Exodus 12:1-14 (Common English Bible)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

“This month will be the first month; it will be the first month of the year for you.

Tell the whole Israelite community: On the tenth day of this month they must take a lamb for each household, a lamb per house. If a household is too small for a lamb, it should share one with a neighbor nearby. You should divide the lamb in proportion to the number of people who will be eating it. Your lamb should be a flawless year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You should keep close watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month. At twilight on that day, the whole assembled Israelite community should slaughter their lambs. They should take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and on the beam over the door of the houses in which they are eating. That same night they should eat the meat roasted over the fire. They should eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire with its head, legs, and internal organs. Don’t let any of it remain until morning, and burn any of it left over in the morning.

This is how you should eat it. You should be dressed, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You should eat the meal in a hurry. It is the Passover of the Lord.

I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I’ll strike down every oldest child in the land of Egypt, both humans and animals. I’ll impose judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be your sign on the houses where you live. Whenever I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. No plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the Lord. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time.

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It is a particular late summer morning, 1966. If you were to walk through the front yard at 1020 Hawthorne Drive in Bettendorf, Iowa and look in the picture window, (well, that would be a little creepy) through the living room and into the kitchen, you would see me sitting at the kitchen table, ready to go.

Wearing black tennis shoes, dark blue stirrups, gray baseball pants that ended at the knee, a dark blue baseball jersey, and a baseball cap with a white letter T and a Red wishbone C in the front. On my left hand I wore my baseball glove. In my right hand I clutched my sack lunch. I sat on the edge of my seat, ready to go.

I wasn’t playing a game that day, it was so much bigger than that. My little league team, the Twins, was going to Chicago that day to watch the Cubs play at Wrigley Field. I was up early, dressed and ready to go.

I wanted to be sure that when the coach pulled up, I would be out the door and in the car.

I had never been to a major league game before, and I had no idea what to expect, but I couldn’t wait to get there. Little did I know that that day would mark the beginning of the longest relationship of my life outside of my immediate family, as I became a diehard fan and have been one for 55 years, through thick and thin, but mostly thin.

The Hebrews have been slaves in Egypt for a long time. They recently felt a bit of hope as a fellow Hebrew, Moses came out of the mountains to announce to them that they will soon be free.

Unfortunately, Moses’ initial interactions with the King of Egypt don’t go well and result in even more suffering for the Hebrews.

So, the Hebrews beg Moses to knock it off. Moses goes back to God and tells God that his countrymen don't trust him and want him to stop trying to be the hero. God’s response to Moses is that things are about to get interesting.

And interesting they get as Moses confronts the king of Egypt time and time again. And with every confrontation comes a weird disaster with which the Egyptians have to deal. First, it is the Nile River turning to blood, making the water unclean and creating quite the stink. Then come the frogs out of the river and onto the land, and into peoples homes. They are everywhere and then they die in massive piles and create more stink. Next comes the bugs, first lice and then flies, everywhere in everything, quite a mess. Next comes a disease that kills the Egyptian animals, then boils and sores on the Egyptians, then hail that destroys crops, then grasshoppers that destroy what is left after the hail, and then darkness.

One interesting thing about these plagues is that many of them affect only the Egyptians. The Hebrews, who live in Goshen, are spared the craziness.

So the Hebrews are more or less onlookers to these events rather than participants in them. Moses speaks on their behalf, but the Hebrews themselves are somewhat isolated.

I can imagine that there is significant conversation among the Hebrews about what was happening to the Egyptian’s on account of Moses and what it might mean for them. Will the king of Egypt make their lives even more miserable on account of these events, or might Moses really be the hero who is about to lead them out of captivity?

Which brings us to chapter 12.

Exodus chapter 12 lays out the events that are known as Passover. The events described in the chapter lead directly to the Exodus which is considered the pivotal event in Jewish history.

The story of Passover is the story of God’s rescue of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. It is called Passover because as the Lord is revealing the last of the plagues, which is the death of all the firstborn of the Egyptians, there is a guarantee that Hebrew homes will be passed over as the divine destroyer moves from home to home in Egypt.

