Trying A New Thing

Exodus 12

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.

25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

So each year for almost 20 years, we've celebrated Passover but from a Christian perspective.  We posted about it before - about how Jesus' blood atoned for our sins.  His Blood applied to the "doorposts of our hearts" frees us from the burden of sin.

We read from Scripture and feast.  One of the centerpieces of the meal is roasted lamb.  Normally we get a leg of lamb.  This year we had difficulties finding it and settled on a rack of lamb.  We had never roasted a rack of lamb.  'Twas a new experience for us.  First, we 'frenched' the rack by removing the fat from the rack, exposing the bones.  

Then we made criss-cross cuttings across the cap and rubbed liberally with olive oil.

Then we rubbed the rack with sea salt and pepper and sprinkled herbs like thyme and coriander over the top and sides.

Then we went and picked some fresh rosemary and chopped it up.  Our rosemary was once a small thing.  Now it is a big bush.  It is happy in our herb patch.  Rosemary atop the rack really smelled nice.  We rubbed that in as well while the oven pre-heated.

We covered the bones in foil so that the bones wouldn't burn, placed on a roasting pan and put in the oven.

When the meat tested 140 degrees, it was ready to eat.  We cut the rack into individual lamb chops.

And then we feasted!  We were so ready to eat, I didn't get photos of the sliced chops.

Passover is always a memorable event - a family tradition we look forward to each year.

The Passover

1 Corinthians 5:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

We are not Jewish, but each year we celebrate the Passover from a Christian perspective.  Tricia always cooks a big meal of roast lamb and potatoes, beets, sweet peas, wild rice, and cheesecake.  We have appetizers of olives, hummus, haroset and matzoh.  We feast!  But the main point of the night isn't the meal - it is the story.  What an amazing story it is!

Passover is a remembering.  The children of Israel were called to remember.  They were to mark this remembrance with a yearly feast in which they were to recall the LORD's goodness in delivering them from bondage of the Egyptians.  Moses led the people from slavery into a land flowing with milk and honey.  We go through a little book called the Haggadah "the telling" and read the story.  Each Jew was to tell his son about the Jews' liberation from slavery.

When the plagues struck Egypt, the firstborn son in every household of the Egyptians died.  However, the children of Israel were called to kill an unblemished lamb and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their home.  If they did this, the Angel of Death would "pass over" their home.  Wailing could be heard across all of Egypt as the Egyptians awoke to find the dead in their household.  The Pharoah told Moses and his people to GO!

This night of Passover is very important to a Christian as well.  As the verse at the top of this blog post asserts, Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  He was a sinless sacrifice.  If we believe Him to be the Messiah, the Son of God, we have placed His Blood on the doorposts of our hearts and we are delivered from the bondage of sin and from the penalty of death.

We are called to Remember.  This Sunday we'll also celebrate Christ's Resurrection from the dead and His victory over sin and death.  Halleluhah!  Christ Is Risen!  PAt the end of our Passover meal, we took out an old hymnal and our family sang "Low in the Grave."  It is a song that starts off somber and melancholy and then erupts in victorious exultation!:

Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior, 
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave he arose; 
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior, 
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! [Refrain]

Up from the grave he arose; 
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior; 
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave he arose; 
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
he arose a victor from the dark domain, 
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!