Some people get a bad taste in their mouths when they hear the word "history." They think it's boring. It's not, of course. The things that happened in the past that we remember and pass down to future generations are the most exciting events that have ever occurred. The real problem is that in history classes, we often were forced to remember dates and countless details related to the events. In our own country, the only date some people can remember is the Fourth of July, and that's because it's the only holiday that uses the date as the holiday title.
Mark Twain gave some advice about this:
"Dates are hard to remember because they consist of figures—and figures monotonously consistent in appearance. They give the eye no chance to take hold. The answer is pictures. Pictures make dates stick. Pictures can make practically anything stick, particularly if you make the pictures yourself."
- Mark Twain
There are some dates that nations and people groups dare not forget because they are life changing, nation changing, and even world changing. This week, here in the U.S.A., we will commemorate that kind of date, i.e., July 4th. I love to do it even though a part of the remembering includes reflecting on the many lives sacrificed to retain the freedoms we will be celebrating. It's important to remember both the blessing of freedom and the cost of freedom.
Today, we come to a date that God instituted for Israel—and ultimately for all who are known as his people—i.e., Passover. Even before he rescued Israel from slavery, God gave careful details about how his people were to remember how Israel was saved from slavery. God established a very visual way of reenacting what happened when he rescued them. We could call it "Israel's Fourth of July." The Israelites had experienced years of oppression under a horrible tyranny. God did not want his people to ever forget what occurred to bring about their freedom.
Because of that, in his wisdom, God gave them a series of pictures to remember their great escape from slavery. The rabbis call it a "Haggadah," a verbal picture that explains something of essential importance. Every year, the Israelites were to rehearse all that happened many years before, re enacting the drama of their rescue so that all people would remember not only the historical facts of their Independence Day but also the different life it made possible. That day is the basis of our own communion service. Today, we too will remember what it cost God to purchase our freedom.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor