Scripture — Exodus 12:1-14
When we come together as people who love our Creator, we come together in joy as people with a common bond in our faith. If we are Christians, those times include our worship and sharing the Lord’s Supper together. If we are Jewish, it includes those times of worship on the Holy Sabbath and during holy days of Passover and numerous holy festivals. If we are Islamic, it includes those holy times of the faith including Ramadan. As we share these spiritual times, it binds us together as a spiritual family.
The Scripture I have chosen for today’s reflection is about how Jehovah prepared the Hebrews for the Passover (that is when the Angel of Death, sent by Jehovah, passed over the Hebrews). In Exodus 12:1-14 in the Holy Scriptures, the Jehovah gave specific directions on how to prepare a lamb, as part of the Passover feast, and to put the lamb’s blood on the door posts and lintel to ensure that the Angel of Death would pass them by, the Hebrews. In verse 5, Jehovah says to use “a lamb without blemish”. Jehovah goes on in verse 11 to say that it’s “blood shall be a sign for you… when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you.” This was all foreshadowing, as believed by Christians, of how Jehovah’s son, Jesus Christ, would be the lamb without blemish, who would be sacrificed for our sins.
Jehovah was showing us what love is through the example of the lamb without a blemish and through the sharing of a meal. Meals during the Old and New Testament times were significant events. Not only were they times of feeding oneself and gathering with family, but they were times of spiritual renewal. They were times when Jehovah’s love was shared. If there were people in the community who didn’t have enough food, you would reach out and share your meal with them. And in so doing, you bonded with them and they became part of your family. Jehovah shows us, in the sharing of a meal together, that we are bound together and made part of a spiritual family.
That’s the reason why Paul wrote to the First century church in Corinth, as we read in I Corinthians 11 in the Holy Scriptures, about the meaning of communion. Communion was a very special event instituted by Jesus. In it, Jesus was making us part of a spiritual family, and they were abusing it. They were making it an orgy and getting drunk. Paul wanted them to understand that communion was instituted by Jesus, as stated in verse 26, to “…proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
If we are then part of a spiritual family (whether we are blood family or not), then we need to love, respect and treat one another as if everyone is a member of our blood family. That goes for how parents and grandparents should treat members of their blood family if they come out as LGBTQ+. The Creator God created us all — as the song says, ‘red and yellow, black and white. We are all precious in His sight.’ And because the Creator is great and pure, the Creator doesn’t make junk. We occasionally sin and fall short, but we are still holy temples of God (I Corinthians 6:19a, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?”).
If we are Christian, we believe John 3:16 which says, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It says ‘whosoever’. It doesn’t say only straight people would be saved. It doesn’t say only one denomination will be saved. It doesn’t say only converted Jews would be saved. It says whosoever. We are ALL part of Jehovah’s large family and need to love one another as Jehovah loves us.
When we define spiritually how an LGBTQ+ family should relate to its members (regardless of its faith tradition), it must include all the qualities I mentioned above including love and respect.
In the end, love is the greatest gift we have on earth and is the conduit through which our benevolent Creator God (regardless of faith tradition) ties us together as one creation. When we show love to each other, we are showing love to our Creator.
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