Exodus 12:1-4, [5-10], 11-14 (NRSV)
Read Exodus 12:1-4, [5-10], 11-14 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: Verse 2This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Verse 3Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. Verse 4If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.[ Verse 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Verse 6You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. Verse 7They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. Verse 8They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Verse 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. Verse 10You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.] Verse 11This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. Verse 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. Verse 13The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Verse 14This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Devotion
Yesterday the hosannas ceased as Christ's passion began. We enter Holy Week, following in the way of Jesus, whose very body will be betrayed, beaten, and broken by us and for us. This is not the first time God has journeyed with God's people from death to life. The Passover in Exodus reminds us of this well-worn path. God passed over the people living-to-die in Egypt so they might experience dying-into-life in the promised land. On this "day of remembrance," God's people are re-membered to the divine promises of life—a re-memberment that takes place in our very bodies.
This Holy Week is a full-on body journey as we accompany Jesus, God's own embodiment, from life to death to life resurrected. Each day our bodily senses will be awoken and animated as we experience the passion that takes us to the cross and beyond. Along the way, we too are re-membered to the body of one who leads us out of death to life evermore.
Prayer
Enliven our senses, O God, to your presence at work in our bodies. As we enter again into the story of your passionate love for us, hold us close, body to body. Amen.