Passover – Visualizaton 7/1/07
Date – 7/1/07
Sermon Series: Passover: God’s Perfect Promise
Sermon Title: – Visualization
Text: Exodus 12:8-11 – “They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. Do not let any of it remain until morning; you must burn up any part of it that does remain until morning. Here is how you must eat it: dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.”
Theme: This message is about how the act of Passover is an acted out sermon pointing toward God, each portion of the Passover meal has deep significance. This sermon is repeated in the Lord’s Supper that we share each week. As Christians our character and our lives are displayed to our community every day. We need to make sure that people see our Savior through us.
Introduction: A visual culture
Transition: Today I want you to participate with me in a Seder observance.
Visualizing God’s Promises
We will begin by setting the Seder table. Because this is one of the most important days of the year we will use only our very best items: dishes and linen that is used on no other day.
(Have table brought out and cover with tablecloth, place candle holder, Seder plate, cups and wine, bowl of saltwater, cleaning bowl and towel, matzos loaves and linen covers.)
The Nerot is the beginning of this ceremony. It is the lighting the Yom Tov candles. The lighting of these candles will demonstrate that this is a special day, a day set apart from the rest of the year. Yom Tov means good day and this is a good day. Traditionally these candles are lit by the most mature lady that resides in the house. Today I have asked Katie to light these candles.
(At this point have Katie come forward and light them.)
It is important to note that the reason that this job is reserved for women is because it is believed that they are the ones who will set the tenor for the household.
You notice that there are five wine glasses on the table. Four of these cups will be used to drink wine out of. They represent the four promises of God outlined to us in Exodus 6:6-7. We will talk about the other later on.
(Pour the first cup of wine, display Exodus 6:6-9 on screen)
“Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh,
and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians
and free you from slavery to them.
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.
I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Yahweh your God, who delivered you from the forced labor of the Egyptians.”
These cups will be blessed and consumed at different times in the ceremony. This first cup is poured and consumed with a blessing called the Kaddesh at the beginning of the meal. It is the cup of sanctification that memorializes God’s separating the Jewish people from Egypt.
Next in line of things to accomplish is the Urechatz or washing. Everyone at the table ceremonially washes their hands. They are required to pour water, three times, over the right and then the left hand. The youngest child, who is able, then presents each guest with a towel to dry their hands.
It is at this point in the ceremony that we begin dealing with the food that is present.
This part of the rite is called karpas which means fruit or vegetable. The parsley is then dipped in salt water and eaten. The parsley represents the lowly origins of the Hebrew people and the salt water represents their tears while they were in slavery.
The next part of the ceremony is called Yachatz which means breaking. You will notice that there are three matzos loaves within the linen envelope. There is some controversy as to what exactly these three loaves represent. Some Rabbis teach that they represent the three different temples that the Jewish people celebrated God’s covenant in: Solomon’s temple, Zerubbabel’s temple and Herod’s temple, which was the one that Jesus worshipped in.
Other Rabbis teach that they represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Still others claim that they represent the Jewish people, the priests, and the Levites.
We will talk some more about the significance of these later. But at this point in the ceremony the head of the household will remove the middle loaf and break it in two pieces. The smaller piece is placed back on the table to be consumed later, while the larger piece is wrapped in another piece of linen and hidden. Through out the meal the children will be encouraged to go and find this piece called the afikomen.
After the breaking comes the Maggid this is the story portion of the ceremony. This is a long and involved storytelling process that requires some staged question and answer time, as well as a parable of four brothers. This story relates God providential care and miraculous provision for His people.
As this portion of the ceremony is closed the second cup of wine is blessed and consumed. It is the cup of deliverance; it memorializes God’s people being freed from slavery.
Just before the meal itself gets underway, another ceremonial washing occurs called the Rachtzah.
Next comes Matzi Motzah, at this point in time the Seder leader lifts the remaining matzah loaves, says a blessing over them and then breaks the bottom one into pieces. These pieces are distributed and everyone eats some of them.
Next come Maror this is the eating of the bitter herbs. After a blessing the horseradish is loaded onto the lettuce leaf, dipped in the charoseth, which represents the mortar used for the bricks that the Jewish people made in Egypt. The bitter herbs remember the life of slavery and bitter times before God’s deliverance.
After the Maror comes the Korekh this is a sandwich made from the unleavened bread, Paschal lamb and bitter herbs. Modern Jews substitute whatever meat they are eating for the meal here. This is to keep God’s command that we read in Exodus12:8 to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This tradition was started about the time of Christ by Rabbi Hillel.
Finally we come to the dinner itself called the Shulcan Orekh. In modern Jewish homes this is simply a kosher meal that is absent of any yeast or yeast products.
At the end of the meal comes the Tzafun, which means hidden, by this time the youngest has found the Afikomen and returned it the table, usually for a reward. This piece is lifted, blessed and distributed for dessert.
This is the end of the meal proper but not the ceremony. Now comes the Barekh this is the blessing that ends the meal. It is at this time that we take the third cup of wine, the cup of redemption and bless and drink it.
We then close out the ceremony by singing Hallel, praises to God. The last cup of wine, the cup of release, being God’s people, is blessed and drunk.
Finally the Seder leader performs the Nirtzah, the closing of the ceremony.
Re-visualizing God’s Promises
Some of the last moments of Jesus’ earthly ministry, with all twelve of His disciples occurred, as they were gathered around the Passover table on the night that he was betrayed and arrested. In Luke chapter 22 Jesus tells His disciples that He has fervently desired to share this Passover meal with them.
It is as these men are reclined around this table that Jesus gives final instructions and leaves them with the last picture of His ministry here on earth.
Jesus steps into the role of the host at the Seder table and re-visualizes it for those men. He infuses more meaning and understanding then they had ever experienced in all of the times they had celebrated this holiday.
We are not going to make an in-depth study of this last Passover because we are going to come back to it later in this series, but I wanted to touch on a couple of items that demonstrate Jesus’ deeper understanding of this solemn occasion.
The first one that stands out is the washing of the disciple’s feet.
The bread broken that symbolizes Him.
- Isaac
o The sacrificed only begotten of son of promise
- Priest
o Hebrews 10:11 states that Jesus as High Priest offered one sacrifice that covered all sins forever and then sat down at the right hand of the Father.
- Temple
o Gives a whole new meaning to the passage in Corinthians that teaches us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
o If there was ever a perfect temple then it was definitely the body of Jesus snapped in two at the Passover table.
The wine
- Luke 22 states that the cup He raised was the one after dinner, so we know that it is the cup of redemption.
- It is only through the blood of Jesus that all of the world, not just the Jews are released into freedom from sin and death provided by the perfect Passover lamb.
