You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat
unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out
of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life
you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 16: 3
For a long time I had not thought about the reason why the bread for the Passover feast was unleavened. But when I read this passage a couple of days ago, I was reminded that the bread was unleavened because they were in a hurry. They couldn't wait for the bread to rise. I think the lesson is: when God saves you, move! Get out of your oppression - now! Don't wait.
Every year Hebrew families would reenact this event giving parents an opportunity to tell their children about what God had done for them, why they were eating unleavened bread, and how they escaped Egypt with their lives. Jesus saw the meaning of his own death in this event. Looking forward to his resurrection and the time of new creation before he returned as King, he told his disciples to remember their salvation in the celebration of this event.
I know that as Christians we go to church and "take the Lord's Supper" on a weekly basis to remind us what Jesus did for us, the new covenant of forgiveness that we enjoy, and the fact that we are now family in the Body of Christ. It is the celebration of our salvation, our escape from sin, and, most of all, it is the celebration of the love of our Savior, Jesus the Christ. But as good as all that is in church, I wish I had done something more "in family" - like the Hebrew people. I think that there must have been something particularly faith-strengthening in the family celebration of salvation that teaches children and reminds parents of the truths of their salvation.
What do you think? Do you think that we Americans who are not much for traditions - especially religious family traditions - can start traditions that teach and reinforce faith?
yes! I thought about this over Easter, too.
ReplyDeleteWe did a Seder meal at church before Easter, and I like that. I like sitting as a family and doing it with the church body. But, I think it could be good for us to do something like that more on our own too. Most of the things that I do with my kids are things that I enjoy and am used to - I try to go through the Christmas story with the kids around Christmas time. I have tried before, without much success, to do something for Advent - but b/c I do not really completely understand it and it requires the discipline of doing something significant every day, something that requires planning before Advent season starts, I never carry through with it well. I do think there is something to following a religious calendar and having traditions that are based on these. The Hebrews certainly followed a religious calendar, didn't they? But, the intentionality that it would take on my part does not come naturally to me. Definitely something for me to work on.
ReplyDeleteI think that you are way ahead of where mom and I ever were. We grew up anti-tradition and it helped and hurt us. It makes an impression on me when I hear someone talk about a family tradition that was daily or weekly carried out that had a spiritual impact on them.
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