Have you ever noticed how easy it is to forget things? Most of the time, the here and now consumes us, so we spend little time reflecting and remembering the past. After all, the past is in the past, right?
Yet some things are very important for us to remember. For instance, anniversaries are important to remember. It’s not just for staying out of the doghouse, but for remembering there was a certain day and time in the past when we made vows, and today, in the present, we are still obligated to keep them.
So we work to remember because some of our past has shaped who we are today. Our birthday’s made us someone’s children, and the birth of our children made us parents, and then grandparents. So we remember these days, because these days made us.
Exodus 13 is about remembering such things, “Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.” (Exodus 13:3)
Through the consecration of their firstborn child, and the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, God was calling His people to remember their past, because forgetting it would mean forgetting themselves.
So what exactly did God want them to remember? He wanted them to remember they were a redeemed people! They had a rescue story in their past, a story where God had redeemed them from slavery and made them His own. For Israel, their past was part of their present identity. For they weren’t just a people, they were the redeemed people of the Lord.
For all the same reasons, the Church need to remember as well. We need to remember that we too have a redemption story in our past. In the past, Jesus Christ lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died. In the past event of the cross, Jesus traded places with us so that we could trade places with Him. He took our sin so that we could have His righteousness.
Therefore, we must remember who we are by remembering our past. Remembering that we are no longer slaves to sin in Adam, but remembering we are now slaves to righteousness in Jesus. We are no longer sinners under God’s wrath, but saints under His love.
So don’t forget the past thing Jesus did for you on the cross, because forgetting that past event will cause you to forget who you are now, and who you are becoming forevermore.