Bless and Protect the Faithful

Passover is an extremely significant holiday for Jews and Christians alike. For me, I connect to the celebration because of how much I connect to the Eucharist during mass. In a bible study I recently did, the Eucharist was described as being almost like a window into heaven as it is the only thing on this earth that is guaranteed to be present in heaven as well- the body of Christ. Passover is significant because it was at Jesus' passover seder that He consecrated the bread and wine for the first time and gave us this beautiful gift as a way to remain in Him and He in us after His crusifixtion. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist because this sacred sacrament connects me to Jesus in a very intimate and personal way. Celebrating Passover makes me feel like I am putting myself in the shoes of the disciples who were present at The Last Supper; I can only imagine the awe and wonder they experienced through this celebration.   

Holiday: Pesach and Hag HaMatzah- Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread- starts on March 25th and continues for 8 days

Celebration: Passover commemorates the miraculous exodus of the Jewish people from the land of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and memorializes the night that the faithful were protected by the blood of the lamb.

Historical background: The meaning of Passover can be found in Exodus. The Hebrew word "pesach" means "to spring jump, or pass over" something; hence the English name, Passover. This is a historical reference to God's deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt as recorded in Exodus.

The people of Israel had been enslaved by the Egyptians for generations. They were terribly oppressed and were not allowed to leave. They had nowhere to go and no one to turn to, so they turned to God and asked for deliverance day after day. All they could do was trust that their faith in God would lead them from the hand of their oppressors one day. Finally, God sent his answer in the form of a man named Moses who made entreaties to the Pharaoh to let his people go.

Because of the increasing hardness of Pharaoh's heart, God had to send ten plagues to persuade the biblical leader to let Israel go. Pharaoh kept promising Moses that he would release them after each plague, but changed his mind each time. As devastating as the first nine plagues were, it wasn't until the tenth and final plague that Pharaoh acquiesced to the God of Israel. In this judgment, God said he would send the Angel of Death over the land of Egypt to take the firstborn boy of every household.

With every judgment of God there is also a way of escape. Any household that put the blood of the sacrificial lamb on its doorpost was given a special promise: "when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you."

Passover clearly typifies redemption in a dramatic way. It is a holy day commemorating Gods deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Yet, Pesach also holds a greater prophetic picture of God's plan for world redemption. It also emphasizes that even in times of great despair, when God seems most distant, putting your whole faith and trust in Him, will lead to deliverance. The people of Israel suffered for so long, but they never lost trust and faith in God.

Biblical basis:
Exodus 12
The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

7 “Then 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 flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, foron this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike 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 enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say,‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
The Exodus

33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Institution of the Passover

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,44 but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45 No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”

50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lordbrought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

Ways to Celebrate:
-Craft ideas for kids and youth:
**Make your own matzah holder using fabric or felt
**Decorate your own plates to make them look like seder plates while discussing the significance of each item on the plate

-Fun family ideas:
**Spring cleaning! Use this as a time to get rid of excess and just focus on keeping things that are meaningful, purposeful,, or beautiful- we want to remove all sin and negativity from our dwellings and our hearts
**Cookie hunt! Parents can hide cookies around the house to represent the leaven or sin in our lives. Kids must hunt them down and get rid of them by scooping them up on a wooden spoon to mirror the wooden cross of Christ as it was used to rid the world of sin.

-Religious traditions:
**Hold your own passover seder on one of the first two nights! This link will take you to an incredible resource for step by step instructions on celebrating a Messianic Passover Haggadah (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Pesach/H4C_Passover_Seder.pdf)

**This is a beautiful prayer sequence that can be said the other nights of Passover...
Mother lights candles and says: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the radiance of fire.
Father: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified these days and has sanctified thy people.
All: Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has preserved us alive, sustained us and brought us to enjoy this season. Amen.
Child: We praise thee, O Lord, for as we eat this matzoh, the bread of affliction, we remember the Seder meal when Yeshua transformed the bread into His body.
Father: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who gives us the fruits of the earth.
All: Amen. (All eat some matzoh)
Child: We praise thee, O Lord, for as we drink the cup of Passover deliverance, we remember that Seder meal when Yeshua transformed the cup of redemption into His blood.
Father: (raising a cup of wine) Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who createst the fruit of the vine.
All: Amen (everyone sip from the cup)
Father: The name of the Eternal be blessed from now unto eternity.
All: Blessed be He of whose gifts we partake and by whose goodness we exist.
Father: May He who is most merciful make us worthy to behold the day of the Messiah and eternal life. He gives great salvation through His Son, Yeshua His anointed. May He who maketh peace in high heavens grant peace to us and all Israel. We ask this in the name of Yeshua, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee and Ruach haKodesh, one God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.

Blessing for Passover:

Jesus and Passover:
After exploring the background of Passover, the prophetic fulfillment of this holy day is clear. It can best be summed up by the word "redemption." Rabbi Saul of Taurus (the apostle Paul) states this theme beautifully and succinctly in his letter to the Corinthian believers. They were told to deal with moral problems within their members. To make his point, Paul draws upon the well-understood analogy of Passover.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Your boasting is not good. Don't you know the saying, "It takes only a little chametz to leaven a whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old chametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sanctified. So let us celebrate the seder, not with leftover chametz, the chametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.

Slaying the lamb at Passover foreshadowed the greater redemption found in God's appointed lamb, the Messiah. What a special joy to celebrate this feast of redemption (as encouraged by Paul), for those who have truly experienced redemption in Yeshua, the savior of the world!

How we celebrated:
Aaron and I did not get to try our hands at hosting our own Seder this year because we were out of town in Puerto Rico, but I think we will for sure be ready next year. We did get to go to his parents house on the fourth night of Passover and have a Seder with them that his wonderful mother put on. It was a beautiful experience because we went there immediately after going to mass on Holy Thursday which is the feast of Jesus' final Passover meal. It was a great experience to hear the readings from Exodus at mass and then go have a dinner and celebrate the way Jesus celebrated throughout His life. We used a traditional Haggadah and went through all of the readings and prayers and ate the special foods that represent the plagues that were sent upon the Egyptians and God's sweet redemption from their evil rule. I am really excited to share this celebration with family and friends next year. Aaron and I also followed the traditional eating regulations observed during this time which means no flour, wheat, barley, legumes, etc for a whole week. We made it and celebrated by breaking fast at Local Foods, a DELICIOUS natural restaurant in Houston.