Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Sermon text: Exodus 12:1-14.

We all know the feeling of excitement and anticipation when something good’s on the horizon. We sense it in our hearts; we “feel it in our bones.” Something good’s on its way, and we’re part of the experience! We know we’ll participate!

Imagine the anticipation of the Hebrews on the night of the first Passover. They had spent 430 years in Egypt, most of it in brutal slavery serving the Egyptians. However, for nearly 2 years now, a man named Moses had represented them before Pharaoh and had represented their God before them. The Hebrews had seen Moses pronounce judgment on the Egyptians as God punished Pharaoh and his nation for oppressing His people. Certainly, at some point, Pharaoh would have to throw in the towel; certainly Pharaoh would surrender to the inevitable and free the Hebrew slaves.

Now, Moses told them the great news: Freedom was at hand. The Hebrews were one judgment away from leaving Egypt as a free people.

Egypt would face one final act of judgment. This judgment would break the heart of Egypt in a way never seen before or since. God had warned Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, Let my son go that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22-23). Now, since Pharaoh had refused to allow God’s firstborn to go free, God would take all the firstborn of Egypt, from Pharaoh’s house to the lowest prison.

Yet, the Hebrews found they had a part to play in the final judgment. It seemed that God wanted to do more than punish the Egyptians; He also wanted the Hebrews to have a means of commemorating their freedom.

This shouldn’t surprise us. In our nation, we have celebrations on July 4 to commemorate our freedom from Great Britain. (We also remember on that day that our freedom didn’t come until after a 7-year war we call the Revolutionary War.) Our churches celebrate Homecoming each year with preaching, singing, and feasts. Humans love to celebrate! Now, God wanted the Hebrews to celebrate their coming freedom.

First, notice that God told the Hebrews when to celebrate, down to the day. Each family was to take a lamb on the tenth day of the month of Aviv and keep it penned until the fourteenth day. They would eat the meal on this day. God also told the Hebrews their calendar would change as a result of their freedom. The month they left Egypt, the month of Aviv in the Old Testament and now called Nisan, would become the first month of their year.

God also gave them the menu of the feast. The Hebrews would eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The unleavened bread would signify the urgency of the meal; there was no time for the bread to sit and rise. The bitter herbs would remind the people of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt.

God also told the Hebrews how to dress for the feast. (Our God believes in the small details of life.) The Hebrews were to eat the feast “with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand” (Exodus 12:11). There would be no time to dress for travel after the meal, because while the Hebrews ate this meal, God would execute judgment on the Egyptians.

So the Hebrews ate as God commanded and awaited the order to leave. They knew that as they ate, God took the firstborn of every Egyptian family and of the livestock of the nation. In one night, a ruined nation paid a heavy price for the disobedience of their leader. However, after the death of his own son, Pharaoh relented and freed the Hebrews. 430 years of exile in Egypt ended on the night of the first Passover meal, so named because God “passed over” the Hebrews’ houses when He saw the blood of the lamb on the mantels of their doors.

We must not overlook the last phrase of the Exodus passage: “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.” God intended for this event to remain in the memory of the Hebrews and their descendants forever. This year, the Hebrews’ descendants will commemorate Passover beginning on April 2.

Now, let’s fast forward roughly 1,500 years, to a city roughly 200 miles to the northeast of Egypt. The Hebrews’ descendants, now called “Jews” for the region they occupied (Judah, or Judea in the first century A.D.), again found themselves oppressed by a foreign nation. This time, Rome fulfilled the role of oppressor. However, this time, the Romans oppressed the Jews because of sin. The Jews had broken their covenant with the God who had freed them from Egypt. God had allowed the Jews to suffer under foreign domination since 586 B.C. as the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and now the Romans ruled over them.

A man named Jesus sat with His disciples in a room in the city of Jerusalem for the last Passover they would spend together. Jesus had spent roughly 3 years of His life pouring His teachings and acts into these men to prepare them for this night. The ritual went the same as always: the 4 cups of wine, the 4 Questions by the youngest disciple. However, this night was different. The disciples sensed a change in the mood. Unlike the first Hebrews, who anticipated freedom, the disciples sensed something was seriously wrong.

