Eucharistic meditation

Exodus 12:25-27:  It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.  And it shall be, when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.

Many in the Reformed tradition have understood this passage as an entry requirement for the Passover.  Only those children who could ask the question “What do you mean by this service?” were allowed to eat the Passover.  For a number of reasons, we at Trinity do not accept that.

First, the Passover was all about the deliverance of Israel’s firstborn sons from the angel of death.  As Pastor Sumpter emphasized in the sermon this morning, Israel’s children are at the center of Yahweh’s concerns in the exodus.  Pharaoh attacks Israel by attacking her children, Israel’s future, and Moses insists that Israel cannot go out to celebrate the feast without children.  Further, Passover is Israel’s “birth,” particularly the re-birth of Israel’s firstborn.  It would be passing strange if children were excluded from their own birthday feast.

Second, earlier in the passage, Moses instructs the Israelites to select a lamb that is big enough to feed a household, according to the number of souls in each household.  Everyone who could eat meat was included in the meal.

Third, the passage does establish an entry requirement for Passover, but it is not the ability to ask or answer questions.  Instead, circumcision was the rite of entry to Passover.  Passover was not for men and boys only, but even if it was, that is no longer the case, since both male and female receive the New Covenant equivalent of circumcision in baptism, and so all are welcome at the feast.

Passover was for all of Israel, from young children to old men and women.  And the new covenant Passover has the same breadth.  Our new covenant Passover is as broad as the promise of God, which is for you and for your children forever.