Pesach or Passover is celebrated on the
14th day of Nissan. Pesach is one of the three feasts with Shavuot or
Pentecost and Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles, that should be celebrated in
Jerusalem. (Luke 2:41)
Pesach was the moment in time when God
indicated to the Jewish people in Egypt that the blood of a lamb was to be
placed on the doorpost of their houses for the tenth plague to "pass over" them,
without this blood Israel would have suffered as the rest of the Egyptians.
Pesach is celebrated with a seder (meal)
at which the story of the liberation of Israel from slavery is told.
The Haggadah (booklet telling the Pesach
story) is followed during the whole seder.
There are different elements on the
table, each with special meaning:
SHANK BONE OF A LAMB - Represents
the lamb from which the blood was used to put on the doorposts of each Jewish
household in Egypt.
HAROSET - Pieces of apple, nuts,
cinnamon and grape juice. Represents the mortar used to build in Egypt.
BITTER HERBS - Horseradish.
Represents bitterness.
KARPAS - Parsley dipped into salt
water. Represents the tears of slavery.
ROASTED EGG - Represents life.
MATZA - Three pieces of matza are
used one representing God the Father; the other the Holy Spirit; and the middle
one representing the Messiah. This piece (the middle one) also called the Afikomen, is broken during the seder and placed in linen cloth and hidden until
the end of the meal. It is a clear representation of the death and resurrection
of the Messiah, this is the piece of Matza which Jesus broke at the last Pesach
He spent with His disciples on Earth.
1 Cor 11:23-24
When Jesus says "do this in remembrance of me" He is proclaiming the real
meaning
of Pesach for all generations, He is our Passover Lamb, the blood of the
ultimate Lamb which makes death pass over us.
WINE CUPS - Several sips of wine
are taken during the seder as the story is told, there is a special cup of wine
for Elijah who is expected to come before the Messiah. (Matthew 11:14-15)
