A roaring, striding lion from the Throne Room of Nebuchadnezzar II (6th century BC) in Babylon, near what is now Baghdad in Iraq. The frieze is preserved today in the British Museum. In his Paschal Homily, Bede depicted Easter as a struggle between a mild lamb and a ferocious lion, with a most unexpected winner. The resurrection of Christ was not a bland symbol of renewal. To those who knew their Bible and the history of God’s dealings with men, these three days were the turning point in a bitter fight for freedom, a victory as decisive and overwhelming as the drowning of all Pharaoh’s chariots in the Red Sea, but against a dark Power more pervasive, more insidious and more deadly.
Introduction
‘Easter’ is a peculiarly English name for the annual feast elsewhere called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover. As eighth-century English monk St Bede explains here, Pascha takes the Israelites’ memorial of their escape from slavery in Egypt and turns it into a memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection, by which he broke the sceptre not of one earthly king, but of the dark powers lording it over all mankind.
WHEN the Israelites had long groaned beneath slavery to the Egyptians, nor would the Egyptians let them quit slavery for the freedom of their Maker, the Lord at last commanded them, in the celebration of Passover, to sacrifice a lamb and roast and eat its flesh;* to anoint the threshold, the lintel and both doorposts of each house with the blood it had shed; and to stand waiting within, ready and watchful for the hour of redemption. And when it came, behold! the Lord came at midnight, and struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians; he liberated his people from the weight of a long slavery, led them to the homeland promised to them long before, and required them to keep this night as a yearly feast, sacrificing a lamb for a memorial of his salvation.
Israel’s redemption unquestionably acts as a type* of our spiritual redemption, completed this night by the Lord’s resurrection from the dead; and their flesh-and-blood oppressors, the Egyptians, stand for the yet more dreadful weapons by which spiritual wickedness* kept the human race subject to himself in an impious domination.*
* See The Story of Moses, and in particular Parts 4-5.
* ‘Type’ here means an original example or pattern which is repeated or fulfilled afterwards. This ‘typology’ allowed the Biblical authors to see present events as fitting in with a pattern of God’s actions, and taught them to hope that everything would come right in the end. In this case, the death and resurrection of Christ have their ‘type’ in the events surrounding the first Passover.
* See Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Contemporary literature such as the Book of Jubilees held that after the rebellious angels were cast out of heaven (compare Revelation 12:7-9) in revenge they took upon themselves the unseen lordship of the kingdoms of men, with the intention of ruining as much of mankind as they could. This was highly developed by Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf in his Genesis and by John Milton (1608-1674) in Paradise Lost.
* The devil’s lordship over mankind was ‘impious’ because it was a usurpation of God’s lordship. He had tricked mankind into rebellion against God, and could have no rights or interest in that relationship one way or the other. As Christ says in The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman by William Langland (?1340-?1400):
They are mine, of me they came; I have the better claim.
Though Reason remember (and my own Justice)
That if they ate the apple all should die,
I did not promise them to hell here forever!
See The Harrowing of Hell.
Précis
In a sermon for the Easter vigil, eighth-century Northumbrian monk Bede reminded his congregation that the Christian festival was rooted in Passover, the yearly commemoration of the Exodus. At the heart of that feast lay the Paschal lamb, whose blood was smeared upon every Israelite door so that Death would pass them by. (53 / 60 words)
In a sermon for the Easter vigil, eighth-century Northumbrian monk Bede reminded his congregation that the Christian festival was rooted in Passover, the yearly commemoration of the Exodus. At the heart of that feast lay the Paschal lamb, whose blood was smeared upon every Israelite door so that Death would pass them by.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, just, may, not, ought, unless, whereas.
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