Written by: Tim Sledge - Peterborough Diocesan Mission Enabler
Exodus 11 v 1-3
Now the LORD had told Moses, "I have one more way to punish the king and
the people of Egypt. After this, the king will send all of you away from Egypt.
When he does, he will force you to leave completely. Tell the men and women of
Israel to ask their neighbours for things made of silver and gold." The
LORD had caused the Egyptians to respect the Israelites, and both the king's
officers and the Egyptian people considered Moses to be a great man.
Notes
There was trouble in the Egyptian camp! While Pharaoh was getting more stubborn
and stroppy, the Egyptian people were more generous. They respected Moses
and his people but not their own leader. Why? Because even though Moses warned
them about God's plagues, he still wanted to protect them. He didn't want
to see bad things happen to them. It's as if Moses was saying: "Hey,
don't shoot the messenger!"
The Egyptian people saw Moses as a great man. How did he get to be that? Moses had been a faithful witness to God and had always been big-hearted – even when God's judgement seemed a hard pill to swallow. People responded to his witness of God.
I don't want to be a great man, but the challenge in life is always to live and be respected as a Christian by all people – even those who either dislike me or are very different from me. Moses was a humble and reluctant leader who just stuck to what God wanted – and he had help from Aaron because he knew he couldn't do it on his own.
Greatness comes from faithfulness, from being humble and aware of our own weaknesses and inadequacies. It comes from courage to speak out and remaining single-minded. For Moses and for us, it comes from focusing on the greatness of God and letting it flow through us.
Prayer
Dear Lord, help me to live my life today so that I respect you and your teaching.
Help me to live my life so that others will respect me for what I believe
in. Amen
Exodus 11 v 4-10
So Moses said to the king, "This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight
tonight I will go through all Egypt. Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt
will die—from the firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne,
to the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain. Also the firstborn farm
animals will die. There will be loud crying everywhere in Egypt, worse than
any time before or after this. But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites
or their animals.' Then you will know that the LORD treats Israel differently
from Egypt. All your officers will come to me. They will bow face down to the
ground before me and say, ‘Leave and take all your people with you.'
After that, I will leave." Then Moses very angrily left the king.
The LORD had told Moses, "The king will not listen to you and Aaron so
that I may do many miracles in the land of Egypt." Moses and Aaron did
all these great miracles in front of the king. But the LORD made him stubborn,
and the king would not let the Israelites leave his country.
Notes
On a scale of 1-10, how stubborn do you think you are? Stubborn people are
often described as those who "dig their heels in". The thing is,
if you do that you can't move. You are stuck. Stubborn people don't move
much.
Being stubborn is different from standing up for what you believe in. Stubbornness can stop things from happening. It did for the Israelites. But it does something else as well. It stops you from recognising God. Moses and Aaron did loads of miracles before the King of Egypt but he didn't recognise or notice.
Sometimes, we can get so stubborn and stuck on something and hold onto things that we can't move on with God.
Are you being stubborn about something? Perhaps you need to swallow your pride and leave it and move on. It might be a disagreement or someone you have fallen out with that has caused you to be stubborn. Maybe it is time to stop and move on.
Prayer
Lord, help me to be honest where I have been stubborn and stuck to my guns
for the wrong reasons. Help me to recognise these times and to open my heart
to what you want. I don't want to carry on feeling stuck; I want to move
on with you. Amen
Exodus 12 v 1-10
The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: "This month will
be the beginning of months, the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole
community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must get one
lamb for the people in his house. If there are not enough people in his house
to eat a whole lamb, he must share it with his closest neighbour, considering
the number of people. There must be enough lamb for everyone to eat. The lamb
must be a one-year-old male that has nothing wrong with it. This animal can
be either a young sheep or a young goat. Take care of the animals until the
fourteenth day of the month. On that day all the people of the community of
Israel will kill them in the evening before dark. The people must take some
of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses
where they eat the lambs. On this night they must roast the lamb over a fire.
