Daily Thoughts from Deuteronomy 16:1-3: Passover (Pesach)

18. Passover (Pesach)

Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Aviv, Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt at night.  You are to sacrifice the Pesach offering from flock and herd to Yahweh your God in the place where Yahweh will choose to have his name live.  You are not to eat any leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it matzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live.

(D’varim 16:1-3)

He hadn’t slept this well in days!

“Thank you, Father, for Your loving care.  I will trust in Your provision at all times.”

He felt wonderful and ready to continue his travel.  But he first opened his scroll.  The subject was one he and John had discussed before.  They were both agreed that he was meant to fulfill the role of the sacrificial lamb, to be Israel’s Passover, indeed the Passover for all nations.

Here Moshe was instructing the nation to observe the Passover in the land of promise.  He told them the month of the year to observe it and also laid out the requirement that all men in the nation must attend this festival as well as Shavu’ot and Sukkot in Jerusalem.

If all went as planned he would complete his fast in time to make Passover in Jerusalem.  Would his time come as soon as this?  He did not think so, but that was all in the Father’s hands.  He was determining the times and the seasons for all that was to take place.

He put everything in his bag and began his journey south again.  The Passover lamb must be without blemish, he was thinking, and it must lose its life to take away the guilt of the guilty.  Did he really have to suffer such a fate?  He knew he did.  Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sin.

He wished John were here with him to talk about this.  He felt so lonely.  On the one hand he was grateful not to be in company with satan, but having no one to share his heart with, like John or Nabil, made him feel as if this was something he needed to face alone.  And, he supposed, if it happened as he anticipated, he would be terribly alone.  How could it be any other way?  A man’s death could just be the loneliest moment of his life.

“But I’ll have You, my Father!”  And even as he uttered that the question came to his mind, “If I am suffering for the iniquity of mankind will I not be stricken by the One I love, condemned by the One who is all righteousness?”  Oh, the loneliness of this wilderness now seemed a metaphor for his death.  Is this what it is all coming to?

The remaining miles of his journey for that day were spent in total silence.  Would even the voice of satan be welcome now, he thought.  No, it only made him feel more lonely.