The Christian
Broadcast Network asked me to write a booklet for Easter and
Passover.
It was
released on March 9, 2020. I've also created a PowerPoint below. Passover
& Easter: A Divine Connection: Enriching your Easter Celebrations with
Passover Parallels
Judaism
rocked the ancient cradle of Christianity two thousand years ago when God sent
His beloved Son into our world as The Living Torah, The Living Word. Jesus
fulfilled the prophetic announcements of the Older Testament, then Jewish
scribes regaled His magnificent earthly life throughout the New Testament.
Jesus fastened the Older and New Testaments into one story in the history of
humankind. Passover is one of three primary Jewish festivals, the festival of
freedom celebrating God’s deliverance of the Jewish slaves from Egypt. Passover
is intimately connected with Holy Week, Jesus’ last days on earth.
Born into
a Jewish family and culture, Jesus lived His 33-year journey on earth fully
engaged in the Jewish customs and religious observances of His
day. Today, many Christians are fascinated by the Jewish roots of
Christianity and want to learn more. This discovery adds a rich dimension to
our Christian faith. Passover’s freedom celebration vividly informs Easter’s
solemn observance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Then in His resurrection,
His victory over death liberated us- not from a Pharaoh’s cruelty - but from
sin’s dark enslavement opening the door to eternal life.
First,
before sharing an easy-to-use guide highlighting several significant
connections between our ancient faiths, here are a few contextual
facts. Passover and Easter appear on two different calendars.
Israel’s calendar is lunar using the moon’s cycle and Christians use the
Gregorian calendar based on the sun. These towering festivals
annually take place near each other. In both faiths worldwide, the cultures,
customs, and denominations vary in countless details, yet each faith retains its
quintessential themes. Like
Christians, the Jewish community also has varying branches. Recognizing the
variegated tapestry of multiple Jewish and Christian offshoots, I've curated a
guide based on basics. I pray that your Holy Week will grow richer by adding
Passover’s ancient meaning into your modern Easter observances.
The Day of Lambs and Palm Sunday Jewish
and Christian communities
commemorate Passover and Easter for a week. Our Holy
Week begins on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ last week on earth. By the time of His
Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ reputation for teaching and miracles
drew a swelling crowd to welcome Him. They threw down their coats and
waved palm branches thinking He was their hoped-for King to liberate them from
their Roman oppressors. In Jewish custom, the day we call Palm Sunday is the
Day of Lambs.
Jesus
rode into Jerusalem five days before the Jewish Passover. Estimates are hard to
come by, but the historian Josephus estimates a million or more Passover
pilgrims were already flowing into the capitol. Look in history’s rearview
mirror for a moment. At the very first Passover in Egypt, God instructed each
Israelite to choose an unblemished, perfect lamb to kill not only for food, but
to apply its blood to the doorposts of each home. God promised that when the
Angel of Death swept over Egypt and saw the blood, death would not come to the
Israelites’ first-born. This was God’s final plague on the Egyptians to
unharden the Pharaoh’s heart to free His people. The blood of lambs saved
lives.
When
Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem on our Palm Sunday, it occurred on the same
day when shepherds annually herded huge flocks of Passover lambs into
Jerusalem, the Day of Lambs! Divine context at its finest!
The
Sadducees owned these lambs and required them to be born in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem …Jesus birthplace! Only these lambs could be sacrificed during
Passover in The Temple in Jerusalem. The Sadducees’ custom was like a “lamb
beauty contest.” The priests stood outside the Lamb’s Gate and inspected each
one making sure none were blemished. Perfection was the rule. When Jesus rode
by on the donkey, the priests saw The Perfect Lamb yet felt threatened among
the adoring crowd since their bureaucratic system had grown into out-of-control
corruption. The Sadducees controlled every step of the sacrificial process
including selling the lambs to the Passover pilgrims. You can now
understand why later, on the Day of Lambs, Jesus walked up the Temple’s
southern steps in a display of righteous anger. Using a whip to drive them out,
He overthrew the money changers’ tables and coins saying in Matthew 21:12-13, “‘My
house will be called a house of prayer, but you
are making it a den
of robbers.”
