Ye Shall Eat It In Haste

According to the Church manual containing Howard W. Hunter’s teachings, “One way President Hunter sought to help Church members understand the significance of the sacrament was to explain its connection to the ancient celebration of the Passover.”  The Passover was the predecessor to the Sacrament, for it was during the Passover meal right before Christ’s death that he instituted the Sacrament.  There are a lot of symbols in the Passover that help us to understand the Sacrament and sacrifice of the Savior: the unblemished lamb, the protection by putting blood on the door posts, the deaths of the first born children, and the bitter herbs that are eaten.  One of the scriptures that President Hunter quoted from the Exodus story of the first Passover in Egypt was this command from the Lord: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11).  The Israelites were to be ready to flee Egypt quickly because the Lord knew that after that night of death Pharaoh would finally let them go, but their time to escape would be short.  Is there any symbolism in this part of the Passover story that might teach us?  In other words, does this idea of eating the Passover while at the same time being prepared to flee on a moment’s notice have anything to do with the Sacrament for us today?  

                Perhaps one of the ways we can apply this scripture to us is that when we partake of the Sacrament we are likewise attempting to flee from the world.  Joseph Smith was told that one of the reasons we “offer up [our] sacraments” on the Sabbath is to “more fully keep [ourselves] unspotted from the world” (D&C 59:9).  We are constantly seeking to flee Babylon or “the midst of wickedness,” and our partaking of the Sacrament each week allows us to evaluate how we are doing in that regard (D&C 133:14).  We should be always ready to leave behind the vices and entrapments of the world that have tempted us in that week as we take the Sacrament and ponder our standing before the Lord.   Just as the children of Israel left Egypt/wickedness right after they had their Passover, so too should we be ready to leave behind any parts of the world that have ensnared us as we partake of the Sacrament and renew our devotion to follow the Lord.  The fact that the people of Moses were ready to leave in haste might also indicate the kind of attitude and desires we should have while partaking of the Sacrament.  We must not “procrastinate the day of [our] repentance” but instead be ready to move “in haste” after we have been inspired by the Sacrament to mend our ways (Alma 13:27).  As the hymn goes, “The time is far spent; there is little remaining… Repent, for the kingdom of heaven’s at hand.”  This should be our attitude as we partake of the Sacrament; not that we are rushed in the ordinance itself but that we have a sense of urgency to properly repent and align our lives with the will of the Father.  As we envision the children of Israel partaking of their unleavened bread in Egypt with their shoes on their feet ready to flee, perhaps we can be inspired to “be quick to observe” the covenants we make at the Sacrament table (Mormon 1:2).