“Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.” –Matt. 26:17-19
I got to experience my first Seder last night, at the home of the aunt and uncle of a dear friend, and it was truly amazing. I’ve always wanted to celebrate with a real Jewish family; see the traditions and rituals that Jesus most likely would have partaken of. As a Christian, these next few days are very solemn and heavy for me, and cause me to do a lot introspection and thanksgiving to Christ for what He did. I want to know all aspects of God’s character, and He was a Jew. Anyway, it was such a privilege for me to be invited to partake in the Seder. Allie’s family is so wonderful, and prepared quite the feast for us.
The evening started with the Kiddush: “Blessed are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. Blessed are You, G-d, our G-d, King of the universe, who has chosen us from among all people, and raised us above all tongues, and made us holy through His commandments. And You, G-d, our G-d, have given us in love.”
This is said in Hebrew, though, and when I closed my eyes, I could hear the voices of God’s people since the beginning reciting these holy words. I got goosebumps. As we went through the Haggadah, the book of Passover, we remembered the plagues that God sent on the Egyptians when Pharoah would not let the Israelites go. We dipped our pinky fingers into the wine after saying each plague, and placed one drop on our plates, for a total of ten. This was in commemoration of the tears shed by all, even the innocent Egyptians who suffered the plagues as well.
When Allie’s uncle lifted the unleavened bread and broke it, and lifted the cup of wine and blessed it, I almost started crying. This is something that we have done every Sunday since I can remember, at church. For us it is called Communion, and is in remembrance of the Last Supper, which Jesus ate with His disciples before He was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. When I saw this, and that this was something Jews have been doing since the first Passover, I realized anew how intricately my faith is woven with that of the Jews. Of course, I’ve always known Jesus was a Jew, that goes without saying. But to see the beautiful ceremony of remembrance and thanks to God that Jesus partook of, in living color, here in front of me, well, it absolutely overwhelmed my heart with joy and solemnity. I can’t really put it into words, but I’ll try. It was like I was transported back in time, briefly, and saw with my own eyes the bread and the wine that Jesus broke for His friends. They thought they were going to just a normal Seder, but He knew it was so much more than that. In church last week, the pastor said that at the Last Supper, there was no lamb on the table, as is tradition, because the Lamb, the Passover Lamb, the sacrifice, the blood that would cover the lintels of the doors of His people and save them from death, was AT the table. Jesus is called the Lamb of God, and this took on a whole new significance for me last night.
I felt like I was a part of something so much bigger than me, and all of the thoughts and stirrings of my heart stilled, and I was there, worshipping the Creator of the universe, blessed be He. I wish I could adequately put into words exactly what it was like for me, but I don’t think I can. To say it was moving or powerful wouldn’t be going nearly far enough.
At one point, we remembered Allie’s grandmother Mira, who lost her entire family in the Holocaust, and survived concentration camps herself. She met the infamous Dr. Mengele, and as we read a remembrance her husband had written for the family years ago, I was tingling all over. Things that had only just been periphery to me were crashing down upon me with weighty significance. Allie is one of my dearest friends; I love her so much. And as I heard the story of her grandmother, the agonies she suffered, how she overcame them and still praised God, I praised God along with them that I was able to be apart of this beautiful remembrance. Allie told me later that her grandmother was saved twice, both times by a Christian. Wow.
Today, tomorrow, and Sunday might possibly be my three favorite days of the year. What Jesus did on the cross for us is the most glorious and most horrific thing done in the history of life. Glorious, because He did what no one else could do; He reconciled us to God. Horrific, because of the agonies and disgraces, the sheer horror of what He suffered. I have watched “Passion of the Christ” exactly once. I couldn’t watch what was being done to Him, Him Who is my heart of hearts, more than that. It absolutely slays me, and I have to spend many hours in prayer and solitude afterward, just to regain some emotional stability. But these next few days carry an incredible, momentous weight for me, and I can’t wait to celebrate the Resurrection with friends on Sunday.
Going to Passover last night with such a wonderful, loving family was such a great gift to me. I woke up this morning with my heart just singing to God, and remembering again how incredibly blessed I am.
On a side note: yesterday was also something called “The Commencement of the 206th Solar Revolution”. From what a friend told me: “The sun has a cycle in which every twenty-eight years it returns back to the position in which it was originally suspended on the first Tuesday night of Creation. Celebrating this phenomenon, Jews throughout the world arise the next morning (Wednesday) and gather together. Seeing the sun, they recite the beracha “Oseh ma’asek beresheet”. Apparently the sun has only been in this position, on Ereb Pesah (first night of Passover) only three times in history. Once, before the first Passover, when the Jews left Egypt. The second time, when Esther saved the Jews from the evil Haman. And third, yesterday.
The prayer they pray in the morning of this event is called “The Blessing of the Sun”:
Blessed are You, Adonai,
Our God,
King of the Universe
Who performs the work of Creation.