The sign that a home is occupied by Hebrews is blood painted on the door posts. The blood on the door post indicates to the destroyer to pass over that house.

Interestingly, several of the plagues that have come upon Egypt had skipped the Hebrews without any sort of identification process, as if God already knows who the Hebrews are. For this last plague, however, it is necessary for the Hebrews to step up and identify themselves as God’s people.

Moses speaks to the Hebrews. And his instructions are quite clear.

“Get ready for a meal. Pick out a flawless sheep or goat. As you butcher the animal, take some blood and paint around your door post. This will protect you from what is coming.

When you have cooked the meat and prepared the meal, eat it. But as you eat, eat as if you are in a hurry and are about to leave. Eat with your bags packed and your traveling clothes on, make sure your sandals are laced up, eat with one hand and hold your walking stick the other. Eat as if you are ready to go at a moment’s notice.

I do not see in the passage that the people are told where they supposed to be ready to go, just that they are to be ready. They are not given a vision of their future, they are not even given a plan except that they are to continue commemorating this event forever.

There are so many things about the story on which we could focus, but I am particularly interested in the way the people are supposed to eat. Not so much what they eat, but how they eat it.

They are to eat it in a hurry as if they have places to go and things to see. They are to be fully dressed as if they might be called away any second to begin their journey.

And they are. After the awful events of Passover night, and the firstborn of the Egyptians are killed, the Hebrews are invited to leave and not come back.

I think this imagery of sitting down to eat as you are fully prepared to leave is both powerful and odd.

It is odd in that it looks silly. Why would I sit down at the table with my coat and hat on, with my backpack on my shoulder, with my shoes laced tight?

Can you imagine being a dinner guest and sitting down to eat with your winter coat on? The look of it makes me laugh.

But then I am reminded,

Of sitting fully dressed in my baseball uniform, with my glove on hand, ready to dash out the door at a moments notice.

And I am reminded,

of sitting at the picnic table outside of the Milky Way restaurant in Frankfort, Indiana, wearing my coat and gloves with a stocking cap on my head, my bike leaning up against the table, and eating a pizza burger quickly, knowing that as soon as that last bite is taken, I’m off.

And I am reminded, of hiking the Appalachian Trail, with a full pack on my back and eating as I walk along knowing that I have to get a certain number of miles in that day.

And I a reminded, of hasty breakfasts, of hurried lunches, of rushed suppers, meals gobbled in haste because the schedule didn’t allow for leisurely dining.

And I think the imagery is so profound because there is in it the reminder that as God speaks to God‘s people, God‘s request of them is to be ready.

I think of Jesus’ ministry, and of all the times Jesus’ encourages people to be ready. He tells parables reminding his listeners of the value of being ready.

Sometimes Jesus encourages people to be ready to stay put right where they are, at other times he wants them to be ready to go.

As kids, when we would compete against each other, in a foot race, or a bike race or who could eat a piece of pizza the fastest, the words to begin were always said, “Ready, Set, Go.” There is no set, or go, without ready.

Whether it’s staying or going, speaking or listening, praying or serving, standing or stooping, singing or whispering, it is the divine prerogative that we be always ready.

Amen.

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Pastoral Prayer

based on a “Commissioning Prayer”

found in _Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals_

In the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit let us pray.

God, you have called us into being through love.

You have joined us to one another in love.

How good and pleasant it is when your people dwell together in unity.

Shine your light upon your people that we can see the glory of eternal life.

Grant us the strength to carry your blessing from this place to the next.

May we be at home in any land, for all the earth is yours.

And, with our hopes set on your surpassing glory, may we live as sojourners wherever we are.

May the lamp of your word guide our steps on the unsure paths of life.

Our lives are but a breath, but our breaths are drawn from your divine Spirit.

You have created us as walking paradoxes.

Specks of dust and divine-image bearers.

We are constantly restless until we rest in you.

Amen.