Chag Pesach Sameach

I want to begin by wishing you a Chag Pesach Sameach - a joyous Passover Holiday. This important Jewish celebration actually began at sunset this past Monday and will conclude at sunset next Monday. Passover, itself, is actually one day, with the Seder meal being observed the first night of the eight-day holiday. The remaining days are known from the Bible as the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

You remember the story of the very first Passover. It is found in the book of Exodus. After forty years of exile in the wilderness of Midian, Moses has returned to Egypt with a message from God to Pharaoh: "Let my people, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, go into the wilderness to worship me." And, as you also remember, Pharaoh, in no uncertain terms, said "No way that is going to happen!" So, God sent one plague after another upon the Egyptians - each plague is carefully recalled during the Passover Seder. Still there was reluctance on the past of Pharaoh. Finally God told Moses that He would strike the firstborn of all living things in Egypt with death; but, how to spare the children of Israel?

Here was God's plan. Each Hebrew family was to carefully select one lamb - one without anyspot or blemish - in other words, it was perfect. This lamb was then to be killed and its blood was to be drained into a basin. Then carefully, using a branch of hyssop, the blood was to be painted on the mantel and the door frames at each house. As the angel of death went through the land that evening, he would pass over each of the houses where the blood had been applied.

Meanwhile, the Israelites were to roast the lamb, eating it with unleavened bread - they did not have time for the yeast to take affect in a normal loaf of bread - and with vegetables. They were to be dressed for leaving. It was not a meal to be lingered over, but to be eaten in haste because the time for the exodus had arrived.

Today's Passover Seder is a retelling of that story so that the participants do not forget God's great deliverance of Israel from Egypt some 3400 years ago. It is a meal that focuses upon family, with both parents and children participating during the evening. It is a meal that is not eaten with haste, but lingered over as the story becomes embedded in the memory once again.

As Christians we associate the Passover with the last meal that Jesus had with His disciples just before His betrayal and His death. It is from this meal that the elements of our Communion are taken.

If you have never had the opportunity of participating in a Passover Seder, I would trust that you would have that opportunity soon. The biblical account of the Exodus story will become more real to you. You will also connect with Jewish friends around the world. And you will begin to have a deeper understanding of your own participation in the Communion services held in your local church.

So, again I wish you a Chag Pesach Semeach. And I also wish you a Blessed Easter. He is risen...He is risen, indeed!