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.