Daily Lesson for April 22, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from The Diary of Anne Frank:

"That's the difficulty in these times: ideals, dreams, and cherished hopes rise within us, only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered.
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness. I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it wall all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out."

I have always preferred it when the Jewish Passover corresponds with the Christian Holy Week.  It seems a bit odd that the two should ever be separated -- as if you can separate Jesus' death from the week of his death, and all the expectation and fear which surrounded it. We should never forget that Jesus was executed on charges of political dissidence by an oppressive and cruel governor amidst a holiday commemorating deliverance from an oppressive and cruel government. There was more than irony to this.

But this the Passover and Holy Week did not fall at the same time and, actually, I am enjoying getting the chance to reflect on the meaning of Passover without it being overshadowed by all the Easter preparation. The Exodus story calls the Jewish people to remember that they were slaves in Egypt. This year gives to us Christians a particularly good opportunity to remember with them.  It is a particularly good week for Christians to reflect upon the universal themes of deliverance, freedom from oppression, and the ultimate triumph of the forces of light over the forces of darkness, all of which we find in the Exodus story.

On Wednesday night our church invited Norm Shulman, my Jewish cousin and dear friend, to come and teach us about the Seder, the order of service for the Passover meal. As a part of the evening, Norm included readings from the Haggadah, the book which Jews use to guide the Seder. And at a very poignant part of the service, Norm asked one of our teenage girls at church to come and read from his Haggadah an excerpt included from The Diary of Anne Frank.  What she read in sum was the quotation above, which includes these famous words: "In spite of everything I still believe . . . "

As the Jews enter into this Passover week, it is an especially good time for all people everywhere to reflect upon its meaning. Passover, theologian Jurgen Moltmann says, is an event that took place "once and for all".  This means it was a salvation event for the Israelites first, but also for everyone else who are trying to hold on, hoping against hope, who in spite of it all still somehow believe.

"Tell your children," the Scripture commands the Jews.  And we are grateful that they have chosen to tell us, and our children also.