Passover
Passover 2019 has come and gone quickly! Rebecca and I had the chance to attend two different Passover Seders this year. Both were awesome! One was with the Upper Room church in Dallas. The leader of that Passover Seder was Rabbi Jason Sobel who leads a ministry called Fusion. The focus of their work is to share with believers around the world, the richness and history of the Jewish roots of Christianity.
Passover is one of my favorite Jewish holidays for several reasons. It is filled with so many incredible symbols of Yeshua (Jesus). One of them is the Matza. The matza is the unleavened bread that is eaten during the 8 days of Passover. Matza is traditionally used during Passover because as we know from the story in Exodus, the Jewish people had only a little time to prepare to leave Egypt and so they prepared bread without leaven because it would cook faster. We now know that this has much deeper meaning because that is the bread that Yeshua picked up and blessed in Matthew 26: 17 – 30. In verse 26 it says; “…now while they were eating, Yeshua took matza and He offered the bracha (blessing over the bread), He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body”.
The Passover Seder was also the last meal Yeshua ate with his disciples. This was the first ever modern day Christian communion. We now know that Christians around the world, take unleavened bread and bless and consume it in remembrance of the sacrifice Yeshua made so that we can be in relationship with God. The symbolism and beauty in the Passover Seder is overwhelmingly exciting. There are prophecy fulfillments, reminders of salvation, freedom from the bondage of sin and much more! You can read all about Passover and the significance of this Jewish holiday at Hebrew 4 Christians.
At the end of every Seder, it is tradition to say this phrase for it is our hope now and always to be in Jerusalem, Israel just as Yeshua was on Passover. Everyone sitting around the Passover table says in unison … “L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim (Hebrew: לשנה הבאה בירושלים, “Next year in Jerusalem“)!!!
Perhaps next year find a family or congregation celebrating Passover, and join them if you can.
Shalom,
Jonathan Weiss
Israel Liaison
Daystar Television Network