Absence Without A Good Excuse Is Dangerous

Numbers 9:13 (NIV) – But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the LORD’s offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.

Numbers 9:13 (Message Bible) – “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.

This Bible text tells us that if anyone missed the Passover celebration without a good excuse, it was a sin. That person had not just committed sin, but was supposed to be killed. Killed for missing the Passover without a good excuse. Sin against God!

The only acceptable excuses were two. First, was if someone was ceremonially unclean. Secondly, was if someone was on a journey far from home and couldn’t properly celebrate the Passover. These were the only acceptable excuses, and the person was supposed to make it up by celebrating the Passover the following month on the same dates. Any other excuse was not good enough and was inadmissible.

The Passover was so important that if you missed without a good excuse, it could cost your life. The Passover is celebrated by Jewish people to this day. The Passover is celebrated by Christians to this day, in the manner that Jesus instituted it during the Last Supper. To miss the Passover without a good excuse was very dangerous. It was a sin that could bring instant violent death!

Exodus 12:14 (NIV) – “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.

Exodus 12:17 (NIV) – “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

Exodus 12:24-27 (NIV) – 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

The Passover is a celebration of the Salvation of God from Egypt. Two things happened and the two must be celebrated. First, God saved undeserving Israelites from Egypt. They paid nothing and they did nothing to deserve the salvation of God. This salvation was God’s grace and gift. This was to be celebrated for all generations to come. Missing such celebrations without a good excuse led to a violent and painful death.

Secondly, the Passover celebrates God’s victory against the enemies of Israel. In that night of Passover, God crashed and destroyed the gods of Egypt, rulers of Egypt, and the people of Egypt who had tortured Israelites.

Exodus 1:8-11 (NIV) – 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

Exodus 12:12 (NIV) – “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

Exodus 12:29-30 (NIV) – 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

When God defeats your enemies, you ought to celebrate without ever forgetting. This celebration ascribes appreciation and praises to God. To miss such celebrations of the Passover was dangerous, it led to a painful violent death.

To miss the Passover was to be ungrateful for what God has done for you and how He has punished your enemies. For being ungrateful, you deserve the worst possible death without delay. Ungratefulness is very dangerous.

Lack of a good excuse is a veiled contempt against God! Celebrating God’s salvation is a priority and everything else should wait. what other priority can you have over He who saved you when you didn’t deserve? How can you be so busy that you can’t worship the one who destroyed your enemies? Too busy for Passover? You deserve and instant cruel death.

That is how it was in the Old Testament times. The Passover was to be celebrated without fail. Only two excuses were admissible. Absence without a valid excuse was a life threatening danger.

Doesn’t God still save us even today? Doesn’t God still destroy our enemies even today? Are we still expected to be grateful? Can we get away with ungratefulness? Can we get away with unacceptable excuses for missing today’s version of the Passover?

God saves you the whole week, but you are too tired to attend worship? You feign illness? Do you know that absence without a good excuse is dangerous?

God provides an income that sustains you. You may not have everything, but miraculously you haven’t lacked what you need when you need it. Is it too much to show appreciation through tithes and offerings? Would God appreciate lame excuses to support ungratefulness? Isn’t that very dangerous?

Saved from failure. Saved from losses. Saved from job loss. Saved from broken relationships. Saved from sickness. Saved from death. Saved from sin and hell. Saved from brokenness. Saved from bad people at home, around us and far away. Saved from toxic spouses, toxic bosses, toxic neighbors and scheming colleagues. Would it then be acceptable to have lame excuses for missing worship, communion and expression of gratefulness? Isn’t ungratefulness dangerous?

May God forgive us for being ungrateful. May God help us to be grateful. May we never give excuses to miss worship or for failing to return tithes and offerings. May we be reminded that it’s dangerous. May God save us again and destroy our enemies again, in Jesus name, Amen!

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