January 20, 2024 - Exodus 13-16

And so begins Israel’s journey from Egypt to the promised land.  They were to celebrate the Passover there in Egypt and perpetually from generation to generation.  Why?  So that these events and the great hand of God in their deliverance would not be forgotten:  “And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery’” (13:14).  Similarly, the Lord’s Supper is for us a remembering of God’s great act of deliverance from sin and death.  Engraved on just about every table used for the Lord’s Supper I have seen, throughout the years, are the words “In remembrance of me” taken from Luke 22 where Jesus instructs his disciples and us:  “Do this in remembrance of me” (22:19).

At the Lord’s table we remember, we give thanks, and we declare what God has done for us in Christ.  In fact, we should always be remembering, day by day, the goodness and faithfulness of our God who gives us our daily bread and all other things we need.  But above all, day by day, we remember “"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Knowing this, what joy and peace is ours!

Through the Red Sea brought at last, alleluia!

Egypt's chains behind we cast, alleluia!

Deep and wide flows the tide

severing us from bondage past, alleluia!

Like the cloud that overhead, alleluia!

through the billows Israel led, alleluia!

By his tomb Christ makes room,

souls restoring from the dead, alleluia!

In that cloud and in that sea, alleluia!

Buried and baptized were we, alleluia!

Earthly night brought us light,

which is ours eternally, alleluia!   --Ronald A. Knox (1977)