1st Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11
2nd Reading: 1st Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel: John 2:13-25
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No. 1. After 400 years of slavery Israel loses her identity. “Then the Lord said to Abram: Know for certain that your descendants will reside as aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.” — Genesis 15:13
No. 2. You shall have no other gods before me. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord. I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery. I will redeem you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.” — Exodus 6:6-7
No. 3. I meant that ... you shall have no other gods before me
> First egyptian god: Hapi > the god of the nile
> Second Egyptian god: Heqt > the god of fertility
> Third Egyptian god: Seth > the god of earth
> Fifth Egyptian god: Hathor > a goddess represented by a cow
> Eighth Egyptian god: Isis > the god of life
> Ninth Egyptian god: Aton or Amon-Ra > the god of sun
> Tenth Egyptian god: Pharaoh > considered divine
No. 4. The importance of the Passover
“In order to understand Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper in their ancient Jewish context, it is important first to study the shape of the Passover in Scripture itself. Although the Passover is mentioned numerous times in the pages of the Bible, the most important description is found in Exodus 12. This account not only tells the story of what happened on the night of the first Passover but also gives detailed instructions for how the people of Israel were supposed to keep the feast. ...[The] Book of Exodus not only tells the history of what happened on Passover night. It also lays out the paschal liturgy—the sacrificial ritual— that was to be carried out by the Jewish people on that first night and for all time. ... Hence, it is important to pay attention to the various commands that God gave to Moses for the people to carry out.” — Brant Pitre, Ph.D., Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
Unpacking Exodus, Chapter 12
No. 5 The Passover now marks time. “This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year.” (vs. 2)
No. 6. The insistence on the details reveals how important this is to God. “Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a household is too small for a lamb ...” (vss. 3 onward)
No. 7. They will offer sacrifice to God ... first (vs. 21) “Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover victims. Then take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping it in the blood that is in the basin, apply some of this blood to the lintel and the two doorposts”
> The animals sacrificed would have been worshiped in Egyptian cult
> Pharaoh will know who slaughtered by the blood
> “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other Gods before me.”
No. 8. The sacrifice is connected to a meal. “This is how you are to eat it ...” (vs. 11)
No. 9. The sacrifice is not complete unless you eat the sacrifice. “This is how you are to eat it ...” (vs. 11)
No. 10. The event and meal are to be remembered (memorialized) forever. “This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord; you will celebrate it as a statute forever” (vs. 14)
No. 11. The memorialization is important to God, essential for identity. “You will keep this practice forever as a statute for yourselves and your descendants. Thus, when you have entered the land which the Lord will give you as he promised, you must observe this rite.” (vs. 14)
No. 12. The Passover event, Passover meal, are at the core of Jewish identity. “You will keep this practice forever as a statute for yourselves and your descendants. Thus, when you have entered the land which the Lord will give you as he promised, you must observe this rite.” (vs. 25) “For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses; for anyone, a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food will be cut off from the community of Israel” (vs. 17)
No. 13. The passover event
> “Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish”
> “Blood of the lamb” ... will ‘set them free’
> The sacrifice is not complete until the sacrifice is consumed. You must eat the flesh of the lamb
No. 14. Memorial not remembering. “… ancient rabbis saw each annual celebration of the Passover as a way of participating in the first exodus. At the time of Jesus, the Passover was not just a sacrifice; it was also a ‘memorial’ or ‘remembrance’ (Exodus 12:14) by which the Jewish people would both remember and somehow make present the deliverance that had been won for their ancestors in the exodus from Egypt.” — Brant Pitre, Ph.D., Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
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