In Memory of....

God directs His people to have 3 major Feasts each year and gives specific instruction for their observance.  This is the method God chose to have fellowship with His people.  There were many preparations made for these Feasts and while the people were making those preparations, they were solemnly reminded of Who God was (and is) and of the barriers to their relationship with Him.  These observances also served to set them apart from the nations around them -- something God wanted for them. 

When I was 16, our family took a trip "out east" to visit relatives in Connecticut and Vermont, most of whom I had rarely, if ever seen.  In VT, we spent a day with my great-aunt Alice.  She was a feisty old girl and spent the day regaling us with stories of our ancestral clan.  They were fascinating but I honestly didn't believe her -- she had  a reputation for exaggeration!  As I've studied my family history, however, I've learned that most of what she said was true!  I didn't realize then that Aunt Alice was trying to impart some of those family legends to the next generation.    I should have paid more attention.

So I can relate a little to the children of Israel, and God's desire to pass on the stories of His faithfulness and care to the next generations.  The call of Moses, the miracles in Egypt, the flight from the Egyptians, the miracle of moving that massive group of people -- God didn't want them to forget the past .. for their children to be unaware of how God had worked in their nation.  And the Feast of the Passover wasn't just a memorial for the past, it contained elements of things to come. "The Jewish writers tell us that the custom at the passover supper was that the master of the family broke this unleavened bread, and gave to every one a piece of it, saying, This is (that is, this signifies, represents, or commemorates, which explains that saying of our Saviour, This is my body) the bread of affliction which your fathers did eat in the land of Egypt." (Matthew Henry's Commentary).  Just as in the Passover, the blood of the lamb protected the inhabitants, the symbolism represents the time when the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) would protect us from the penalty for sins.  And in most of our Christian churches, we remember that sacrifice by the breaking of bread (communion).  We need to remember.