I am going to tell you a story. “It is a tale as old as time.” No it is not Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It is the Haggadah, the Hebrew word for “telling.” This is the story of a Passover meal. There is an order to this meal, a Seder (order).
The night before the Lord God led the children of Israel to escape from their brutal oppressors in Egypt,
”“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.“
Exodus 12:2-14 ESV
Year after year from generation to the next, the children of Israel would REMEMBER God’s powerful deliverance. They would celebrate with the PRACTICE of the Passover Feast. It is a lasting ordinance of remembrance, a HOLY REHEARSAL of the blood applied. The TELLING AND THE ORDER of the Passover Seder was intended to be a sign and a roadmap leading to future events; ie: the salvation and deliverance of our sins through Jesus Christ.
Every PRACTICE of the Passover Seder provides deep revelation to the events of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus celebrated His own Passover with His friends.
”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. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”“
Matthew 26:17-19, 26-29 ESV
THE SEDER (the order of the meal)
The first Seder symbol is the matzot. It is a flat piece of unleavened bread. It represents the bread made on the night God passed over the children of Israel’s house who had applied the blood of the lamb. This bread was made without yeast because they didn’t have the time to let it rise. The matzah is pierced and has stripes.
”But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.“
Isaiah 53:5 KJV
REMEMBER, PRACTICE, REHEARSE. These things tell a story, a most important story, a Haggadah.
👏👍