At Passover, in Jesus’ day and in our own, the Jewish people remember and celebrate the great Exodus, how God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt and led them into the freedom of the Promised Land. Through Moses, God commanded his people to keep the Passover feast as an everlasting memorial. Jesus’ Last Supper was something of a transformed Passover meal, and his Passion, Death, and Resurrection are the mystery that the Passover foreshadowed and prefigured.
Jews today observe their annual Passover meal with an assortment of ancient traditions. Among these is singing or reciting an up-beat Hebrew song named “Dayenu” (Da-yea-nu.) Dayenu means “it would have been enough for us!” Here is an English translation of this more than one thousand year old song:
If [the Lord] had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had destroyed their idols, and had not struck their first-born
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had struck their first-born, and had not given us their wealth
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the Manna
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had fed us the Manna, and had not given us the Sabbath
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had given us the Sabbath, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Law
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had given us the Law, and had not brought us into the land of Israel
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and not built for us the Holy Temple
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!
“It would have been enough for us,” for how could we demand more than what God had given? He created the universe out of nothing and every good thing is his gift. Apart from God’s promises (freely-imposed upon himself by His covenants) we could not rightfully insist upon anything more. As Job said at the onset of his trials, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” We could not demand more—but we would still desire more.
We would continue to desire life without end. We would still want deliverance from evils, outside us and within us. We would still desire unending delights, for as King Solomon observed, “The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing.” And would long for divine intimacy with the Holy Source of all good. All these desires are fulfilled for us through Jesus Christ.
We could not demand more, but we would still desire more, for the Lord has placed these desires within us. He did this that He might fulfill our desires and they reflected his own desires for us.
The Lord did all the great things that came before
— But this was not enough for Him!He did all these great things, and then He became man for us
— But this was not enough for Him!He became man for us, and then He taught us the New Law of Love
— But this was not enough for Him!He taught us the New Law, and then He suffered and died to forgive us
— But this was not enough for Him!He suffered and died to forgive us, and then He rose from the dead to save us from death
— But this was not enough for Him!He rose from the dead to save us from death, and then He left us the Church
— But this was not enough for Him!He left us the Church, and then He wedded and united himself to us through the Holy Sacraments
What God has given us, what Jesus has done for us, what we are given, what we are promised — this is enough for us. Let us rejoice in Him this day!
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