Exodus 12:21-51
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
The Exodus
31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.
40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt[a] was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.
Passover Restrictions
43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover:
“No foreigner is to eat of it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat of it.
46 “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”
50 All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.
Matthew 21:33-46
The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[a]?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Reflection
As Israel prepared for the final judgment, they were asked to take the blood of a lamb and spread it over the doorframes of their houses. When the Angel of Death came at night, the Angel would pass over the homes with blood covering their doorframes.
Through the blood of many lambs, the first-born children of Israel where saved from the Angel of Death. In turn, the people of God were also set free from the oppressive slavery that they had been under for over 400 years.
Fast forward to the time of Jesus: the Son of God stands among the people of God telling a parable. Jesus speaks of a landowner whom has a vineyard that he rents to farmers who are to care for his crop. The farmers first kill off the landowners’ servants, and then finally the landowners’ son in hopes of stealing the landowners land for themselves.
This parable is all about the people of God. In the parable, the Jewish people are the farmers whom have been given a vineyard by God, the landowner. God sends multiple prophets and kings to tell the nation of Israel to give back to God for what he had given them. Yet the Jewish people refuse to follow and worship God.
Finally God sends his Son, thinking that the people of God will respect him, yet they do not. Jesus knows that his fate will be the same as the prophets and kings that came before him. Jesus knows that he will be killed as he urges the people of God to worship the God who gave them their land.
It is for this reason that the gospel, the Kingdom of God, is opened up to those who are not Jewish. His own people rejected Jesus so that he might become a sacrifice for the whole world, “to Jews first and then to Gentiles” (Romans 1:16).
When Jesus is killed, he becomes like the lambs that Israel used to cover their doorframes on the night of Passover. He becomes the one who saves us from Death and slavery.
That is why we hope in him. Just as the Psalmist writes, “May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” As we hope in him, God is the one who not only saves us from “sin” but saves us from death and slavery!
Questions
1. Why did Moses have the nation of Israel put the blood of lambs over their doorframes?
2. How does this action save Israel from death and slavery?
3. In Matthew 21:33-46, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner and farmers. Who is the landowner and who are the farmers in this parable?
4. What is Jesus saying to the Jews of his time through this parable?
5. How is Jesus like the Passover lamb?
6. What about this fact helps you place your hope in Jesus?
7. What are you still a slave to? What do you need Jesus to rescue you from?
8. Pray for each other.
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