Things the Messiah Said at Passover

Chag sameach! I hope you are enjoying this special and set apart time of year during the festival of Unleavened Bread, when we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah. All of the festivals of YHWH must have been significant to Yahusha, and so many of his words recorded in Scripture were spoken during this time. Having some idea of the setting and context for his words can transform our understanding of them. Much weight and significance is added to his words when we realize he spoke them at the Passover table keeping YHWH's instructions from Leviticus 23. Here are a few things he said during this time.

Things the Messiah Said at Passover:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6
Many people who have this verse memorized overlook an obvious implication of it. The way is literally seated at the Passover table when he said this. If you want to get to the Messiah and the Father, you might think about heading to Passover.

"Whoever trusts in me does what I do and will even do greater works." -John 14:12
The Messiah clearly expects his followers to have the same lifestyle as he did. The feast days and honoring Shabbat are a great place so start to live like him. This verse also tells us that once we are living like he did we will see even greater things happen in and through us.

"If you love me, keep my commands." -John 14:15
If you love the Messiah his desire is that you would be obedient to his instructions. Picture him seated with matzah and wine, keeping the set apart time that was also celebrated by Abraham and Moses, while he speaks the word of YHWH to those at the table, and it's easier to remember that some of his commands are to celebrate his festivals.

"I am the vine, you are the branches." -John 15:5
This analogy is probably the parable that the Messiah spent the most time explaining. And it's significant that the chose to talk about pruning - when his Father, the gardener, cuts off part of a healthy tree in order that it can grow more - at Passover. While we are rooted in Yahusha, he expects his people to grow. Growth looks different each season, and for many of us significant growth is pruning off man made holidays and choosing YHWH's instead.

"Watch and pray." -Matthew 26:41
Yahusha wants us to watch and pray at this time of year but if we aren't observing his holy days how can we do that?

"If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you." -John 15:18-19
The Messiah shares at Passover that he does not expect his followers to fit in with the world. And he's okay with that. He understood completely what it was like to be hated for the things he said and the lifestyle he chose to live. So if you're keeping Passover instead of the mainstream Easter holiday of course people are going to be upset, but it's really not about you; it's about them rejecting the ways of YHWH.

"In the world you have pressure, but take courage, I have overcome the world." -John 16:33
Passover is a beautiful time to remember that the Messiah overcame all the difficulties and injustices that we face. 

"This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me." -Luke 22:19
Do what to remember the Messiah? Eat bread at Passover.

"Go and prepare the Passover for us." -Luke 22:8
Here is the Messiah literally commanding his followers to take time to celebrate Passover. This is absolutely still worth doing today.

"The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." -Matthew 26:41
This verse describes how many of us as believers genuinely want to follow and serve the Messiah, but our flesh often is our biggest hurdle. The spirit is willing...but the flesh likes chocolate Easter rabbits. The spirit is willing...but the flesh has too many good Christmas memories to let go of. It takes intention and training to get your flesh under control of your spirit. Participating in YHWH's set apart times is an opportunity to strengthen your faith.

"You shall deny me three times." -Mark 14:30
Yahusha obviously knew what it was like to have people intentionally disassociate with him. When Peter denied him later that night, he wasn't just saying that he didn't know Yahusha. He was saying that he hadn't just partook in the Passover meal with him. How many people do you know that claim to love and honor the Messiah but adamantly deny his invitation to the Passover celebration? Let's not deny that as the Passover lamb, the feasts of YHWH are very near to the Messiah's heart.

"You do not know what I am doing now, but you shall know after this." -John 13:7
I love this verse because it tells me that I don't have to have all of the instructions figured out or to be able to fully see how YHWH is working in my life. Eventually all of these things will become clear but in the meantime all we have to do is walk in faith. I love the promise that even if keeping YHWH's feasts, honoring Shabbat, and so on don't make sense right now we will be able to see the Messiah in them someday.

"You should do as I have done." -John 13:15
Don't miss that the Messiah challenged us to live the way he did during one of YHWH's set apart times. Yahusha kept the feasts and we should too.

Seder or Symposium?

Of the traditional six foods on the Seder plate, plus the matzah, and wine at the Passover meal, do you know how many of them are dictated by Scripture? Answer: three or four. The unleavened bread, the Pesach lamb, and the bitter herbs, with the wine being debated (since Yahusha emphasized it). Of course the other items have significance, even if not Biblically required, like charoset to recall the mortar the Israelites made into brick during their Egyptian slavery. But the Seder element on my mind today is wine.

Traditional Seder meals involve four cups of wine. Each cup symbolizes a promise from YHWH. "I will take you out," the first. "I will deliver you," is the second. Third, "I will redeem you," and the fourth cup stands for, "I will take you." This is a really beautiful part of the Passover meal, a chance to look back on the work of YHWH personally as well as for corporate Israel as a whole throughout history. When you consider the traditional Hebrew feast of wine celebration as a betrothal the symbolism goes even deeper. I like this allegory a lot. It's very meaningful. But I think we need to consider another verse before we partake:

Ephesians 5:18 - "Do not get drunk with wine."