The week had begun so well. Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem like a king, fulfilling a prophecy made roughly 600 years before by a prophet named Zechariah. He had then set about acting as if He had authority to revamp the corruption-ridden city, beginning with the Jewish Temple. He healed, He taught, and He prophesied.

Yet, something was not right. On this night, the night of what should have been a joyous occasion, Jesus instead stunned His most intimate friends with the warning, “one of you will betray me.”

We’ll commemorate the fulfillment of that statement tomorrow night on Good Friday. The betrayal happened as Jesus predicted, leading to His arrest, trial, and death.

The pall of death hung over the room. But in the solemn atmosphere, Jesus reached beyond Passover to give His disciples another meal of commemoration.

St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians gives us the story of Jesus’ meal. Jesus took the leftover matzah bread, broke it, gave it to His disciples, and told them, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus took the common cup, filled it with wine left over from the meal, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And, as with the Passover instructions, in Exodus, we cannot overlook the last phrase: “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” God expected the Hebrews to remember their deliverance from slavery. Jesus expected His disciples to remember His teachings, His miracles, and the mighty deliverance He would work in the days to come.

So tonight, we sit here in Romulus, preparing to take the bread and cup of Holy Communion. “Holy Communion,” we call it tonight. It’s also called the “Eucharist,” or the “Lord’s Supper.” History tells us that this meal has been commemorated daily since the founding of the Church at Pentecost. As God commanded, the Church has “kept the feast” from its beginning. Christians around the world have gathered in this day to commemorate this meal and to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Jesus sacrificed His own life as the perfect Lamb for our salvation.

As with the Hebrews of Moses’ time, and the Jews of Jesus’ time, we find ourselves surrounded by implacable enemies. In our case, the enemies are sin and death. While humanity has faced these enemies since our creation, like the people of Israel, we find a glimmer of hope in our deliverance. We come together tonight as the “redeemed,” those who have confessed Jesus as Lord, believing that God has raised Him from the dead. We come together, therefore, as those whose souls have been claimed from slavery to sin and death and whose eternal lives are secure.

The Hebrews were to place the blood of the lamb on their doorposts as a sign of their belief in God. Tonight, we gather as those whose sins are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. The Hebrews were to eat bitter herbs to remind them of their slavery in Egypt. When we examine our own lives, we need no such reminding. We know that sin continues to beset us. However, we also know that Jesus forgives everyone who confesses their sins to Him and repents of those sins.

Yet, as with the disciples, we often find ourselves wondering about our deliverance. We gather tonight as people redeemed from sin but still suffering its effects. We still find ourselves enslaved by mortal flesh, with its weaknesses and pains. We find ourselves surrounded by reminders that our society is not the godly society we long to build. We find ourselves troubled by thoughts of the future and haunted by our pasts. Can we join the people of Moses’ time and celebrate our upcoming deliverance?

I believe St. Paul tells us, emphatically, “yes.” If anyone needed deliverance from sin’s effects, the Corinthians qualified. Their city’s culture was so corrupt that the Greeks coined a verb from the name “Corinth” that meant “to fornicate” (literally, “to act the Corinthian”). Their church was divided, their leadership condoned open sin, and yet, St. Paul reminded them of their salvation by invoking the observance of Holy Communion.

Tonight, we take this sacrament in anticipation of the events of Good Friday. Tomorrow, we will mark the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ for our sins. As St. Paul reminded the Corinthians, “ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death...”

“...Until he comes.” As Christians, we also gather to anticipate the ultimate commemoration of this meal. The Hebrews left Egypt to travel a land to call their own. When we leave this life, because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, our souls travel to a land where sin and death never enter. We enter this land because of God’s grace through Jesus, the Lamb of God and the Son of God. St. John tells us in the Revelation that we will be invited to a meal beyond imagining: The marriage supper of the Lamb. In that day, we will celebrate our deliverance from sin and death in an eternal life that defies description.

So Christians, approach the table. Partake of the Body that was broken for you; the Blood that was shed for you. Come and remember Jesus’ death on your behalf; come and anticipate the glorious feast we’ll enjoy in the eternity to come. Come, and keep the feast.