MIDWEEK DEVOTIONAL The Passover meal is among the biggest traditions in the Jewish culture and Jesus shared in these every year of His life. It was not until Thursday of the Passion Week that this celebration of liberty took on another form. The Israelites had celebrated this tradition as a commemoration of God delivering them from slavery. If the blood of the lamb was marked on the door frames of the houses, death would not come to them. This feast lasts between three and a half to four hours and was an integral part of being Jewish. This past Sunday we read through Mark 14:17-26. While the disciples were reclining together by the table about to break bread, eat the lamb, the spiced harbs and drink from the cup, Jesus was preparing a great reminder for all of those that would come to Him for salvation. He associates himself with the bread that was broken. This unleavened bread had to have no leaven in it, which takes a while to permeate through the dough, because God wanted the Israelites to be at the ready come time for their shackles of slavery to be broken. The symbol of leaven in the Scriptures is almost always associated with sin. Wherever there is a little bit of leaven/sin in a person or the church it will grow and fester within the whole person/church (Gal.5:9) Jesus describes Himself as the blood of the lamb. The Passover lambs blood on the door frame meant death passed over, likewise, the blood of Jesus applied to our souls meant that we would not have to suffer eternal death. The lamb was to be roasted whole with no bone to be broken, much like Christ’s body that had no bones broken as He took on the cross. Throughout the Passover meal, or Seder, there would be a tradition of toasting the cup to remember God’s deliverance from slavery. These five cups are found in Exodus 6:6-8 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’” Verse 24 in Mark 14 mentions the blood of the covenant which correlates with Exodus 24:8, where Moses sprinkled on the people. But Jesus tells His disciples to consume all of it. Jesus wants you to ingest His very being. While this sounds a little crazy (the early church was even thought to be cannibals) the point here is that through the blood of the new covenant we are to have Christ within our hearts. Within every part of us. When Jesus mentions in the garden before He is arrested to ‘let this cup pass from me’ He is speaking of the Cup of Redemption that calls for all of His blood to be spilled. The Passover meal would usually end with the singing of, what they called a ‘hallel’. On Sunday we highlighted the hallel they would sing in Psalms 118:19-24. This speaks of Jesus bringing us home to the land He promised us. This eternal life with Him is worth being joyful about. It’s worth getting excited about what Christ is doing in your life at every single moment. Regardless of the problems or the great times....REJOICE....GOD IS WITH YOU!
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 22:07:59 +0000
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