction. There is no question as to what each household must do; there is no ambiguity or special circumstance. To live, they must follow these steps. To survive, they must take part in this ritual.
They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly.
It is important to remember that the story we read today was told long after the actual event of the first Passover. There were many tellings and retellings. Different voices added to it. Details enhanced. The clarity in the story we have now was not present on that first night. That night was most likely chaotic, fraught, and scary. The rush to find a lamb, to share with neighbors, to mark doorways, was almost certainly filled with breathless terror of what might be coming next. These were a people afraid for their lives and their continued survival. A people who were putting their hope and trust for freedom in the hands of a trouble-maker who kept challenging Pharaoh. The guidance to eat while standing came from that sense of terror and fear, not the calm and reasonable instruction in our story.
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
In this time of Covid-19, I find the clarity of instruction and purpose in this reading incredibly comforting. There is no question of when to begin, no wondering if it is Stage 1 or Stage 2, and there is an order to it that creates boundaries.
Clarity is hard to find in the midst of a global pandemic. But perhaps in the lack of clarity we can find a reminder that God brings order, clarity, and wisdom to all stories. Perhaps reading this story with one eye on the soothing ritualism while the other remembers the fear and chaos of the actual night, we will be reminded to seek clarity in our faith. Perhaps we can find some simple rituals that remind us that God is present with us just as he was with the Israelites.
What ritual might you start to remind your anxious self that the God who led a nation of slaves out of Egypt into the promised land is also the God who continues to dwell and delight in you? Is it a daily, intentional recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed? It is a few minutes of silence each day to rest in the presence of the Lord? It is a pause at the end of the day to reflect upon the presence of God in the day?
Perhaps it is a daily reading from Psalm 46: Be still, then, and know that I am God. Whatever you do, may you find peace.