Holy Thursday

It's Holy Thursday. It is a Holy day that has been observed for centuries in the Christian faith, and for many centuries before that in the Jewish faith. Holy Thursday is the day we observe the Passover.

You will remember the Passover from the book of Exodus. Families huddled together in their homes, waiting for something that they could hardly understand. Egyptians going about their lives as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And the events of that night ended the lives of the first-born of the Egyptians and convinced even the stone-hearted Pharaoh that Egypt was better off without these Israelite slaves. And they were released into freedom--or into a new relationship with God as their Sovereign.

Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed by his friend Judas, was observing the Passover with the disciples. This was a necessary observance for him and those close to him. And here was Jesus, in the upper room, surrounded by his chosen family, sharing an intimate meal and a time of intimate teaching with those who loved him best.

That Passover led to death, also, but not for the first-born of Egypt. This time it was for the first-born of God.

But that death also led to freedom. This new freedom was more complete than the freedom from Pharaoh. This new freedom was freedom from the bonds of sin and death.

It's not that those things don't exist anymore. The Egyptians certainly continued to exist even after the Israelites were freed. Sin and death still exist. In this pandemic, we are reminded of this on an hourly basis.

They exist, but they do not enslave us. One alone is sovereign, God above all, and through God we are released from that bondage to sin and death.

I don't know how you feel, but during this pandemic, I feel trapped, as if somehow I am in bondage. I don't mean to compare this to actual bondage, but I do feel hemmed in on all sides by this disease and the fear that it creates in me and in all of us.

And so we wait. We wait for deliverance, a deliverance that will surely come if the history of the people can be our guide--if the words of scripture mean something to us. Like the Israelites in Egypt, it may not have come as quickly as they hoped, but it came. Like the Israelites in bondage in Babylon, deliverance came only after many years, but it did come. And for those of us with faith in Christ, deliverance has come through Christ in God's timing.

All those things are in our past, but the past teaches us about our future. God will deliver. God is in the delivering business.

Be well, stay safe, and may your hearts be turned toward God, the proven deliverer, on this Holy Thursday.