Since we are referring to the Passover in the Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today, let me begin by acknowledging how easy it is to "pass over" a post. In talking to a cousin yesterday, she mentioned that she did not receive a post, and I assured her that I had posted one. Well, my apologies, to her and to you.
In Exodus (Ex 11:10 - 12:14) the Lord gives instructions to his people to prepare for a day of intervention. He had heard their cries, and having been rejected by the obstinate heart of Pharaoh, was about to set them free. The intervention was to be momentous, one that would touch the lives of all who lived, death. In preparation, the Hebrews were told to take the blood of the lamb that was slaughtered for their journey of freedom and mark their doorposts. This was so that the Lord would "pass over" those homes and not bring the death of the first born of the land, both man and beast, to those households. Death is the ultimate plague of a hard and obstinate heart.
After that terrible night they began a journey to freedom, the journey to a promised land flowing with milk and honey. Leaving that place where they had been welcomed but now were dispised, they were led by the Lord himself.
Jesus is the new Moses, who, having heard our cries for freedom from sin and death has led us through a new "passover". The blood that marks our lives is the blood of the paschal lamb, Christ Himself. The angel of death has passed over us when we entered the waters of baptism. We are journeying to the Promised Land that is beyond this life, the table that the Lord has set in the Heavenly Banquet. And most importantly, the Lord walks before us. In the Church we find our family, in his Word we find the Truth, and in his Love we find salvation. Journey with confidence.
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