The First and Last Passovers
Author: Robby Van Arsdale
Major Theme: Relying on God
Source: Exodus 2 – 12
Main Cast: 5 Female, 5 Male
Moses is afraid of making trouble. He can’t stand up to his father-in-law, and he certainly doesn’t want to make God mad. But he’s just terrified of going back to Egypt. For Zipporah, the question is easier. When God calls, you follow. With Zipporah and Aaron, Moses is ready to face the pharaoh.
What he didn’t suspect was the trouble he would make for the everyday Israelites. From Monday to Thursday, we see the trouble he makes for an extended family. First, it’s no straw for the bricks. Then, the plagues start hitting Egypt. We see the water become blood, the attack of the biting flies, and the effects of the darkness. Through it all, these everyday Israelites have to hold together and trust in God. Still, pharaoh hasn’t let them go.
On Friday, the play starts with Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper. Judas is revealed as a traitor, and Jesus prepares his disciples to understand: he is about to take the place of the lamb.
We pick up with Moses doing the same thing: trying to prepare pharaoh for the coming sorrow. Pharaoh hardens his heart and throws Moses from the palace. Our everyday Israelites are given instructions to sacrifice a lamb, spread the blood on their doorframes, and eat standing up. The time has come to escape. Jesus enters with a cross, and the oldest brother enters with a bowl. As Jesus dies on the cross, the brother spreads blood on a doorframe.
Pharaoh kicks the Israelites out of Egypt, and the symbol of the sacrificed lamb is revealed to the family. It wasn’t the blood that saved them, it was the Lord.