I think we need to examine the spirit behind the idea that it's okay to get drunk during a Festival of YHWH (or ever). Obviously there are many passages of Scripture that show us the drinking of wine is generally permissible, but Ephesians also makes it clear that we need to stop before getting drunk. Should we make an exception for drunkenness during the Feasts?

According to the writings of Plato, a popular social event in ancient Greece was a symposium. Unlike cocktail parties of today symposiums had minimums on the amount of alcohol guests would consume, so party goers didn't really have the option to forgo or limit their alcohol. Obviously, this must have made for some drunk parties. Symposiums could last all night, so wine was drank literally for hours straight (raise your hand if you've ever attended a five hour Seder meal). These were not casual affairs, but heavily ritualized with precise rules. While philosophy and politics were typical discussion topics oftentimes libations were poured to gods or other rituals done as an act of worship. Do we want our worship of YHWH to look like this?

As a side note, are you familiar with the many man-made rituals observed at traditional Passover Seders? There are so many the hosts thoughtfully provide a book so you can keep up. Like with the four cups of wine, there's nothing wrong with washing your hands, hiding the afikoman, reciting blessings, dipping parsley in salt water and so on but we shouldn't treat these as commands or emphasize them over YHWH's instructions.

Seders have looked too much like symposiums. Ministries working to teach the importance of obeying YHWH's commands send a mixed message when they tolerate drunkenness at Passover. People drink too much, behave obnoxiously, and distract from the worship of YHWH at a Feast. And if Seder is nothing more than drunk discussion with made up rituals to honor some sort of Deity, how is that different from a symposium? This should concern us for obvious reasons. Scripture tells us that we are not to copy the customs of pagan cultures. Nowhere in Scripture do we have an example of righteous people getting drunk to celebrate YHWH's Feasts. Yahusha used wine at his last supper, yes. But the lengthy accounts of this feast in the Besorahs give no indication of drunkenness on anyone's part. The fact Matthew and John each remembered the night well enough to write extensively on it suggests their sobriety.

We need to examine the way we keep this Feast. There is nothing wrong with celebrating over a meal - we are told to do this. Yahusha even mentioned specifically to have the unleavened bread and wine in remembrance of him at Passover. This is important to him. But he doesn't say, "go ahead and get drunk and act like an idiot." He says, "Do this to remember me," not, "Do this and wonder what you did last night." We need to look at what else is going on surrounding the most significant Passover celebrations in Scripture: the impending deliverance of Israel from slavery and the impending death of Yahusha for a broken covenant. We would be completely remiss to overlook that and place the emphasis of the meal on drinking. Yes, YHWH put emphasis on the food and so did Yahusha but neither commanded or condoned drunkenness.

The four cups of wine are meaningful. But that's not an excuse to ignore the instruction to not get drunk. If having four cups of wine is important to you, make them small glasses. You could also water down the alcohol content by making a sangria with fruit. Alternatively you could serve grape juice throughout the evening or switch to grape juice after the first glass or two. Let's make all aspects of Seder honoring to YHWH. Let's celebrate the Feast without the old hametz of ancient Greece. Here's to a sober Seder!

Celebrating Passover Seder

We took a different approach to our Seder meal this year. It was smaller, more relaxed, not quite as long. Somehow the Haggadah was condensed to a single page. There were fresh flowers, real china, and two lit menorahs. We set aside some of the traditions of hand washing, and salt water. More emphasis was placed on the Messiah than on the story of the Exodus. The evening was a beautiful celebration of the redemption of YHWH in days past, like the Israelites leaving Egypt, and of his redemption in our own lives.

We used real china for place settings and couldn't have been happier. It was a special touch in an elegant evening.

This year we had just sixteen people. The smaller group made it more like a dinner party (like the last supper).

Lighting the menorah.

Another pre-guest table shot. Each guest had a Hagaddah, a 10 Plagues coaster, and a fresh almond that I remembered to add after I took this photo. Haha.

This year's reading: "The Story of Israel."

Passing of the matzah, symbolizing his body broken for us.

I like to describe the items on the Seder plate as the Gospel in six courses. Extra points if you can see the tired little pup laying beneath the table.

 Our miracle one page Hagaddah! Nes gadol hayah sham.

 Our Passover meal included the mandatory grilled lamb, matzah, and bitter herb salad, as well as add ins like roasted asparagus and peppers, charoset, potato salad, and hummus with veggies.

 Both plates had the same things, I promise.

Our cutest attendee.

Oh these coasters? They're from Matanote on Etsy.

The third cup of wine, "I will redeem you."

Instead of afikomen we had pavlova with fresh berries and whipped cream for dessert.

Party favors?

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Passover and Feast of Matzah!