PASSOVER

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [c] is, “Passover.”

Like you - I look at the readings for the Mass to see what hits me - or intrigues me - or causes me to wonder about something. 

That’s how I come up with topics for homilies. Of course I worry - what hits me might not hit you. I might pass over something that you want to know more about and focus on. 

Sorry!

I didn’t have to go too far into today’s readings to catch something that I began to think about. It’s the theme of Passover.

Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom begins, “The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers….”

There was something to think about: Passover. Knowing beforehand about Passover.

 A SKILL GREATLY TO BE DESIRED

Being able to deal with Passovers is a skill greatly to be desired - a grace to be gifted with and a gift to be embraced and lived with.

We’ve all heard a dozen times the old story about the king who offered a roomful of gold to anyone who would give him the secret of happiness. The story is told in many cultures and is told in various ways. 

Here’s my version. 

Well, the king wasn’t satisfied with any answers from any of the wise - till he heard a little old maid in the palace say when one of his daughters dropped an expensive glass vase, “This too shall pass.” 

He had the saying engraved on his ring and he’d look at it whenever things went wrong. 

The maid got the roomful of gold - smiled and said, “This too shall pass.”

There’s the fire and the flood - the divorce and the death - and there’s the recovering and the picking up the pieces.

Life is filled with such experiences - questions - happenings - many of which pass us over without enough awareness or reflection - only the depressing side of the disasters. Or things hit us:  hurts, losses, changes, deaths - and we drown in the rushing waters and we don’t know what hit us.

We’re like the Egyptians chasing the Israelites on Passover Night. They get into the waters of the Red Sea and they drown and the Israelites are saved - baptized - passing through the waters of death - to a new life.

Sometimes the waters of life rush down our streets like the waters of Ellicott City and there is a wipe out and we didn’t see it coming. Next!

ISRAEL’S PASSOVER

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, is just Act One - with many scenes. It sets the stage. It introduces many characters. By the last chapter,  Chapter 50,  it gets people - Joseph - and his brothers - the children of Jacob into Egypt.

The second book of the Bible, Exodus, is Act Two.

Genesis begins in Paradise.

Exodus begins in Hell.

All was going well for the Hebrews - that is  - till there is a new King - a new Pharaoh - in Egypt - who knew nothing at all about Joseph and his people and what he did to save Egypt in time of famine.

All of you - who have experienced a new boss - or step parent - someone new in charge - who is a disaster -  and all favors are forgotten - you have had glimpses of this.

In Chapter One of the Book of Exodus, we hear, “All Hebrew boys are to be killed.”

Moses - a new Hebrew baby boy -  is to be killed - but he is saved in the waters - and is raised in the Egyptian pharaoh’s household.

Moses grows up in the palace, but he knows his roots. He kills an Egyptian who he saw had hit a Hebrew.

Who said the evening news is new?

Moses escapes. Moses becomes a shepherd. Moses hears a call from God to shepherd his people out of Egypt - out of hell. Out of - exit - exodus - redemption - being saved…. that’s what’s going on here. He tells his people what God wants. Let’s go. His people hesitates.

Moses tells the pharaoh to let his people go. He hesitates as well. He won’t let the Hebrews go. They are building his buildings as forced labor.

God sends 10 plagues - and the 10^th is the worst - the death of the Egyptian first born sons.

Great story telling.  What goes around comes around.

To mark out which houses not to be hit by death, Moses tells people to mark their homes with the blood of the lamb - the Passover Sacrifice.

That week they were told to eat fast - eat bread that wasn’t leavened - because time was of the essence - and when Moses gave the call, they were to head out of town - 600,000 on the march and head for the promised land.

That night - the Passover Night - Death passed over the Hebrew homes.

They left Egypt for a fresh start elsewhere.

They did it - escaping that night - that Passover Moon night - and headed for the Promised Land.

They didn’t know it then, but it was to take a long time - 40 years in the desert - till they got into the Promised Land.

And they celebrated all this -  with the Passover Supper every year - at that Passover Moon.

This was how they became a people.

THIS MASS - THIS PASSOVER MEAL

To understand the Mass - this Meal - we need to understand all this.

Jesus was a Hebrew. 

Jesus was the New Moses. 

Jesus was the savior.

Jesus was the Pascal Lamb.

We celebrate Jesus’ Last Passover Meal - his last Supper every Holy Week - Holy Thursday leading into Easter,

If you listen to Jesus a lot - he knew his time was coming - to pass over from this world into the next. He knew he had to face those who were against him. He knew he had to go to Jerusalem to face his Pharaoh - the Pharisees and the Powers that Be.

This Mass - this Passover Meal - what we’re doing here every time we celebrate mass is connected to all of this and to all of us.

We eat the unleavened bread - fast  - and on the run. Smile. Sometimes folks shoot up the aisle - receive communion - and shoot out the door. I avoid making comments about that - because I know some people have tough schedules - small kidneys - and sometimes my sermon was too long.

Jesus is the Passover Lamb - bloody cut and crucified. His blood be on us and on our children - and on our homes

We’re doing this in memory of him.

We’re doing this in memory of him who helps us in our Passover from this life into the next - as well as he little Passovers of life.

DEATH: THE BIG PASSOVER

Death is the big Passover.

Today’s second reading brings us right into this topic. [Cf.  Hebrews 11: 1-2, 8-19]

Instead of using Moses, the Letter to the Hebrews, uses Abraham and his calling to move by faith into a new place.

Today’s gospel challenges us with various images and parables to be ready for God’s calls.

We never know.

The early church - as we know from our scriptures - thought the second coming was coming any night or day - so be ready.

If someone keeps telling us the wolf of death is coming - after a while we might get tired of that warning.

Evidently from today’s gospel, that happened to lots of people.

CONCLUSION: SMALLER PASSOVERS THAN DEATH

Let me end by saying that all of us will experience the big Passover - from this life to the next. As reported, we can’t escape death or taxes.

In the meanwhile, we also have those smaller life experiences that call for us to have the Passover skill.

·       We’re passed over for a job.

·       We’re passed over in a relationship         and the other picks another.

·       The other makes the team. We               don’t.

·       Someone makes a comment - a               hurting word - and we can’t let it           pass over - and die or disappear.

·       Mom, dad, a spouse, a child, gets             sick and needs our help.

And on and on and on.

The Good News is that Jesus is the Lamb of God and New Moses - the Good Shepherd - who will bring us through the waters of death into the Promised Land.

Christ is there in every moment we have to pass through and over -  if we walk with him and we realize, “The Lord is with us!”