They must eat it with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Do not eat
the lamb raw or boiled in water. Roast the whole lamb over a fire—with
its head, legs and inner organs. You must not leave any of it until morning,
but if any of it is left over until morning, you must burn it with fire.
Notes
New Year's Eve is party time for many people! We celebrate everything that's
happened over the past year, we make resolutions that next year will be even
better, and we count down to the start of what is ahead.
For the Israelites, this Bible passage shows God's list of ingredients for a New Year's party. They called it the Passover – but more of that tomorrow! Now, we might think that lamb, bitter herbs and flat bread would not make the best party food – especially if the lamb was roasted with its head and inner organs all together! Sounds gross to me!
But the lamb, the bread and bitter herbs are all symbolic – the lamb stands for sacrifice, the bitter herbs stand for the bitter slavery of the Israelites and the flat bread symbolises having to leave Egypt in such a hurry that the bread didn't have time to rise. Basically, it's a story in a meal! It's a story of God's faithfulness in food. For Christians, that's what bread and wine – communion – means too, a reminder and a celebration of all that Jesus has done for us. It is party time!
It might not be New Year's Day today, but you might want to think about all that God has done for you and for all his people through history in being faithful to his word. When you sit down to eat today – or even if you are grabbing a snack on the go, thank God for his faithfulness and for looking after you – even when it might not have felt like it!
Prayer
Loving God, thank you for the food and drink that you provide for me. As you
were faithful to Moses and his people, help me to be faithful to you. And
as I eat my food, don't just fill me up, but give me food to strengthen me
and follow you in all that this day will hold. Amen
Exodus 12 v 11-13
This is the way you must eat it: you must be fully dressed as if you were going
on a trip. You must have your sandals on and your walking stick in your hand.
You must eat it in a hurry; this is the LORD's Passover.
"That night I will go through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn
animals and people in the land of Egypt. I will also punish all the gods of Egypt.
I am the LORD. But the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are. When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. Nothing terrible will hurt you when I
punish the land of Egypt."
Notes
The meal described in this chapter of Exodus is the start of the Passover festival
for Jews. It means that God would literally pass over the houses where there
was the sign of the blood of the lamb, and nothing bad would happen to them.
They ate the Passover meal with their "going away clothes" to remind
them of the rush that they were in.
In the New Testament, St Paul calls Jesus the "Passover Lamb" who has been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5 v 7). The sacrifice of a lamb in the Passover is mirrored in the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, on the cross.
If we could look at God's DNA, we would find love, love and more love. Whatever we have done, God has rescued us because he loves us; he has died for everything we have done wrong. Jesus loved us to the end (see John 13 v 1). He never stops loving; his last breath was a breath of love.
In Jesus, God has made a bridge for us to go back to him – we can pass over that bridge back into the loving arms of God.
Help needed? Rescue needed? Desperate? Look no further. God does not want to hurt us; he always wants to love us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you that you are the ultimate rescue plan. Help me today in
the things that are really bothering me and when I need you to rescue me.
I know that you will never leave me. Thank you so much for your stunningly
generous love! Amen
Exodus 12 v 14-20
"You are always to remember this day and celebrate it with a feast to the
LORD. Your descendants are to honour the LORD with this feast from now on. For
this feast you must eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first
day, you are to remove all the yeast from your houses. No one should eat any
yeast for the full seven days of the feast, or that person will be cut off from
Israel. You are to have holy meetings on the first and last days of the feast.
You must not do any work on these days; the only work you may do is to prepare
your meals. You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this
very day I brought your divisions of people out of Egypt. So all of your descendants
must celebrate this day. This is a law that will last from now on. In the first
month of the year you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of
the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days
there must not be any yeast in your houses. Anybody who eats yeast during this
time, either an Israelite or non-Israelite, must be cut off from the community
of Israel. During this feast you must not eat anything made with yeast. You must
eat only bread made without yeast wherever you live."
Notes
What a load of seemingly strange rules! All this talk about yeast and exactly
when and what to eat and watch out for if you get it wrong, as well as being
cut off from the house of Israel. It all seems a bit harsh for just some
eating arrangements.
