Chapters 11-13 of Exodus chronicle the Passover, the major event that follows the final plague God inflicted on Egypt. God put to death every firstborn person and animal in Egypt with the exception of those who sacrificed a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts of their home as instructed by Moses. Everything thus far in the first nine plagues has been building to this climactic moment.

What is odd about the text is that it seems to miss most of the narrative effect of re-telling the climactic plague. Rather, the action is interspersed with extensive instruction about properly observing the annual feast of Passover and the subsequent weeklong Festival of Unleavened Bread. Each generation must be taught about God’s salvation, which we later learn, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5:7, the Apostle Paul makes the connection explicitly clear.

Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us.

The Israelites were delivered from Egypt, but Christ delivers us from all forms of evil. The Exodus experience took a million ethnic slaves and forged them into the Nation of Israel. In Christ, a diverse multitude of people are made into one holy Church. The death of a substitute atones for the sins of idolatry, both in Israel’s day and for the Church today. The worship instructions given in Exodus 11-13 were meant to form the people in new ways through worship. The Passover feast started a new calendar year for Israel. Likewise, Christ’s death and resurrection moved Sabbath worship from Saturday to Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Jesus transformed the Passover Feast in the Upper Room into the sacrament of Holy Communion. 

Taking It Home: Resolve to regularly participate in Eucharistic worship and also teach the next generation to do the same. We are formed by the Scriptures, the Spirit, and the Sacraments in worship.