Just three years earlier at the Jordan River John the Baptist
proclaimed in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin
of the world." John was speaking from the context of the ancient
Jewish sacrificial system which was such a significant part of their Passover
freedom narrative. The bible mentions lambs and sheep 500 times! 1 Peter 1:18-19 says it this way, “Knowing
that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your
futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as
of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Allow this realization to
sink deeply into your soul: That Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God rode
into Jerusalem on the Day of Lambs. The picture is exquisite. The Perfect Lamb
with thousands of bleating, scampering perfect lambs parading into the holy
city on Holy Week herded by shepherds from Bethlehem, Jesus birthplace, for the
Temple sacrifices.
The Passover Seder & The Last Supper Jewish
custom tells us that that Jesus celebrated Passover every year of His earthly
life. It’s still the zenith of the Jewish year. Imagine Jesus’
thoughts when He instructed Peter and John in Luke 22:8 to “Go and make
preparations for us to eat the Passover.” He knew what was ahead. He
knew it was His last Passover on earth. And later in Luke 22:12 Jesus expresses
His heart and intense emotion in the Upper Room while reclining at the table with His disciples, “I
have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
The Day
of Lambs-Palm Sunday-had already taken place. The dramatic events of Jesus’ last
Passover, the Last Supper, swiftly moved forward culminating in The Perfect
Lamb of God hung on the cross beams of the tree splattered with His blood.
Ancient
Passover meals are described in historical, yet limited texts but Passover at
least consisted of lamb, unleavened bread, and wine. The modern Jewish Passover
meal is called a Seder, which means “order” and lasts for hours with prayers,
the feast, and recounting the Exodus stories of freedom. Jewish families
use the Passover Haggadah, a teaching tool, a
script developed over hundreds of years.
From
generation to generation, the Passover Seder recounts the theme of freedom from
slavery. In the Christian community we celebrate the redemptive freedom Jesus
won for us on the cross and in His resurrection 2,000 years ago. When we
partake of The Last Supper, we are reenacting Jesus’ instructive words at His
last Passover. We eat the bread to honor Him, the Bread of Life which sustains
us. We drink the juice/wine in thankfulness for the shed blood of our Perfect
Lamb.
The
ancient Passover in Egypt 3,000 years ago is the setting for the Christian Last
Supper a thousand years later through Jesus at His last Passover. When we
invite our Lord Jesus into our lives, His sacrificial shed blood covers the
doorposts of our life. Now when our holy God the Father looks at us, He sees
the Perfect Lamb’s blood saving us from the death Angel and giving us the gift
of eternal life. The Seder is an opportunity to once again recall the miracle
of the Exodus from Egypt. And in the same way, the Christian community rejoices
in Jesus’ liberation of our lives from sin!
Here are the items placed on Seder plates. And
remember, Jewish custom has its Passover differences just as we do in Christian
denominations for Easter. First,
how wonderful to know that the Jewish apostle Paul included Christians in the
Feast of Unleavened Bread and by association, the Passover which he himself
annually celebrated as a Jew! In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul
says, “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you
may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb,
has been sacrificed.”
- Shankbone- Zeroa A lamb
bone representing the first Passover lambs in Egypt. For Christians, the
shankbone represents our Paschal Lamb, Jesus.
- Egg- Bei’ah, A roasted
hard-boiled egg symbolizing either the spring season or grieving the
destruction of Jerusalem and The Temple. For Christians we celebrate the
newness of life.
- Bitter herbs (Maror) A reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. Horseradish is
often used. For Christians, it reminds us of sin's bitterness.
- Charoset A sweet mixture of apples, pears, nuts and wine. This fruit paste is
likened to the mortar and bricks made by the Jews in Egypt.
- Karpas is a vegetable such as parsley or celery. It is dipped into salt water
and eaten to represent the tears shed by the enslaved
Israelites.
- Matzo -three pieces of
Unleavened bread in a pouch or napkin. For Christians it may symbolize the
Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Yet, the
Matzo holds more secrets for Christians.
