Last night, on Easter Sunday, our pastor walked through the details of the traditional Jewish Passover meal, known as the Seder. It convinced me that every believer should have this experience. Why? When the reader has a grasp of the Jewish background, many parts of the NT leap from black and white into technicolor.
One example: During the Passover meal, Jesus breaks the bread and says, "This is my body, given for you..." The bread that Jesus used was the matsa (unleavened bread, to symbolize the absence of sin). It had first been broken into 3 pieces. Jesus then took the middle piece and broke it again. Traditionally, part of that broken middle piece was placed inside a white linen cloth and "hidden" in another part of the home. Later in the meal, that cloth would be "found" and the family would rejoice together. If this sounds a little like Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, you have caught the excitement of the early Jewish Christians, who realized the incredible symbolism in the Passover meal!
1 comment:
Hi Curt -
It's really cool that you mention this - I actually just registered to attend a passover seder dinner that my church is putting on. They're bringing in the professor of Jewish Studies from Moody to teach about the history and significance. I'm really looking forward to it!
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