The promise of the fourth and final Passover cup was this: I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God... Exodus 6:7
For Israel, this promise led to them becoming a nation, having a special intimate covenant relationship with God. God called them his “treasured possession, his holy nation,” even calls them his firstborn son, and they cherished this promise, because it meant that they were loved. Of course, they weren’t the only people God loved, so when Jesus said he was going to pay the cost, he said it was about making a new covenant. He said, what I’m doing, it’s going to change the relationship between God and people forever. Everyone is going to have the chance to be called God’s son or daughter.
Paul has a beautiful line in Romans 8 where he says through the Spirit we are now the adopted children of God, and that through the Spirit we cry “Abba, Father.” Because this new covenant, we get to call almighty God, ‘daddy.’
Recently I spoke with a man who has two grown daughters that have refused to talk with him for 3 years. And this is a strong kinda gruff guy, who tells me before he came to Christ he used to kind of enjoy firing people, which he did a fair amount of. But this barrier in his relationship with his daughters breaks his heart. He sends them gifts and cards, but neither of them respond, and it wouldn’t be enough if they did, cause for each of them, he just wants to hug her and tell her that he loves her and have her call him “daddy.”
His daughters live out of the area, and he was telling me that he’s finally planning to do something more drastic. Next week he’s gonna go show up in the neighborhood of one of them, and he’ll go to the other daughter the following week and he said he’s going to drive a couple blocks from her house and call her and say “You’re my daughter and I love you, I want to have a relationship with you. I’m down the street, can I see you, can we talk?” And if she says “no”, he’s gonna tell her, “I’m staying at a hotel tonight so if you change your mind, I’m here, just give me a call, or just tell me where to meet you, cause I’ve come all this way because I love you and I want to have a relationship with you.” He told me that this is going to be really difficult, and that he knows he might be rejected, but that he loves them too much not to try. I’m sure he’d appreciate your prayers.
What if someone wanted that badly to have a relationship with you? That they’d risk rejection cause they just wanted to be close to you, to call you their beloved daughter or precious son? What if you could call someone like that ‘daddy’? At the core what we really wonder is if all those promises God made to a bunch of slaves thousands of years ago, to remove their heavy yoke, to free them from slavery, to redeem them, to make them his own, we wonder if all these promises are for us too, we wonder if maybe there’s freedom for us, too.
Well, the good news that we celebrate in the New Passover meal, the meal we call Communion, is something Paul says best... no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. (2 Cor. 1:19)
All God’s ancient promises are for you and they are fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord. And God says to us: I relieve you of your burden – now you can live with peace and joy. I free you from your slavery to sin – now you are free you to live well. I have redeemed you through my death – now you know what you’re worth. I claim you as my beloved child -- now you can call me ‘Abba.’ So as John comes up to lead us in communion let me encourage you, as you receive the bread and the cup, to receive and embrace these promises. Because in Jesus Christ, our Great Passover, these promises are for you.
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