Exodus and Passover Notes

The Exodus at the Core of Israel’s Faith

Exodus 14:1-18

Exodus, God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, is the core of Israel’s faith, worship, and life. This affirmed the reality that the Hebrews were the Chosen People of God. They experienced God as liberator and savior. God’s glory and power was revealed most powerfully in this event when he saved the people from Pharaoh’s oppressive hand.

God provides special protection for the people throughout their flight from Egypt, especially in the glorious crossing “dry shod” of the Red Sea, and as they march through the wilderness and in the triumphant journey toward the Promised Land. The crossing of the Red Sea, however, was the climactic moment. In this, the people saw the extraordinary saving act that God did on their behalf. They were assured of God’s constant and faithful concern for Israel in the future. They saw their whole life as an Exodus—a march towards greater faith and freedom in Yahweh.

a. Pillar of Cloud by Day and Pillar of Fire by Night – God showed them his constant guiding presence, walking before them as their true leader, as a pillar of cloud shielding them from the heat of day and as a pillar of fire protecting them in the cold and darkness of night.

b. Crossing of the Red Sea – God showed his mighty power, not only in creating a highway right in the middle of the raging sea but also in allowing the Israelites to cross it “dry shod’ and unscathed. Moreover, his mighty hand is seen to defeat the enemies of Israel: Pharaoh and his formidable army of chariots and charioteers by a single stroke of his mighty right arm.

b. Manna, Quails and Water – God showed his providence for the Israelites despite their continual grumbling and complaining, graciously providing all of their needs and patiently attending to their cries.

God’s continuing presence is seen in his constant communication with his servant Moses who acts as the mediator between the people and God. God is continually attentive to the needs of the people and always responsive to their needs.

The Characteristics and Dynamics of Authentic Religious Experience

Experience of God – Authentic Religious experience always begins with a Theophany, God who reveals himself, an experience that can inspire awe by becoming aware of God’s greatness as well as fear by becoming aware of our unworthiness and littleness in comparison to the greatness of God. The experience can be as grand and overwhelming as the experience of the Israelites in the Crossing of the Red Sea. It can also be as subtle and simple such as a profound movement during prayer.

Being Transformed by the Experience - One characteristic of religious experience is its ability to organize our life around it so that it becomes the defining center of our lives and personal history. Do our values and priorities change because of the religious experience or do we remain the same? We cannot say we have been in touch with God and remain in our dark and sinful lives.

Experience Issues into Action - The final test of the authenticity of a religious experience is whether it issues into the right course of action. Did the experience make us more holy and more loving towards our neighbor?

Using this criteria, we see that the experience of the Israelites was complete on God’s part who made his saving presence felt beyond all doubt but limited on the part of the Israelites who still did not learn to trust and believe in him fully.

The experience in the desert will be a prolonged experience of purifying their faith, teaching them to really trust and believe in God, not only when he makes his presence clearly felt but also when he seems absent.

Anamnesis and Religious Experience

Anamnesis is to remember. Its opposite is amnesia. Remembering is important in our daily life, and especially in our spiritual life. We always need to go back to our experiences of God, especially in times of darkness and doubt, to find our faith anew and replenish our strength.

Memory is the Source of Identity – Remembering brings us back to who we are. Just as we need to remember our names, our parents, where we live and other details since we were little children, we also need to remember that we came from God and how God has constantly shown his love for us through the years.

Memory is the Source of Maturity – We can go through life learning nothing. But if we go through our experiences reflectively and try out best to remember and carry with us the lessons and wisdom we have learned from the past, our memory of history becomes the source of our maturity. Otherwise, we will only keep repeating our mistakes.

Memory is the Source of Relationship – Relationships are built on memories of shared moments and experiences, both happy and sad. When we accumulate these memories and whenever we recall them our bonds become tighter and our love becomes stronger.

For the Jews, they always return to the Passover experience when God showed to them the greatness of his saving love. For us Christians, we proclaim in every Eucharist that "Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again" when God revealed the depth of his love by giving us his only Son who laid down his life for our salvation so we may also join him in his Passover from death into newness of life.

Liturgical Prayer: Anamnesis, Epiclesis, Petition

In composing the official prayers of the Church, we follow a certain prayer format:
anamnesis-(epiclesis)-petition.

Anamnesis- recalling God’s acts
Epiclesis- invoking God’s presence and power
Petition- asking for specific favors or blessings

Sometimes there is only epiclesis, or only petition. But always, there is anamnesis. For example:
(anamnesis)
Father, source of strength and comfort for your people.
(epiclesis)
Watch over us always
(petition)
and keep us under the shadow of your wingsfor we put all our trust in you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Even just the word “Father” constitutes an anamnesis for whenever we call God Father, we also invoke the memories of how he has always been a Father to us as community of believers and as individuals in our own lives as his children.

We remind God of the wonders he has done for us in the past and ask him to do the same for us again. We refresh the memory of our relationship, which assures us that the prayers that we make will be granted according to what will be best for us.

By remembering God's saving acts in history in our prayer and is our life, we are thus reminded of our identity as God's children and chosen people. Thus we grow in maturity by remembering how God has always cared for and guided us in the past despite our many faults and failings. Thus we grow to love our Father who has always loved us.