Passover and current events meet. Passover is a week-long holiday in the Hebrew calendar. As I write it is the day before Passover begins in 2022. This week commemorates the events that led up to ,the Jews walking out of slavery from Egypt. It also usually aligns closely on the Gregorian calendar with Good Friday to Easter.
God told Moses that a plague was coming to Egypt. It would kill the first born of all life in Egypt, however, there was a way out for the Hebrews. They needed to kill a lamb and mark every one of their homes with blood from the lamb. That mark was a sign for the plague to pass over those homes. The people had to stay in their homes to be safe.
Jesus celebrated his last Passover, on the day the formal Church calls Maundy Thursday. He ate the “Last Supper” with his disciples, he also washed their feet. Doing the job customarily reserved for a slave, he was demonstrating some of the “new” they were passing into.
In 2020 the entire world went through a Passover moment. Most of the population of the entire world was told to stay home to avoid the plague of Covid-19. Isn’t it fascinating that it just happened to take place over the traditional Passover celebration?
Passover and current events meet, again. Here we are three years later and there is a different acceleration of events with wars, rumors of wars, record inflation, and the beginning of undeniable shortages of food, just to start. Nations are realigning in ways we never would have imagined a short time ago.
Everything changed for the Hebrew peoples at the first Passover. Everything became new as they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Their old life was gone. They moved from slavery to freedom because the lamb’s blood on their door posts protected them from the plague. It was a foreshadowing of Jesus, the Lamb of God, shedding his blood on the cross to move us from spiritual slavery to spiritual freedom in Christ.
2020 was the beginning of a decade where this generation is passing over into something new. We have heard it said many times in many ways that we will not be going back. It is time for us to keep moving forward. Psalm 23 says, “Even though we walk through the valley of shadow of death, we will fear no evil.” I emphasize the word through on purpose. We are to keep moving and not get stuck.
All of this takes faith in the God of Creation. The One who knows all of our days before even one of them existed. (Psalm 139) This God knows our fears and our cares and he wants us all to give them to him. “6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5 Faith is not a feeling, it is an act of agreement and respect, acknowledging the great goodness of our Creator. Faith is an act of trust.
Worship is always a good response when worry plagues us. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.” Psalm 121:2,5 We remember who we are and who we are not.
When we worship, we align with how our Maker sees us. “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” Romans 8:11a We are nothing without, and everything with, the One who loves us perfectly.
As Passover and current events bring more uncertainty and more new, how will you choose to move through the changes?
