The significance of Passover

It is Good Friday and Passover begins at sundown tonight. As I searched the city of Santo Domingo for lamb to cook for dinner tonight (I was unsuccessful by the way) I began to think about the significance of these two days and that are more intertwined then I believe people realize.

In mainstream Christianity, Good Friday marks the day that Christ was crucified. Easter Sunday is when he was resurrected/the tomb was discovered empty. (For the sake of unity and conciseness, I will leave it at that and discuss the whole timing debate in another post.)

For Jews, Messianic Jews, and Messianic Israelites, (yes, they are different. Again, a subject for a different post) Passover is remembering the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt.

But are these two events really that different?  Let us look more in depth at each of these, starting with the Christian side of things.

On the Sunday before he was crucified, Christ entered Jerusalem riding a donkey. People through down their cloaks and palm branches in the road for the donkey to walk on. People heralded the arrival of Christ with “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” A few days later he partook of a meal with his disciples which we call the Lord’s super, but since Christ was Jewish, was actually a Passover Seder. After the meal he left to pray, was betrayed, and tried. He was beaten and mocked and then lead out to be crucified. The moment Christ died, the curtain in the Temple dividing the holy place from the holy of holies was torn in two, from top to bottom. Impossible to be done by man. There was also an earthquake and darkness... at 3:00 in the afternoon. He was buried in a hurry because the Sabbath was quickly approaching and on the third day he arose/his tomb was found empty.  

Now, the Jewish side.

In the book of Exodus we find the story of Moses leading the Hebrews/Israelites out of Egypt. Before they were allowed to leave there were 10 plagues in the land. The last was the worst one; death of the firstborn. The only way to avoid this plague was to sacrifice a perfect lamb, put the blood on the doorframe of your house and then roast and eat the lamb. The blood was a mark and protection from the angel of death, and it would “Passover” the house….hence the name “Passover”. The Israelites were commanded to remember this day forever, which they do, right around Easter with Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.

Now, these 2 events still do not seem related, but just stay with me.

During the Passover Seder, there are specific elements used that point to Christ. The first is the Matzah. It is like a big cracker with holes in it like a cracker but also has brown lines from where it was baked. You could say it was “pierced and striped” like Christ was. In addition, part of the Seder is the hiding of and searching for the Afikomen. This is a partial piece of matzah that has been blessed, wrapped in a white cloth and hidden. Later in the evening, the children will search for it and the person that finds it usually gets a prize of some kind. Blessed, wrapped in a white cloth and hidden sounds a lot like the burial of Christ. There is also the normal “communion” of partaking of wine and matzah which Messianic believers equate to remembering Christ but Jews do not…obviously. The Seder plate itself is also full of significance. Lamb is served for Jews this is in remembrance of the lamb sacrificed to protect the firstborn, and for Christians/Messianics, this is representative of Christ as our lamb. There are of course traditions and other aspects of the meal that are significant, but I want to really focus on the lamb and matzah.

Beginning with the matzah. As stated above, this is basically a giant cracker. It is unleavened because when the Israelites fled Egypt, they did not have time to let their bread rise and so made this unleavened baked bread called matzah. Now, Matzah is pierced and stripped as I said earlier but think about it being unleavened. Leaven is an agent that helps things rise. Yeast, baking powder, baking soda, etc. In Scripture leaven is used to describe sin. “A little leaven leavens the whole loaf…” So, the matzah being unleavened represents perfection. Guess who was called perfect, without blemish? Christ!

The lamb is a lot more obvious in its significance and link with Good Friday. Christ is often described as the “Lamb of God” and is perfect and without blemish. Just like the Israelites were required to sacrifice back in the book of Exodus. The blood of Christ is the atonement for our sins, the protection from eternal death, the payment for our debt. When the lamb was sacrificed in Exodus, the blood of that perfect lamb was not only a symbol of being in obedience to the commands of Adonai, but also a protection from death. By putting the blood on the door, the Hebrews were claiming that protection, and heralding the future Messiah.

Hopefully, this post makes sense. There is so much more I want to say and point out, but it is already quite lengthy so I will stop here. I will continue this topic in the next couple of posts. Until next time, may Adoani bless your homes.    

