“Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.” – Exodus 12:21-27
If you read the earlier parts of this portion of Scripture, it is basically talking about how God wants his people to observe the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover ritual. God designed the proceedings of the ritual in such way that it will induce curiosity among the children to ask: “What does this rite mean to you?” And then God began to spell out His expectations on parents: they are expected to educate their kids about the saving work of God. God clearly want parents to transmit information about Himself as Saviour to their kids.
When we get to chapter 13, the Scripture continues to talk about the feast of unleavened bread, but this time, it doesn’t wait for the children to ask. This time, the specific instruction to parents is to proactively use this ritual to educate their kids about the saving work of God:
“For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ” – Exodus 13:6-8
Since God expects us parents to educate our kids on His saving work, may I suggest to parents that one simple way of doing so is when you read your children Bible to your kids, summarize the thought of the passage to them by asking two basic questions: “what does this passage say about God” and “what does this passage say about the saving act of God” (pointing them to God’s ultimate saving act of dying for us at the cross). Christian parents must never outsource this responsibility to any other. That is why the mission of every children Sunday school is not to assume that responsibility but to ASSIST parents in imparting biblical values to kids.