Passover was the oldest festival observed by the Jewish people. Jesus and His disciples, being good Jewish men, also observed it. This daily devotional looks at the significance of the Passover and why it was important for Jesus and His disciples to observe it.
Nuggets
- God instituted the Passover festival.
If you are like me, you really don’t know much about the Passover. You know its significance but not how it is actually observed. Let’s take a look at the meal before we discuss what it actually means.
Passover
"Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?'" (Mt. 26: 17 ESV)
God instituted the Passover festival.
The festival began at sunset on either the 14th or 15th of Nisan (March or April for us) and preceded the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorated Israel’s escape from their bondage in Egypt. This festival was very significant for the Israelites.
The Passover, with the Seder meal, was instituted in Exodus 12. They celebrated it the night before their exodus from Egypt. The Israelites are also commanded to observe the meal in Numbers 9 and Deuteronomy 16.
There is a specific order to the meal. There is a blessing spoken over the wine. Then hands are washed.
Eating begins with a vegetable dipped in salt water to represent the humble beginnings of the people. There are three different loaves of bread (or matzah). At this point, the first loaf is broken.
The Exodus story is recounted with promptings from the youngest person. More wine. More hand washing.
I thought it is interesting that a blessing for grain products is given. It isn’t that the grain products are bad and should be avoided. It is just that there is a time and place for everything.
Then another blessing is given and more matzah is eaten. More vegetables are eaten, but these are bitter. It is no fun being a slave to something.
The next step is eating the sandwich. The bread and the meat from the offering is made into a sandwich. However, the sacrifice, known as the Pascal Lamb, isn’t given anymore so there wouldn’t be meat available here.
Then comes the main course. A piece of matzah is saved for dessert.
More wine. But instead of more washing, grace is given after the meal.
More wine, but it isn’t drunk. It is set aside for Elijah, who is supposed announce the Messiah. The door is opened to show that things are not done in secret. Praises are sung while the last cup of wine is drunk.
The Passover meal ends with a “same bat-time” but a different “bat-channel.” It was always their hope that they would be celebrating Passover next year in Jerusalem. This is significant because that would mean the Messiah had come.
Making the Connections
Jesus was Messiah; still He and His followers followed traditions. They remembered what had gone on before. We need to remember the past that has made us who we are. God uses all of our experiences to shape us to be the people He can use.
I love the symbolism of the questions from the youngest person. I love the picture that we can go to God the Father with any question that we have. We don’t have to be concerned that we will look stupid when we come to Him in faith.
We are never too young to ask questions, and we will never know all the answers. While we will never understand everything this side of heaven.
God will provide the answers we need to build our faith.
It doesn’t matter if we think we are a know-it-all or just-give-me-the-facts type of person. It doesn’t matter if we don’t think we are worthy of asking or don’t know what we don’t know.
God pursues us. He makes a way to show Himself to us.
The Passover meal consists of a simple bread. How many times have you heard, “I wish we could go back to a simpler way of life”?
It may not be simple, but what if we say that we will simply follow God wherever He calls us? That would be giving Him control of our lives.
Sometimes, we get in such a hurry that we don’t let our “Bread” rise. John 6:35 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst’” (ESV). Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t focus on Jesus.
We are not consistent in letting Jesus as the Bread of Life to fill us. We don’t read of Him in God’s Word every day. We don’t let Jesus come into our hearts and lives to remove the arrogance and pride that puffs us up. We don’t always follow His example.
The yeast is not only not in the bread, it is not in the house. To get it right, they would have to scrub everything down to make sure the yeast is not present in the house. There are times when we just have to avoid what tempts us.
Maybe we can combine the “scrub everything down” with the “remove the arrogance and pride” [or substitute the areas in which you need to work]. God will always find an area in which we need to work. It does, however, take work and focus on God.
The preparation for this meal is interesting. It took a while to get everything prepared. Plus, Jesus had the extra worry of finding a place to hold it because none of the disciples had a home in Jerusalem.
We sometimes get tripped over the “prepare” stage. We think what we are being asked to do is too hard.
Or we don’t see how it fits into our plans. Or we just don’t see it as a fit period. That isn’t even getting into instant gratification.
What we sometimes don’t remember is our whole entire life is preparation. God is preparing us for the day we get to see Him face to face and then get to live with Him together. I know that is going to take a lot of work on me. We just have to be patient as He works on us.
It is no fun being a slave to something. No, it is not fun being a slave to sin. We may see the shiny aspects of it, but that is fake. Only our following God in His plans for us will give us freedom and happiness.
The Passover meal is supposed to be a family meal. Because Christ died on the cross, believers are now members of the family of God. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Brother.
We can learn much from the Passover meal. Jesus felt it was important. He used it as the way He spent His last night with His friends.
Gracious Heavenly Father. One of the reasons You instituted the festivals was so that people could remember. Traditions and rituals can help us. However, it is so easy for us to get caught up in our daily lives that we forget You. Slow us down, Lord. Prepare us to be who You want us to be. Help us to not substitute the traditions and rituals for You. Bring us to Your table so that You can bring us to our homes with You. Amen.
What do you think?
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