The Secrets Hidden in the Matzo-Unleavened
Bread In their escape from Egypt, the Israelites left in a
hurry, taking their bread dough with them; with no time to rise, thus
Unleavened Bread. Try to imagine Moses, more than 80 years old, waving his
staff rushing possibly 600,000 thousand or more Israelites to flee for their
lives. They shouldered their children, their bread dough, and valuable objects
thrown at them by the Egyptians. Complete chaos reigned amidst the loud wailing
and weeping of Egyptians crying over their dead first-born sons in the Tenth Plague. Thus,
at Passover the matzo, a flat cracker bread, is prominent in its meaning.
One of the secrets of the Matzo appears when
looking closely at a piece of matzo. You will quickly notice that the cracker
is pierced and striped. For Christians, the Matzo is a visual representation of
nails piercing Jesus’ body on the cross and the stripes inflicted by Roman
whips in the hours before arriving at Golgotha.
Matzo, also called the Afikomen, holds
another inspiring meaning during the Seder.
The definition of Matzo is "that which
comes after," "dessert," or “the coming one.”
Early in the Seder the head of the household
reaches for the middle matzo in a stack of three. The middle matzo
is broken in two. The
larger half is hidden in a napkin or pouch for a “dessert” shared by all after
the meal. (After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD70 Jews as a
custom, eat a piece of matzo- afikomen- at the end of the meal in
remembrance.) At the end of the meal, children go on a treasure hunt
to find the hidden Afikomen. When the children find it, they run to the head of
household for a reward, looking for a redemption where they receive candy or a
coin. The Matzo is then broken and passed around. Communion! Eucharist! In the
Christian culture the Afikomen represents Christ wrapped in a burial cloth and
hidden in the tomb and then His third day resurrection. Once again, a Passover
pattern is found in the Seder celebrating Easter, and our Paschal-Passover-Lamb
named 29 times in the bible.
I’m touching
only on the use of four cups of wine, or grape juice- at the Seder each with
prayers and symbols. Of note though, when Jesus handed the disciples
the third cup, “the Cup of Redemption” He said in Luke 22:20 …” after the supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is
the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.’”
When we take Communion/Eucharist, we honor
His redemptive blood!
After Jesus shared the Passover meal and His extraordinary last
teaching, He and His -now eleven disciples-left the Upper Room. (If
you wish, read John 17 for Jesus’ intercessory prayer at His last
Passover) In the darkness the group walked about a mile to the Mount of
Olives, familiar to all Jerusalemites since it was an important manufacturing
area which produced olive oil. Jesus and His disciples frequently visited Gethsemane
for prayer at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The English word “Gethsemane” is the combination of two Hebrew words, Gat
and Shmanim, defined as “the place where olive oil is pressed.” The Garden of the Olive Press was a popular, well-known
gathering place.
Crushed in Gethsemane Among the Olive Presses The
geographical location of
Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives is rich with
physical and spiritual symbolism. In Isaiah 53:5 we read this compelling verse,
“
He was crushed for our iniquities.” Like
the wooden beams holding the stones, our Savior Jesus bore the wooden beams of
the crucifixion tree crushed under the weight of our sins. Knowing some of the
mechanics of olive presses it’s easier to visualize the crushing emotions
Jesus experienced. During Roman rule, olive presses numbered in the thousands in
olive groves scattered all over Israel and the Roman Empire. Large and small
olive presses made of stone crushed the harvested olives. The larger presses
included stones suspended with ropes from wooden beams which weighed up to a
ton for the crushing. The pulp eventually underwent enough crushing so that the
precious commodity emptied into clay jars. The refined oil was used in cooking,
anointing oil, and Temple lights.
In the Garden of the Olive Press, Jesus cried out in Mark
14:36 “Abba, (Aramaic for Father) everything is possible for
you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but
what You will.” The Christian community is well-versed knowing Jesus’ anguished
prayers laced with tears of blood before His arrest. Hematidrosis is
the medical name for Jesus’ tears, a rare occurrence where blood is mixed in
sweat.
