Included -1984

HE INCLUDED ME
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—1984

This past holiday season I had the privilege of participating with an Israeli family in a Passover Seder. The food—from gefilte fish to matzah-ball soup—was delicious, but the focus of the evening was clearly on the annual rehearsal of God's redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Through a variety of readings, integrating prayer, Scripture, and commentary, the liturgy repeatedly directed our attention to what the Lord has done in the past, yet always with the understanding that this divine event also included subsequent generations, even us today.

 

Upon reflection, I realized that the concept of inclusion is, to some degree, what Jesus was attempting to make his disciples see as they observed their final Passover together. He wanted them to realize that the significance of the holiday transcended the past and had very real implications for the present in establishing precedence for the Lord's intervention in history on behalf of His people, something God was repeating before their very eyes and which included them.

 

I was grateful for the openness of my Israeli hosts. The evening was most enjoyable. I was also grateful that the Lord made allowance for gentiles to participate in the Passover celebration:

An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must do so in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for the alien and the native-born. (Num 9:14)

I am most grateful, of course, that in God's redemptive activity He included me.

A pdf can be found here.