God loves man very much. He created it in his own image and likeness, gifted him with supernatural life, wants to live in friendship with him and cares for his salvation.
How it is done ? Does God speak to each person separately? ? How he bestows his life on him ? What role does the Church play in this? ? Is the Church necessary for this?, that man may live in union with God and attain salvation ?
Passover of the Israelites
St.. in the book of Exodus he describes, that then, while the descendants of Abraham were in bondage to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians ruthlessly exploited them and forced them to hard work, God decided to release them. He called Moses, appeared to him and sent him : "Go now, therefore, behold, I am sending you to Pharaoh and bring my people out, Israel, from Egypt " (Wj 3, 10).
God announces, that the Israelites would become His people, and he will be their Lord : "I am your God ! I will free you from the yoke of Egypt and save you from slavery… And I will take you for my people, and I will be your God and you will see, that I am the Lord, Your God, I have freed you from the yoke of Egypt " (Wj 6, 6b-7).
Moses, as described in Scripture, He commanded the Israelites by God's command to kill the lamb and mark the door of their houses with its blood. In the night, when the Israelites did it and prepared to go, the oldest sons died in the homes of the Egyptians. The houses of the Israelites bypassed death. Then God led them out of Egyptian bondage.
The Israelites, led by Moses, reached the Red Sea. The Egyptians started chasing them. But God led the Israelites safely across the sea by power, he freed them from captivity and death, and defeated the Egyptians. St.. that's how he describes the event :
“The Lord spoke to Moses : «Why are you calling out to me aloud ? Tell the sons of Israel, let them go. As for you, lift up your staff and extend your hand over the sea and divide them in two, and the children of Israel will go into the middle of the dry land. But I will make the hearts of the Egyptians stubborn, that they would follow them. Then I will show my strength to Pharaoh, all his army, chariots and all its riders… »
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God drew back the waters with a fierce east wind, that blew all night long and made the sea dry earth. The waters parted, and the sons of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry land… The Egyptians chased them… And God spoke to Moses : «Reach out to the sea, that the waters would flood the Egyptians, their chariots and riders ». Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, which at the dawn of the day returned to its place. The Egyptians ran to meet the waves and they were plunged by God in the middle of the sea…
It was on that day that God saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians.. And the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. The Israelites saw a great work, which God did to the Egyptians, they feared God and believed Him and His servant Moses " (Wj 14, 15-17. 21-22. 23a. 26-27. 30-31).
The Israelites' walkthrough is not a historical account and does not contain all the details. This event was written many years later on the basis of stories, which survived among the chosen people. The inspired author wished only to record the fact in writing, that God delivered Abraham's descendants from bondage, he saved them from death in Egypt and thus made him his chosen people.
When the Israelites saw the defeat of the Egyptians and felt safe, then they understood, how great their God is : saved them from death in Egypt, led out of captivity, led across the sea and led him on the road to the Promised Land. In these events, they experienced God's presence among themselves. They lived through His passage, that is, Passover. They fully understood then, that they are really God's chosen people, and God is their Lord. They experienced their liberation from captivity every year during celebrations, which they called the Passover feast.
Passover for the new people of God
On the Saturday before Easter, we are celebrating the Easter Vigil. Late in the evening, we gather at the church. In the baptismal water liturgy, we listen, among other things, to the reading of the Book of Exodus about the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. This event was the beginning and foreshadowing of the full liberation of people from the slavery of sin and the transition from death to life. This full liberation and the transition was accomplished then, when Jesus Christ came into the world, he died and rose again. It was his transition from death to life, that is, his Passover. Through his death and resurrection, Christ freed people from slavery to sin and created the new People of God. The new people of God is the Church. Christians are set free from bondage to sin by baptism, endowed with freedom, incorporated into the People of God. Baptism, then, is Passover for Christians, that is, the transition from the slavery of sin to freedom. Baptism introduces you to the path of salvation. Today, therefore, God creates his people through Holy Baptism. Each of us is saved by being included in this People of God, that is, to the Church.
Every year on the Easter Vigil we remember our liberation from sin, our baptism. We express our gratitude to God for this, that we are his people, and He is our Lord. In the reading depicting the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, God reminds us, what he did for us, and calls us, that we, as his people, cooperate with him gratefully.
Therefore, on the Easter Vigil, we renew the promise of baptism, thus revealing it to God, that we want to be his faithful people.
How will I answer God ?
Now I understand, that God saves people by including them through baptism into his people. I am also united to God, I belong to his people. I express my gratitude to God for this in the words of the song, which the Israelites sang after crossing the Red Sea, and which Christians also sing on the Easter Vigil
…I will sing in honor of the Lord, who has shown great power,
When the horse and rider plunged into the sea. The Lord is my strength and source of fortitude ! I owe my survival to him.
He is my God, I will adore Him,
He is my father's God, I will exalt Him. Pan, mighty warrior, God is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has thrown into the sea.
His elected chiefs died in the Red Sea.
The chasms overwhelmed them, they fell like a boulder into the deep.
The might of your right hand is glorified, Lord, Right hand of the Twa, oh lord, clashed her enemies”
(Wj 15, 1b-6).
In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, you will also encounter a different prayer, which expresses the same truth :
"We know, Oh my God, that your ancient miracles shine forth in our day as well. For the salvation of all nations, you are making this rebirth through the water of today, what you did for one nation, saving him by the power of his right hand from Egyptian bondage. Make it happen, that all mankind would enter the number of the sons of Abraham and attain the dignity of the chosen people of Israel ".
■ Think :
1. In remembrance of which the Israelites celebrated the Passover ?
2. How God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage ?
3. What the Israelites understood after crossing the Red Sea ?
4. Why do we remember today, on the Easter Vigil, the exodus of the Israelites from captivity and the crossing of the Red Sea ?
5. When is our Passover ?
6. Why do we renew the promise of baptism on the Easter Vigil? ?
7. Who is God's new People today? ?
■ Remember:
30. What God did in the event, which we call the Passover of the Israelites ?
In the event, which we call the Passover of the Israelites, God saved the chosen people from death, led out of captivity, he led them over the sea and thus made them his people.
31. What is the Passover of the Israelites for us? The Passover of the Israelites is for us the beginning and the announcement of full liberation from the slavery of sin and the transition from death to life.
32. Who freed us from the bondage of sin ?
Jesus Christ freed us from the slavery of sin through his passion, death and resurrection, thereby creating a new People of God.
■ Task :
Why on our Easter tables, apart from the saint, there is a lamb ?
■ Compare:
Word of god : "The Lord spoke (to Moses) : Enough I saw the anguish of my people in Egypt, and I heard their complaints about the oppressors, so I know his oppression. I descended, to deliver him out of the hand of Egypt and to bring him out of this land into a fertile and spacious land… Go now, therefore, behold, I am sending you to Pharaoh and bring my people out, Israel, from Egypt " (Wj 3, 7-8a. 10). Liturgy : This is the night, in which our fathers used to be, sons of Israel, you brought them out of Egypt and led them dry across the Red Sea. So this is the night, which dispersed the darkness of sins with the light of a pillar of fire.
This is the night, which sets believers in Christ all over the earth today from the corruption of the world and the darkness of sins, returns to grace and gathers in holy communities " (From the Easter Message - Exsultet).
The teaching of the Church : „…However, God was pleased to sanctify and save people not individually, to the exclusion of any bond between them, but make them a people, who would recognize him in truth and serve him godly " (KK 9).