Blood and responsibility
Jane Denniston
September 10, 2017
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Exodus 12: 1-14
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
‘The Walking Dead’ is an American post-apocalyptic television series. The lead character, sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes, awakens from a coma discovering a world overrun by zombies, commonly referred to as ‘walkers’. Grimes reunites with his family and becomes the leader of a group he forms with other survivors. Together they struggle to survive and adapt in a post-apocalyptic world filled with walkers and opposing groups of survivors, who are often more dangerous than the walkers themselves.
The series explores themes which are readily identifiable as biblical. Life is all about survival, although, as the series goes on, communities become more settled and a capacity for enjoyment and pleasure resurfaces. However, this is all precarious and can be undermined at any moment, either as a result of an attack by walkers, or more often by rival communities.
Moral parameters change. Anyone wishing to join the community Grimes leads has to answer three questions to Grimes’ satisfaction, “How many walkers have you killed?”, “How many people have you killed?”, and then, crucially, “Why?” In this new world, with its precarious existence, killing another human being, is not necessarily murder. Grimes himself has a strict moral code; the community is all and anything which threatens the community can be sacrificed. Rival communities are portrayed as having a moral code structured around power rather than the common good.
In the early episodes, the small community are always on the move, looking for safety. They cannot settle anywhere – nowhere is safe and they have no home. In a sense, they are like the Israelites in the land of Egypt, looking for sanctuary; always on the alert, the priority is the community and anything which threatens this community is to be destroyed. Blood takes on a new meaning, no longer ties that bind but dangerous; blood, the source of life, attracts the walkers who crave it. And as the community develops new relational ties are identified and created.
Father, in our new community of hope and life
help us to forge new ties
sealed by the blood of salvation.
Help us to leave behind
the customs and mores of the world
and in this new world
walk with integrity
in companionship with our fellow travellers
following your son
into your kingdom
for the benefit of the world
and to your glory,
Amen.
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