Crushing is the method of preserving and getting what’s most
valuable, the oil, out of the olive. Jesus’
crushing in the garden of olive presses produced the precious oil and blood of
our redemption. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Eventually,
a mob of Roman soldiers and civilians carrying torches and swords showed
up. Judas Iscariot led the way where he placed the kiss of death on Jesus’
face. As we follow Jesus from the Olive Garden through the traumatic night,
it’s essential to recall what He said to the Pharisees in John 10: 17-18:“No
man takes my life from me; I am laying it down of my own will. The
reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority
to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from
my Father.” Jesus was willing to be crushed and to
pour out the pure oil of His life on the cross. It was God’s redemptive plan
& no man could prevent it!
The Crucifixion and the Killing of Lambs The
ancient Romans executed tens of thousands by crucifixion in their vast empire.
By all accounts, crucifixion was a torturous means of death intended to cause
its victims maximum suffering and humiliation. While soldiers hammered nails
into Jesus body and gambled at the foot of His cross, families and Temple
priests were slaughtering the Bethlehem lambs by the thousands. Priests threw
lamb’s blood all over the temple court. Expertly wielding their knives, the
priests chanted the Hallel, Psalm 113-118. Maybe Jesus could hear snippets of
the chants where He hung outside Jerusalem’s walls. Psalm 115:16 “Precious
in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.” Psalm
116:3 “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came
over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.” Or Psalm 118:2 “The
stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”
When the
skinning, then roasting of lambs for food began, the lambs hung on hooks by
their front legs stretched out in the shape of a cross. Like a conveyor belt of
killing and cooking, many Temple lambs also died at the 9th hour
as Jesus took His last breath. God’s
Perfect Lamb perfected John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave
His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
eternal life.”
In this
era of rising anti-Semitism, we cannot underestimate the importance of
crucifixion truth. Over the centuries, Jews have suffered the blame for
“killing Jesus.” Yes, many accomplices were involved, including religious
leaders, Judas, a Jewish mob, Roman soldiers, Pilate, and others. Yet,
this was a redemption plan from the heart of God. No one could stop God’s plan.
Recall once again, Jesus’ words in John 10:18, “No one takes my life. No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to
lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my
Father." And that’s exactly what Jesus did. Walking through Holy
Week with its glorious Resurrection conclusion, God’s redemptive plan though
His Perfect Lamb bequeathed eternal life and salvation to all who believe!
Thanks be to God!
Jesus Sacrificial Death and the Torn Veil In a physical feat only the mighty Hands of God could
achieve, He tore the purple, scarlet, and blue veil/curtain in The Temple in
two when the Perfect Passover Lamb breathed His last breath on the
tree. Matthew 27:51 verifies it. “At that
moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth
shook, the rocks split.” Luke 23:44 wrote it this
way, “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land
until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the
temple was torn in two.”
Keep in mind, the curtain was 60 feet high,
30 feet wide and four inches thick. The curtain hid the Holy of Holies,
God’s Court, containing the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. The Jewish
community viewed the Holy of Holies as the place of God’s Shekinah
glory. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and only
once a year at the Feast of Atonement-Yom Kippur. Throughout the centuries from
the movable Tabernacle in the desert, and the First and Second Temples, the
Jewish people revered the Holy of Holies with a profound sense of awe, respect,
and yes, fear. It is easy to imagine the Priests’ stark fright and screams
when they saw the curtain rent in two. It was incomprehensible. Yet when God
tore the veil in two, He welcomed us into the Holy of Holies through the blood
of His Perfect Lamb so that we could step inside, both Gentile and
Jew! Hebrews 10:20 states, “Just as the veil was torn in two so
Jesus’ body was torn to give us access to the Holy of Holies.”
While the physical rending of the curtain was
spectacular, Jesus, our sacrificial Substitute bridged the cavernous,
impassable gap between Holy God the Father and us. Jesus is now our
great High Priest making a forever path to a living, relationship with Him
guaranteeing our eternal destination. The Lamb took His place as the Shepherd
of our souls.
