Frontline Devotion for Saturday, March 18, 2006 by Anne B. Crawford

Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14

Passover – it’s a familiar Old Testament story to many, with strong parallels to the sacrifice of God’s son, Jesus.  In the Passover, the deliverance was from the oppression of an earthly ruler (i.e., Pharaoh), but Jesus’ deliverance is not from an earthly ruler but from the more pervasive and destructive oppression of the crushing weight of our own sins.  In both cases, God makes a point of requiring that we remember the sacrifice and the circumstances in which it is made, leaving us with the symbols of both the Passover meal and the meal we Christians celebrate at the Lord’s Table during communion each week.  Both meals call us to remember God’s promises to set us apart as His people and His covenant of everlasting love.  Why do we need these reminders?  We need them because we are prone to forgetting about God’s promises as we go about our daily lives.

While Passover is a remembrance of God’s first covenant, the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of God’s renewed and everlasting promise, through Jesus, to save us not just in this world, but for all eternity.  Communion embodies this stunning promise and is also a moving reminder of the price that was paid on our behalf for our salvation.  It took the blood and sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, for our sins to be ‘passed over.’  That is something we should remember and thank God for each and every time we take communion.

Dear God – thank you for giving us signs and symbols to help remember your sacrificial love for us.  As we participate in your Holy Supper, fill us with a renewed sense of gratitude for the precious gift of your son, Jesus, and help us to live out our lives in sacrificial love and service to others.  Amen

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