Text: Exodus 12: 1-11; 21-28 April 17, 2011
Picture the scene if you will. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was packed with Passover pilgrims. There was no internet or Twitter in those days but word had quickly spread. The word about Jesus of Nazareth. He had raised a man named Lazarus back to life after being dead for three days.
This was also a time when people lived in high expectation that the Messiah would come, a very special king who would save his people. Now this Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem riding on a donkey as the prophet had foretold. See your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey. (Zech 9:9)
People ran to cut palm branches to wave before him as a sign of victory, like we might wave little flags at our heroes. Voices began to shout Hosanna. Blessed is the King of Israel.
But remember the time of his coming. This is the week of the Passover celebration. On Thursday, two of Jesus disciples will go to the sheep market to purchase a lamb and then make their way to the temple. There they will gather with countless others who have come with their lambs. They will show it to a priest to insure it is acceptable. And there those lambs will die, their blood be shed and poured out to the Lord. And its meat will be roasted for the Passover meal.
Back up once more to Palm Sunday. It seems to me that there were not just pilgrims on the road. I also picture shepherds bringing their flocks of sheep needed for the Passover. But little did they know that there was another Lamb making his way. A lamb foreshadowed in the first Passover and every one until this time. They are right in calling him a King. He is a King, more special than they realize. For this King has come as our Passover lamb. He comes to die and shed his blood for us all. So today we go way back to the first Passover and see another Shadow of our Savior- the Passover Lamb.
The Passover celebrates a time when God intervened mightily in the lives of his people. Listen to what their lives had become in Egypt. 11 So they [the Egyptians] put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh…14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. I can remember working a job where my hands blistered badly and black soot filled my nostrils. Maybe you’ve worked a job like that. But I was able to walk away from it and not come back. These people were not so blessed. They were enslaved and powerless to help themselves.
People don’t like to think of it but that describes our lives on our own. It offends our pride to hear it. There’s a part of us that holds truth at arm’s length. But minus this One riding on a donkey, you and I are enslaved. We are slaves to our sinful nature. We are slaves to our guilt. We are slaves to death. And worse yet, just like the Israelites, we are powerless to help ourselves.
If you’ve been to Sunday School, you know how God sent Moses to Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. Let my people go but he resisted.. You know how the Lord sent plague after plague on the land to break the grip of the Egyptians.
But every time, pharaoh dug in his heels. He refused to set them free. Finally the Lord told Moses he was going to send one final plague that would strike every household in the land all the way to Pharaoh’s own family. Then they would be able to go.
And now God calls for something strange. He told them to prepare a special meal for the night he would set them free. It’s easy to see why the Lord told them to bake unleavened bread. They would have to leave in a hurry. No time for bread to rise.
But here’s the strange part. Each man was to take a lamb for his household. Not just any lamb. This lamb was to be a year old. And it was to be without defect. No disease or deformities, but perfect to the eye.
Early that evening they were to kill the lamb and roast the meat for the meal. Again that seems pretty normal. You gotta eat before a big trip. But not this. This is different. This is strange. Take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses. Why? The Lord explains. The blood of those lambs would cause Him to pass over that house, spare them from death and send them off free at last.
What a blessed shadow of our Savior we see in that Passover Lamb and its’ blood. Think of how St Peter puts it in our epistle reading. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1Peter1)
When Peter and the rest of the apostles came to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they saw people acclaim Jesus as king. As they followed I imagine them thinking of crowns and glory not death, not blood, not sacrifice.
But for people enslaved and powerless to help themselves, for you and me and countless others, God calls for something strange. He calls for something all those Passovers lambs foreshadowed. The Lamb would die, it’s blood be shed and we would be set free.
But this lamb would not come from the market place. This Lamb would be the Christ, God’s own Son come as your brother. And his death would come on him unexpectedly. No, he rides on in majesty where God calls for something strange. He is innocent, good and loving. We are sinful, guilty in so many ways. Yet he rides on to suffer and die for us all. He rides on that death may Passover us and leave us safe in its terrible wake. He rides on, this Lamb, whose precious blood has set us free.
But how easily we forget. We forget our God and what he has done. We do the same thing with each other. Maybe with our moms or dads. Maybe with our husband or wife or friend. That’s why things like birthdays and anniversaries are good to celebrate. We just had our 31st anniversary. It was good to think back on what a blessing my bride has been to me all these years. In times of laughter in times of tears. So it’s good to gather to remember. For how easily we forget.
God didn’t want his people to forget his grace in Egypt. He didn’t want them to forget who it was they prayed to, who it was that promised them a Savior to rescue them from the pit of death. So he told them they were to gather to remember around a special meal. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ” They were to gather to remember.
On a night long ago that we call Maundy Thursday, Jesus gathered to remember with his disciples. On that night, the true lamb of God came out of the shadows. After celebrating the Passover, Jesus took the bread and said, this is my body given for you. Then later he took the cup of wine and said: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
So we gather to remember as Jesus wants us to. We gather to remember with this special supper he has given us. We remember God’s love for each of us here. We remember the Lamb who once gave his body and blood to set us free. In fact, he gives us that body and blood to assure us of our freedom.
And don’t forget. We also gather to remember where the Lamb is leading us. He did not just die for us. He now lives. So the apostle John was given this wonderful vision of what we can look forward to. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7) How blessed you are. How blessed you are to know your Passover Lamb. Amen.