Two Passovers
Many of us may have recently walked contemplatively through the Lenten season, slowing as we journeyed through Holy Week, pausing for the standstill of that silent Saturday. Then, at the rising of Sunday’s sun, came joyous celebrations of history’s greatest event.
He is risen!
With everything beginning to bloom, and summer agendas on the horizon, I find myself pushing back against the pressure to rush forward. Do you feel this too? Must we move on so quickly, or might we linger a bit, continuing to absorb the events surrounding our Savior’s final days, death, and glorious resurrection?
While the two often overlap, I like the fact that this year, Passover falls a few weeks after Easter.¹ At sundown on April 22, (the fourteenth day of the month of Abib/Nisan)² Jews across the globe will gather in remembrance of another miraculous event. Many of the Christian faith will also gather for Seder (the ritual feast held at the beginning of Passover).
One of my dearest friends from childhood is Jewish. Our families have known one another for decades. In fact, I don't recall not knowing her. We attended the same pre-school, grade school and high school, and have kept in touch ever since. She lived right down the street, so I spent much time in her home. I have fond memories of dreidels and warm glowing candles of the Hanukkah Menorah. During Passover I loved biting into crunchy matzah lathered with creamy butter and sprinkled with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. I attended synagogue services with her a handful of times and can dimly recall the Torah being brought out, carefully unrolled, and recited in Hebrew. I sure wish I’d paid more attention! Back then, I didn’t fully understand the intertwining of her faith with mine.
Instead of hurrying away from Easter, this year’s timing of Passover presents an opportunity to stay put. After all, Holy Week and Passover are a part of the same gorgeous thread woven throughout Scripture. Both events are a part of my story, and yours.
I invite you to pause here and read Exodus, chapter 12, here, or from your own Bible translation. Perhaps sit for some moments (or longer) to see what surfaces, see how the Spirit might speak, where He might take you.
If we lean into this slice of Scripture, we might imagine the sounds of the very first Passover. We might hear the bleating of unblemished lambs—their utterings growing louder toward twilight, then falling to a sudden hush. We might listen for the blood as it drains—spilling quickly at first, then slowing as last drops of life trickle out. We might, in our minds, take hold of the hyssop branch, inhale its bitter aroma, hear the swish as blood is brushed upon on doorposts and lintels—up, down, across…up, down…across.
We might detect the hum of families hurriedly partaking of lamb, herbs, and unleavened bread. We might feel the darkness of night, sense the LORD passing through the land, passing over homes marked with blood. We might hear the wailing as early-morning hours reveal widespread death.
Meanwhile a nation, dressed for travel and shouldering bundles of cloth-wrapped bread, has made a hasty exit. We might feel dust flying, hear hooves pounding, sense the tension of impending doom as chariots chase them, inching closer from behind.
Thousands—of men, women, and children—arrive at the water’s edge. Hemmed in.
And then…
Can you imagine the scene? Shrieks of panic shift to shouts of praise as they, with wide-eyed awe, witness waters parting, providing the only way out.
Rescued from death. Delivered by their GOD, from bondage, to freedom.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
(John 1:29, HCSB).
Let us now go forward some twelve to fourteen hundred years later. We can assume that Jesus made the festival trek to Jerusalem each year of His earthly life.³ Let us peer into the upstairs room where He dines with the disciples for the last time. On this particular evening, we see old and new—past, present and future—converge. On the heels of the Passover meal, Jesus breaks the bread and lifts the cup, initiating what we now refer to as the Lord’s Supper. A new chapter of the grand story has begun.⁴
May we lean in here, as well—imagining Jesus, our Savior, reclining at the table. The Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, the Vine, partakes of the meal— supping on meat and bitter herbs, offering bread, sipping wine. Just hours later on that fourteenth day of the month, His blood will be spilled—His life given, our passed over.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed”
(John 3:16, CJB).
What a gift. Rescued from death. Delivered from bondage, to freedom. Washed clean. Forever redeemed.
May the events surrounding these two Passovers not leave us. May you and I linger, in awe.
The Lord is come! Hallelujah! May we have “Kingdom vision”⁵— eyes fixed on Him, as we travel toward Home.
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice,
‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered
To receive power and riches
And wisdom and strength
And honor and glory and blessing!’
(Revelation 5:11,12, HCSB)
Author note: There are so many layers to these passages. I’ve just scratched the surface here! For further reading and some resources that I’ve found very helpful in regards to Hebrew faith and culture:
Books:
-Messiah in The Feasts of Israel, by Sam Nadler.
-The Feasts of the LORD: God’s Prophetic Calendar From Calvary to the Kingdom, by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal
Websites:
Footnotes:
¹This year (5784) is a “leap year” according to the Jewish calendar. You can read more about this here ; The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the day following Passover. Often, the two are combined and referred to as “The Eight Days of Passover.” (Howard, Kevin. Rosenthal, Marvin. The Feasts of the LORD: God’s Prophetic Calendar from Calvary to the Kingdom. Zion’s Hope, Inc. 1997)
²Exodus 12:1,2,6 ; The Hebrew “day” begins at sundown. Originally, this first month was called “Abib.” After the exile in Babylon, the month was called “Nisan.”
³Exodus 23:14-17
⁴Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-20
⁵The term “Kingdom vision” was written in a note and relayed to me years ago, during a season of personal upheaval. I’ve not forgotten the words since.
