At my college (Hebrew Union), all the rabbinical students have been growing more stressed as the Passover holiday approaches. While the graduate students get a break for a week, the rabbinical students will be fully engaged with their synagogues by giving sermons and leading Passover seders. While most Christians do not celebrate Passover (or any other Jewish holidays), I believe that it is a holiday worth reflecting on in our own tradition. There are two spiritual aspects of the Passover in Exodus 12 that can help us understand our own atonement and freedom from sin.

The first aspect is the Passover sacrifice and the ritual of the blood on the doorposts. God commanded Moses and the Israelites to put blood on the doorposts in order that the Angel of Darkness might pass over their firstborn. This ritual, like that of Zipporah casting the foreskin of her son on Moses’ feet (Exodus 4:24–26), was meant to ward off evil spirits. This protection came at a cost, and, in this case, the cost was the life of an unblemished lamb. Today, we recognize that our unblemished lamb is Jesus. His blood saves us and protects us from the evil one. As we drink his blood every Sunday, it is worthwhile to meditate on how putting his blood inside of us guards our hearts from Satan and his schemes.

The second aspect is how the Passover led to freedom. While the Egyptians were grieving over the death of their firstborn children, the Israelites were freed from their bondage at Passover. They crossed through the Red Sea and were rid of Pharaoh and his oppression. They were now God’s chosen and redeemed people. We also have passed through our own Red Sea at baptism (1 Cor. 10:1–2) and are now freed from a much more insidious type of oppression. Let us forever be thankful for our Savior and our Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the whole world (John 1:29)!