Stay Home for Passover

The Call to stay home is not just by the government, it is a public health expert advice and a subset of the general idea for social distancing. It is for our safety and good. When the angel of destruction moved over the land of Egypt the people were to be in their homes under the cover of the blood of a lamb. I would not say the call is easy, it demands a paradigm shift of the mind, and an understanding of the overarching objective. The US senate has passed a massive $2 trillion emergency aid bill, that, should give us a snapshot on the envisaged economic activity damage. The spread of this Virus must be contained in Rwanda, we cannot afford the damage that it can potentially cause. The call to stay home for Christians and other Rwandans should be embraced as a protection against the angel of death.

The people of God in the book of Exodus the 12th chapter were prone to a massive death going around the land called the ‘angel of death’, the feeling must be akin to the present-day coronavirus death threat. The interesting simile is that at that point the remedy was a prescription on the homes, people were to stay home and put blood on their door posts. The today saying would be sanitizers, the blood of a lamb was such a sanitizer that the angel of destruction avoided it. This avoiding to reach the sanitized area got to be called, ‘The Passover” a ceremony still observed by the Jews up to today.

The biblical events were pointers to future fulfilment of Christian prophecies, in the Bible the book of Matthew 26:27-28, Jesus is on table just prior to the celebration of the Passover (The official Jewish day is 15 Nissan), at this table he takes bread and wine and declares that his body and blood would be the New Covenant. Basically, Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb the next day when he is killed on the cross of cavalry.

Stay home gives Christians another chance to sit at table as families, it gives us a chance to call on the blood of the lamb to cover our families from Coronavirus, it is a chance to smear again the blood of the innocent lamb of God over our houses for the forgiveness of our sins, to sanitize our hearts from hatred, bitterness, immorality and once again be good members of each other at our homes

When Paul is writing to the Romans in 8th Chapter and verse 38, he says something hard to comprehend, yet rich in itself, he says ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes’. This statement helps us know the sovereignty of God. He is beyond science, politics and research. It also helps us seek good out of crisis moment. Never waste a crisis such as this one, use this time to reconnect as families, to finish some of the things you have put on hold, to review and reflect on your life and your purpose for life.

Stay home, if you are a good Christian, first you obey government guidelines, second you save your life and that of your family, third you make good out of a crisis. Above all these you realize that God is sovereign, he protected his people in the past, he protects them in the present and will protect them in the future.

The Christian Challenge with the current Corona virus Crisis is that it hits directly at the fundamental values and practices of Christian communities, social distancing is directly contrary to fellowship, fellowship means having everything in common and it is expressed by intimate gestures such as hugging, handshaking and a holy kiss. To introduce a concept that says, keep home, if you go public don’t shake hands and keep at least one-meter distance sounds very strange. What is important though is to understand that the one you love you also protect; it is a season and we must interpret well the requirements of the season. The good news is that seasons, come and go. People know how to behave in winter and how to behave is summer. Christians are required to be wise and obedient to authority. Stay home, celebrate the covering blood of the lamb and corona virus will Passover your house and nation!

Reading Citations

Lauren Egan, Rebecca Shabad et el, March 25,2020 : https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/white-house-senate-reach-deal-massive-2-trillion-coronavirus-spending-n1168136.

The New International Version Bible (Exodus 12:13; Matthew 26:27-28 Romans 8:28): https://biblehub.com/exodus/12-13.htm