It’s not a secret that I love holidays. These regularly scheduled days of celebration give us something to look forward to. Something to ground us. Something to connect us with one another. And connection is something I love most about humanity. I always say that Easter is the most important holiday because it’s the day we gained our freedom. It’s also the day that connects every single one of us on this entire, crazy, passing away, distracted planet that we’re all living on. I know that we don’t ALL celebrate Easter, but...we all COULD.
Fourth of July...for Americans
Thanksgiving...for Americans
New Years Eve...not the same on all calendars
I’m running through a list in my head of all the holidays and they’re all specific to certain people groups or cultures. Now Easter originally was celebrated by the Jewish people as Passover. But Jesus changed everything about it and now it’s for literally Every. Single. Person. On. the. Entire. Planet.
No matter your background. Your race. Your employment history. Your church attendance (or lack therof). Your muddy past. Your socioeconomic status. Your neighborhood. Your political affiliation (or lack therof). No matter.
Easter is for YOU.
You know that phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know, until you know it.”? Maybe that’s not an actual phrase.
But regardless, I can remember a moment when I gained some head knowledge that changed everything for me about Easter. And it was only three years ago.
A new awareness and understanding of a lifelong routine that deep-down, I knew was more than surface-level, but couldn’t articulate completely.
I learned all about the Passover Meal as the Hebrew people in the Old Testament observed it. And then...how Jesus changed the Passover meal on the night that he was betrayed. I was floored and undone. How had I gone my whole life without ever hearing this?
Each piece of the meal had a special meaning to the Jewish people, and well, also to the Christian people. Because their history is also ours. We’ve been grafted into a greater story that we initially had nothing to do with.
A fire was lit inside of me. In all my years of church attendance and “pass the cracker and juice plate” communion services, I’d never understood the depth and detail behind all the things that we were doing and that had been done by people for thousands of years before us. THOUSANDS! Because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we aren’t required to observe Passover anymore, but I have found it to be such an incredible experience, reminding my forgetful heart of all the things the Lord has done for his people, including me, because of his great love. So I thought I’d dive into it a little bit here and maybe inspire you to have a Passover Meal within the walls of your own homes this Easter. There’s a recipe here for Unleavened bread, which we make during Holy Week every single year. It’s delicious and simple and because of what we are remembering, it is holy.
A Little Bit of History
The original Passover meal was eaten every single year by the Jewish people for OVER A THOUSAND YEARS to remember their own suffering as slaves in Egypt. That is mind-blowing when you consider that our country is less than 300 years old. God gave the people very specific instructions for how to perform and eat the meal so that they would remember what He had done for them...and also to point them to what He would do for them through the life of Jesus.
So for the first thousand years, the meal was symbolic of the people’s suffering. And each piece of the meal represented a different aspect of the way the Hebrew people suffered during their years of slavery in Egypt. The men in the room with Jesus would have had this meal memorized from childhood. They would have watched their fathers perform it year after year, hearing the scripted speech and eating the different parts in the exact same order. Tonight was going to be radically different for them...tonight, everything they’d ever known was going to change.
There were many parts of the meal that Jesus skipped altogether, which probably was pretty disappointing to the hungry disciples who were waiting to eat. We may nonchalanty read the familiar words in the text of the gospels, but Jesus modifying the Passover Meal would have been SHOCKING to them. He redefined what the meal meant. He changed the order. He skipped parts completely. There were traditionally four cups of wine and Jesus drank only from the third and only mentions the fourth cup. There was a roasted lamb, he skipped that completely.
When we do a Seder Meal in our home, these are the parts that we include below. We also talk about how Jesus approached each item...whether he skipped it, included it in his new communion or mentions it in speech only. From start to finish, it takes about 4 minutes because, let’s be realistic about the attention span of children.
The Meal
First we set out four cups of juice. And we put big numbers on them (1, 2, 3, 4). I also write on them the promises that they represent from Exodus 6:6-7…
“I will bring you out…I will rescue you...I will redeem you...I will take you as my own.”
The unleavened bread (matzah) was called the bread of suffering. Because the people suffered. Remember, at first, it was all about the suffering of the PEOPLE. But that night, Jesus said, “no...this bread is representing MY BODY and MY SUFFERING”, Not yours. Not anymore. I’m taking it from you.
I guarantee there wasn’t a mouth in the room that didn’t hit the floor in that moment. Jesus had taken a tradition over 1000 years old and changed it.
And then he picked up the third cup of wine. This third cup originally symbolized the promise that God would someday ultimately redeem his people by HIS own power. When Jesus took this third cup and said that it was now symbolizing his blood, poured out for many, he was telling the disciples that “that someday is today”.
Maror- or bitter herbs (we used horseradish), reminding the Jewish people of how slavery was bitter...Jesus skipped them.
Karpas- (we used parsley), symbolizing the poor diet that the people were subjected to while they were slaves. The meal involved dipping the karpas into salty water to remind the people of the saltiness of their tears...Jesus skipped the karpas and the salty water. No more tears.
Haroset- (we mixed a bowl of chopped apples and raisins), representing the bricks and mortar used to build the Egyptian empire on the backs of the Hebrew slaves...Jesus skips the Haroset. He frees us from the yoke of other men.
Zeroah- the lamb (we used chicken wings/legs), the lamb reminded the people of that first Passover night in Egypt, when they took the blood from a lamb and wiped it on the doorframes of their homes to prevent the angel of death from entering while they slept. The blood of the lamb saved the people that night. The lamb died so they didn’t have to die. (See Exodus 11-12)
On the night that Jesus led the Passover meal for his disciples, he skipped over the lamb because he IS THE LAMB. He was telling them that they no longer have to kill a lamb every single year.
The Final Cup
So Jesus skips all the other foods and instead of picking up the fourth cup, he points over to it and references it. This cup was to symbolize the future promise that God would restore his relationship with his people. “I will take you as my own.” And remember, the men in the room would have known the meaning of these cups.
In Mark 14:25 this is what Jesus said about that cup. “I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God”
One day, God’s people will join Him in heaven and will be restored fully to him. Jesus is saying that the fourth cup is referencing the marriage supper in heaven.
So even though this meal began as a way for the Hebrew people to remember the suffering of their ancestors, God was using it all along in a bigger way. He, of course, wanted them to remember how He had freed them from slavery. But He was pointing to Jesus all along with this meal. He was pointing to the suffering Jesus would endure so that we wouldn’t have to suffer. He was pointing to redemption and freedom for us today. To our hope of eternity in glory with Him. The entire meal helps to answer that question of why Jesus had to die in the first place. It deepens our understanding of why he truly is our daily bread and the lamb who was slain for us.
Questions? Modifications? Let me know...email me, message me or comment below. I’m so aware of how much I didn’t know and that there is probably so much more to uncover. But if I’ve left things out or explained something in a confusing way, please reach out and let me know!
And if an entire meal seems unrealistic, just take an hour and make this unleavened bread with your kids. I don’t double it to make more, I simply do the steps twice. And you can use gluten free flour with the same results!