           

A change in perspective

I had a completely different blog post in mind but as I was trying to finish typing it, I just could not get the incidents of yesterday out of my head. So I decided to write about that and finish my post up for (hopefully) next week.

Have you ever had those “woe is me” type days…or weeks? It has been one of those for me the past few days. I have been under a lot of stress this last week and as a result, in a lot of pain. In addition, on Sunday, I was bitten by some mosquitoes and had an abnormal reaction to it which I am still getting over. My ankle became very red, hot, swollen and painful and if I rested it for a period of time, it would hurt to walk on it. Because of this and some other things, Monday was a pity party day. Jonathan was at a pastors meeting and I was alone with a painful ankle, chasing a baby who would not nap around our small, moldy, crowded house. Can you hear the pitiful violin playing in the background?

Jonathan called me on his way home saying that he was going to stop at the hospital to visit his brother who had been there all day, (2^nd time in 24 hours) because of a bad asthma attack. I told him I wanted to come so he came and picked me, Amos and Grecia up first. It was almost 9pm by the time we made it to the hospital but we did see Jovanny and he was released while we were there. Since no one in the group (Jovanny’s wife and sister were there too) had eaten, we then did an impromptu dinner at a Chinese place. Those of you who know me, know how thrilling that was for me! (yes, sarcasm). But it was good to visit and watch Jovanny’s color return to his face. We said our good-byes and started our journey home at about 10:15. We are almost never out this late as both Amos and I like to be in bed by 10, but it was an exception that I was happy to make.

On the way home, we took a route we take on a daily basis. However, we could not figure out where this cloud of dust was coming from. Jonathan was focusing on driving (as he should) and his science teacher brain was trying to come up with some logical explanation. All of a sudden I see a wrecked car and tell Jonathan. He had not seen it and so immediately reversed to check. The same time we arrived another man was running up to the car to check on the driver. Within about 45 seconds there were six adults trying to help. I was the only one with any first aid training so through Jonathan’s translation we were finally able to convince the victim (and the helpers) to stop moving. The first reaction is to remove the person from the accident, which I get, except there was a strong chance of neck and back injuries and little chance of danger. But it got sorted out and 911 called…which took a while to arrive (I tell you, speed is not something Dominicans will ever master I think). EMS assessed the driver and moved her to the ambulance. Jonathan gave a statement to the police and we went on our way. (Amos was fantastic and well behaved the whole time, bless his heart!)

Although I will most likely never know the outcome, I have good reason to believe the driver will be okay (she was the only one in the car). It really got me thinking about my pity party over the last few days. Yes, my stomach hurts…a lot, yes my ankle hurts but I can still accomplish what I need too. I have a functioning car, a job, a healthy and happy family, and a husband who usually drives very carefully. We were going down the same road as this driver, passed the same car that blinded her causing the wreck, and we were fine. Does a swollen ankle compare with a car wreck or all day hospitalization for asthma? Uh, no. Not even close. Although I do have a lot of things to be stressed about, we have a lot of blessings that I forget about and take for granted.  

I hear stories from neighbors and neighbors of church members regularly that make me realize just how blessed I am. I still struggle with entitlement, I was raised in a more affluent culture. Even though I was raised poor, I was still better off than the poor people I live among. Yes, I would like 24 hour power, but if it is between that and having a healthy family, I will take the healthy family.

I remember telling someone once; happiness is not promised. Not being hungry is not promised. The only thing promised, is Adonai’s unconditional love and salvation to those who ask.  

After seeing Jovanny and helping with the wreck, I realize more now than ever that life is precious, and we do not know how long we have. It is a miracle that the driver did not have serious injuries when we found her. It is a miracle that medicine has advanced as much as it has, and now, bad asthma attacks are not nearly as fatal.  

Sometimes it takes these drastic events to change my perspective. At the end of the day as I fell into bed nursing my sore and swollen ankle, I just told myself to “suck it up buttercup”. I have it pretty good and a few irritations should not cause me to forget about my enormous blessings.

Until next time, may Adonai bless your homes.