Reflection VI: Lent - Passover

Can you believe Easter is less than two weeks away? I don't know about you, but I feel so much anticipation as we draw closer to the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. Lent will be wrapping up soon, but there are still several thoughts tied to this season that I want to share.

Scripture is brimming with foreshadowing. One of my favorite examples of Biblical foreshadowing is how the Jewish Passover festival points to Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Exodus 12 tells about the origin of Passover, and I've included a portion of this chapter below in case you're unfamiliar with the history. Basically, God commanded the Israelites to smear lamb's blood on their doorposts so that their families would be spared when He struck down the firstborn children of the Egyptians. During the Passover season, Jews remember God's mercy, and how He liberated their ancestors from slavery in Egypt (www.britannica.com/topic/Passover).

Like many stories in the Old Testament, this narrative can feel confusing and grotesque to us modern readers. However, it's significant because Jesus is our Passover lamb. His blood was shed in our place. I recently finished a novel where a character sacrificed himself in order to restore the world in which he lived. The story was so beautifully told that it made me emotional. I've read about Jesus' death countless times, and it's easy to gloss over. But I pray that this Lent, the tale of His crucifixion would rattle me even more deeply than the ending to that book did.

Mercy. It's such a sacred word. May we rejoice in the fact that Jesus' blood covers all our sorrows and shortcomings. May we rest in knowing that we are extraordinarily loved, so much so that Someone was willing to die for us.

Hope this encourages you, friends. Praying you'll have a wonderful week!

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"God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house...Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it...I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt."

Exodus 12:1-13 (The Message Bible)

"... you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

1 Peter 1:18-19 (English Standard Version)

"There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

- John 15:13 (New Living Translation)

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Image Citation: "Passover Doorpost". Independant Church of God of Atlanta,

https://www.icgatlanta.com/passover-lords-supper-information. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.