I.
We read that King Josiah “kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem.”

We might wonder, wasn’t the Passover always kept?

Well, no, it wasn’t.

This represents a continuation of the religious reforms of Josiah we begin to read about in 2 Chronicles 34. The Temple is restored and a scroll is discovered which is probably part or all of the Pentateuch, the “Books of Moses.” Josiah is convinced the nation must return to living a life as the Covenant people of God. The King “read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.” (2 Chronicles 34:30-31)

The next step is to return to the keeping of Passover.

II.
2 Chronicles 35:1-6, 16-19 (NRSVue)

Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Make preparations by your ancestral houses by your divisions, following the written directions of King David of Israel and the written directions of his son Solomon. Take position in the holy place according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of your kindred the people, and let there be Levites for each division of an ancestral house. Slaughter the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and on behalf of your kindred make preparations, acting according to the word of the Lord by Moses.”

So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. The people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days. No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, by the priests and the Levites, by all Judah and Israel who were present, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, this Passover was kept.

III.
The Passover is not just a ritual to be repeated yearly. It is a time to recall God’s freeing the nation from slavery and calling them to be people of the Covenant.

What would the people think and feel now that once again the Passover was part of their lives?

What helps you keep in mind (and spirit) that you are one of God’s beloved? How do you celebrate your life as a child of God?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}