II Kings 23:21-23 - “And the king commanded all the people, ‘Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as is written in this Book of the Covenant.’ For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.”
The occasion of this gathering of the people of God to celebrate Passover was a result of a series of steps King Josiah took to turn the people back to God and his ways. Josiah became a king at age 8, and unlike his father, he was determined to follow God. So he tore down the idols and restored the temple worship and in the process the Book of the Law was discovered by one of the workers.
Of course, this book taught about the remembrance of God’s deliverance from bondage and slavery in Egypt in a holiday known as Passover. With a sacrificial lamb, unleavened bread, and wine; this was a celebration of God passing over the people who were covered with the blood of the lamb and saved from slavery. They had not remembered and celebrated this deliverance in 300 years!
It’s important to gather together and remember which is why church community is so important for the New Testament people of God. We too have a weekly celebration like Passover in which we remember a sacrificial lamb, whose body (bread) was broken, and blood (wine) was poured out so that we could be saved. Communion is a reminder that God passed over our sin so that we could be free.
May we never forget this covenant with God and may we celebrate it regularly in the congregation.
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