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"A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER"
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE TEXT
NUMBERS 28:16-25

DR. DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 2007

PASSAGE” 16On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord's Passover. 17On the fifteenth day of this month is a feast; for seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18On the first day there shall be a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no servile work that day. 19But you shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; they shall be without blemish to the best of your knowledge. 20And their cereal offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil; three-tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram; 21A tenth shall you offer for each of the seven male lambs, 22Also one male goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you. 23You shall offer these in addition to the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering. 24In this way you shall offer daily for seven days the food of an offering made by fire, a sweet and soothing odor to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 25And on the seventh day you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no work befitting a slave or a servant.

MESSAGE: To the Jews of ancient Israel, Passover was the defining event of their faith. It was the focus, the center point, the John 3:16 of Judaism. When God rescued His people from bondage in Egypt, salvation -- as they understood it -- had been accomplished by the Lord. Passover was the annual commemoration of God's saving act on their behalf.

We don't have time, in the span of a Communion Meditation, to explain how and why, theologically, the trial, suffering, crucifixion -- and the Resurrection -- of Jesus Christ occurred during the week of the Jewish Passover. There's an entire book of the New Testament -- the letter to the Hebrews -- which delves into and explores that territory for us. The end result, however, is that for Christians Passover is not the defining event of our faith. A pair of intertwined occasions at the end of Jesus' life -- the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ -- are the foci of Christianity.

But there is extremely close connection between these and Passover. In I Corinthians 5:7-8, the New Testament Word of God says this: "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old...but with sincerity and truth." God's Word admonishes not to abandon our Jewish heritage at this point, but to keep the Passover -- not literally, but with sincerity and truth.

Many of you realize, I trust, that the celebration of Holy Communion is based upon Jesus' celebration of one portion of the Passover with his disciples. It was the Passover meal called "seder," which we term the "Last Supper," at which Jesus presented the bread -- representing His body, and the wine -- representing His blood --to His followers. Whenever Christians celebrate Communion we are, in part, celebrating Passover.

During the Lenten season, when we as Christians do perhaps a bit more in-depth soul searching than at other times of the year -- and particularly today, as we meditate upon the meaning of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, I want to suggest that the Jewish Passover contains another important element, beyond the Christianized version of the seder meal, which still has importance for us. Even though we are 21st century A. D., New Testament, Protestant, redeemed-by-grace Christians, this Old Testament observance should not simply be relegated to the shelf of ancient religious history for us.

"On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord's Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. On the first day, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present to the Lord an offering...an aroma pleasing to the Lord." What God is telling His people is that for one week -- for Passover -- they must change their normal routine of living. This is to be a week when "business as usual" is suspended. Working, eating, and drinking customs which prevail at other times are inappropriate. Offering one's self to God is the sole focus of Passover week.

We have a week like unto the ancient Jewish Passover upcoming - slightly less than one month from now. Christians call it Holy Week -- Holy, because it recalls, in a single week, the significant events of the life of Christ which led up to his death and Resurrection. From Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday into Good Friday and on to Easter Sunday, the essence of God's saving work on our behalf is distilled into one short week. Thus we appropriately call that week Holy Week.

I want to make a strange suggestion to you this morning. Starting April 1st, 2007, you have a tremendous opportunity for spiritual growth. Holy Week is upcoming. It's April 1st through 7th this year. For those who have children in public school, it's a bit unusual in that our Los Alamos Schools are observing "Spring Break" that week. But otherwise, for most, it's just another seven-day week, largely indistinguishable from the other 51 weeks of 2007.

How about God's people making a break with the traditions of this world for once -- and returning to a more ancient tradition of the people of God? How about making Holy Week a special week of holiness in your life -- in your household -- in your family? What a marvelous opportunity to study the scriptures, to pray, to change your eating and drinking -- and working -- habits in order to give God first-place for a week! Who knows -- you just might enjoy it -- and decide to put God up front for two weeks -- or three weeks -- or maybe even permanently.

Now, to those of you who may be primed to tell me how silly this suggestion is, since we all know, as Christians, that every day is special and holy to the Lord, and no week is therefore more important than any other, I would respond: You're right in principle, but not in practice! Every day is a day for putting God first -- but do you?

For many years, the United Methodist Church has offered a program called Disciple Bible Study. I'm aware that this church has used Disciple. "Disciple" is, no more and no less, a systematic, disciplined framework for reading the Word of God. When you think about it, there really should be no need to offer such an inducement to Bible study to God's people. Christians can -- and should -- read the Word of God on their own, regularly and diligently -- without having to have anyone tell them to do so, nor provide a special class to help plan their reading for them. But the reality is -- most Christians don't read the Bible on their own. So "Disciple" provides a little extra incentive -- a disciplined framework for Bible reading -- that gets at least some of God's people doing what we're all supposed to be doing anyway.

And that's just what I'm trying to say to the people of First United Methodist Church today. If we are Christians, then God should always be first and foremost on our priority list. But the reality is -- that's not how most of us live. So why not try an experiment --beginning April 1, 2007? Think about it, pray about it, prepare to do it -- and then, on Palm Sunday, April 1st, I challenge you to proclaim a Christian Passover at your house. For one week -- from Palm Sunday through the day before Easter -- change your normal routine of living. Make prayer, and family devotions, and Bible study, and church attendance, and serving those in need around you -- your priorities that entire week. If you have to let your normal work or the other things you'd usually be doing slide a little, trust God enough to believe that He'll take care of those items -- if you'll put Him first.

A Christian Passover for the people of God at Los Alamos First United Methodist Church. Try it -- for one week - April 1st through 7th, 2007. And afterward, let me know what happened. I'll be interested to hear from you. Amen.

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