A friend of mine is getting married in a few weeks' time. He is feeling stressed! Every conversation with every person in the family is about the big day – who is wearing what, the menu, the invitation list, the photos, the speeches, the service! Everything has to be just right or else there will be trouble (especially from the mother-in-law!). Why bother? Because it is such a special and important day; they want it to be the best it possibly can so that people will remember it and keep talking about it.
The clue to all the rules and regulations in this part of the Bible is in the first line: make it memorable and make it a celebration.
When God is faithful to us we are meant to celebrate. We might spend a lot of time asking God for help and asking him to rescue us, but how often do we celebrate – with a party, or just by saying thank you? Think back on when God has been good to you and has answered your prayers. Maybe you could throw a party! Why not? He is worth it, and it will be a celebration that is memorable – exactly what God intended!
Prayer
Loving God, I ask you for so much. Today I just want to say thank you for everything,
and sorry for when I forget to realise just what you have done. Amen
Exodus 12 v 21-23
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and told them, "Get
the animals for your families and kill the lamb for the Passover. Take a branch
of the hyssop plant, dip it into the bowl filled with blood, and then wipe
the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. No one may leave that house
until morning. When the LORD goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will
see the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes, and he will pass over
that house. He will not let the one who brings death come into your houses
and kill you."
Notes
(Don't try this at home...!) I reckon you wouldn't be popular if you were to
wipe blood on the top, bottom and sides of the front door. (...but try this!)
Get a blank sheet of paper and a red pen. Now draw the outline of a door,
mark a red blob at the top of the door and the bottom, and then one on the
sides of the door. Join the dots from top to bottom and the ones from right
to left. Familiar? It should look like a cross. The red marks correspond
to the marks of the nails in Jesus' hands, feet and the crown of thorns.
It's often said that Jesus is the Passover lamb who was sacrificed for us. In these messy instructions for the Passover feast for the Jews, we are reminded of the mess of the cross, of Jesus' blood poured out for us, and that through his death we have life.
None of our lives are without mess. It is best to be honest about the mess and pour it out to God – not to expose the bad news to everyone, but just to be open and honest with God.
Prayer exercise
" Amazing love, Oh what sacrifice, the son of God, given for me. My debt
he pays, and my death he dies, that I might live."
Repeat these song words a few times and let them soak into you.
Then pray: "Loving Lord, thank you that your blood poured out means that
I can live. Thank you for your amazing love. Amen".
Exodus 12 v 24-28
"You must keep this command as a law for you and your descendants from
now on. Do this when you go to the land the LORD has promised to give you. When
your children ask you, ‘Why are we doing these things?' you will say, ‘This
is the Passover sacrifice to honour the LORD. When we were in Egypt, the LORD
passed over the houses of Israel, and when he killed the Egyptians, he saved
our homes.'" Then the people bowed down and worshipped the LORD. They did
just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
Notes
What's the best story you have ever heard? Or the best book you have read?
Maybe you have read about the life of a famous pop idol, soap actor or film
star in a magazine. We love to hear the latest story or juicy bit of gossip.
We all have a story to tell. One of the great things about the Jews and the traditions around the Passover festival is that they do it all to tell the story of the goodness and faithfulness of God. They sit together and remind themselves just how faithful God has been to them through the rough times and the good. They talk about it and retell the whole story year after year after year.
You have a story to tell too – a good news story of Jesus' love for you and your relationship with him. Sometimes I think that the story of Jesus is the biggest secret. We don't or daren't tell anyone about it, because we are afraid of what might be said or what people might think of us. I think that loads of people are interested and are searching for meaning and peace and something to fill the "God-shaped hole" in their lives. How are they going to know? By us telling them, in words and in the way we live - by "gossiping the gospel". The best gossip is gossiping the gossip about God – not just on the pages of magazines, but on the pages of our hearts and lives.
Pray today for an opportunity to share with others some part of the story of God in your life.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the people who have shared your love with me. Help me to
do the same today, in words and actions and in the way I live my life. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes