Bible Text: Exodus 12:1-14 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: Genesis | Do you have a storyteller in your family?  I do.  My husband, Frank, tells an amazing story. He has the ability to tell a story with enough detail that you can imagine you were there.  And….the ability to tell the story so many times, you can’t help but remember it. He loves to tell stories about his time growing up with his family, about his mom and dad, about his siblings.  He loves to tell stories about our family vacations, places we have lived, people we have met and called friends. His stories are so lively that they are super easy to remember and now even my kids can tell the stories of the grandfather they never knew or of the uncle who died when they were very young.  I can imagine that they will tell their families those same stories. They will tell the Christmas tree story every Christmas and the beach stories as they travel to their vacation spot. These stories have become a part of who we are and a holiday or a vacation are not complete without someone telling the stories!

 

The final verse in our scripture reading for today is God’s instruction to the Isaelites to tell their story. The Israelites have been through so much already. Yet, their story has really just begun. God directs the people to dedicate a day each year to re-tell this part of the story. God says for generations to come you should have a party, a get-together, a festival. You should sit around with your family and re-tell this amazing story of what God did to show everyone that Pharoah is not God, but that God is God, the only God.  That God holds the power and the sovereignty. That God is the God who keeps promises and protects God’s chosen people.

 

God established this festival called Passover to give the Israelites an intentional, regular and consistent time to tell the story of their freedom from the Egyptians and the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land.

 

Can you imagine being at the table at one of the first Passover meals?

I can hear it now….

 

Remember when we were working as slaves in Egypt for Pharaoh?  It was so hot and we worked such long hours.  Remember the times that Pharaoh would take away the straw we used to make bricks faster?  We still had to make the same amount but without the benefit of the straw.

Remember when Pharoah dictated that all first borns of our families were to be killed?  We would do our best to keep our babies quiet. Jacobed was so brave and faithful that she put her baby in a basket in the Nile. Amazing that the boy who grew up in Pharaoh’s house would be the one who argued with Pharaoh to give us our freedom.

 

But, remember, that freedom didn’t come easy…not easy at all!  I am not sure we didn’t understand it at the time and I am not really sure we understand it now, but remember all those plagues?  How many were there?  10?  The water in the Nile River turned to blood, red and undrinkable!  Then the frogs…oh my…the frogs!  They were EVERYWHERE!  In the bedrooms, in the kitchens.  Pharaoh said he would give us time to pray but he never kept that promise.

 

Ooh, ooh remember the gnats and then the flies?  It was amazing that the flies only swarmed the houses and the families of Egyptians.  We Isrealites didn’t have any flies…Pharoah almost agreed to let us have worship services and sacrifices, but again he never kept his promise.  We continued to work as slaves.

 

And if the gnats and flies weren’t bad enough, how about the disease that killed their livestock?  The cattle, the donkeys, the sheep.  They all died.  Ours didn’t though.  No animal that belonged to an Israelite family was touched!  We checked all around and everyone confirmed this was true!

 

But, eeewww….talk about those boils, all over the Egyptians and their animals.

You would have thought Pharaoh would know God by now…but, NO!

 

God sent that crazy hail and then all those locusts and then the 3 days of darkness!  Still Pharaoh wouldn’t let us leave.

 

But, the last plague, ahhh…the last plague.  God said that the Angel of Death would come through Egypt and the firstborn of all families- human and animal would be killed!  But, God gave us important instructions, specific instructions to protect our Israelite families.  Choose a lamb or a goat, one less than 1 year old, take care of it for 14 days and then slaughter it, spread the blood on our doorways and then eat all the meat.  We were so glad that God said we could share a lamb with our neighbors as some households were small and could never eat a whole lamb and some families didn’t have a year old animal.  We got to work together!

 

Was anyone else nervous that night?  We did exactly what God told us to do and evening turned to night.  We heard so much crying and wailing as there was so much death.  But, not in our households. The blood on the door saved us!  And, Pharaoh let us leave Egypt!  We were free from our slavery.

 

Isn’t God amazing?  God protected us!  God looked out for us!  Not just once, but many times! We can begin to see that God will make good on the promises in the covenant of Abraham…that we would have land and be a blessing and be a great nation of people.  We don’t have all that yet, but we are not slaves and we are grateful for what God has done for us!

 

Yes!  Grateful!  We are grateful!  We see the good that God has done and we are thankful! Now let’s eat!

 

This Passover celebration has remained one of the most important celebrations in the Jewish tradition.  Witnesses and participants from the time of Moses are long gone, but the story remains.

 

Just as God instructed, for over 3000 years, generations have told and heard the story.  Parents have told the story to their children and then they to their children. The story has truly survived the test of time. Year after year, family gathering after family gathering the story of God’s providence, the story of God’s goodness, the story of God’s power is told during the time of Passover. The remembering leads directly to gratitude.Giving thanks to God is a natural progression as we recall all God has done for us!

 

God knows that we have short memories! That we so quickly can forget what God has done for us when we start to concentrate on what we are lacking, on what we need, on what we don’t have enough of.  We want more money, more happiness, more health, more, more, more. God knows that we can go from partying to whining in no time. As the story continues, we will hear how whiny the Israelites could get and I know some of you are like me and can get a little whiny with God! God knows that we need to be reset, re-calibrated, re-focused.  God knew the Isrealites would need this as they travelled for 40 years before getting to the Promised Land. God knew they would need to retell the story, to remember the goodness of God and to be grateful and thankful.  God gave them a story to tell.

 

And God knows that we need the same. As Christians, we don’t celebrate Passover as our Jewish friends do.  But, we don’t lack stories to tell that is for sure!

 

The Gospels are full of stories of real people and their interaction and relationships with Jesus during his ministry. We can easily see the commitment Jesus demonstrated to loving those not loved by others, recognizing those who others ignore and serving those who expected to serve him. We have amazing stories about Jesus that we can tell!  We can tell about the woman at the well, we can tell about the folks who lowered their friend through the roof to see Jesus.  We can tell the story of Jesus eating a meal with Zaccheus the tax collector. Each of these stories remind us that God loves us so much!  God loves us so much that God sent Jesus to earth so we could have a role model for a compassionate, loving and justice seeking lifestyle. As we remember and re-tell those stories, we are grateful to God for that life-changing love, and to Jesus for the ultimate sacrifice.

 

The Israelites were saved by the blood of a lamb.  We are saved by the blood of the lamb, Jesus. God’s providence and protection for the people of Israel and of us today came with a sacrifice. Jesus was the perfect lamb from the Passover story.  Jesus is the one whose blood saves us from sin and death.

 

But my friends hear me when I say this.  YOUR story has power too! Your life guided by the Holy Spirit is full of lessons and examples that demonstrate the power of God.  Your stories of perseverance over addiction, your stories of patience in raising your children, your stories of your involvement in your church and its community, your commitment to making this world a safer, cleaner and more just place.  Your stories of disappointment and overcoming. Your stories of the times you are so sure that God was right beside you and your stories of times when God felt so far away but your faith remained.  Your stories remind you of the sovereignty of God. Your story points others to the power of God. Your story points to the hope of a better life with Jesus. Your story may be the way another person is introduced to the love of God. Your story is worthy and useful and beautiful.

Your story leads you and others to thanking God for all God has done and for all God will do.

 

God wants the stories told!  From the story of the Israelites in Egypt, to the stories of Jesus to our stories. Each one is precious to God. So, tell your story, over and over again. To anyone who will listen. Tell your story with confidence that it contains power: power to point us to God, power to deepen our faith as we share, and power to change another’s life.

 

To God be the glory.  Amen.