Daily Devotion for Day 14 of Lent 2016

Scripture Reading: Exodus 12:1-42 (NRSV)

Christianity would do well to understand
our Hebrew heritage to better grasp our own faith.

If you have been following along the readings, you might have discovered a difference in style for today's text. Many scholars believe that there were different sources of writings that were later edited into one story.  In today's reading, the Priestly source is rather easy to spot in that it is concerned with dynamics of worship (specifically the Passover here).

As we think about worship, the celebration of Passover is a major part of the worship life in Judaism today.  I attended a Passover hosted by the Jewish Student Association when I was in college.  It was fascinating to see the story come to life through their liturgy which involved eating!

As we think about how they recount this story, it is a reminder that they were once slaves and yet became free through God's intervention.  As Christians, it is no coincidence that our own narrative has similar elements.  The apostle Paul speaks of being slaves to sin and becoming free through God's intervention in Jesus Christ.

As we focus on the resurrection, we can see the resurrection taking place in the freedom of the Israelites after being slaves for over four hundred years.

This allows us to ask the important questions, "Where has resurrection occurred in my life?" and "Where is resurrection still needed?"



Picture by Eczebulun (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons