Finding Jesus in the Jewish holiday of Passover
Within the pages of Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible, we find a list of seven appointed times or festivals (moedim) that God, the creator of the universe says are important. Out of His goodness and wisdom, He’s declared these seasons as set apart times for His people to meet with Him.
It’s in this context we find the second feast—the feast of Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew.
“These are the appointed feasts of Adonai, holy convocations which you are to proclaim in their appointed season. During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Adonai’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot [Unleavened Bread] to Adonai. For seven days you are to eat matzah.
—Leviticus 23:1–8
God is saying this is important—Let’s find out why!
Passover Seder plate with a lamb shank, parsley, charoset, and more.
A brief history leading up to Passover
You may be familiar with the Passover story, made popular by the animated film, The Prince of Egypt; if so feel free to skip this section, but there is a rich story here that must be told to understand the significance.
We begin with the story of Jacob, the second born son of Isaac who stole his brother, Esau’s, birthright. Over time, Jacob had 12 sons (what a legacy!), but not all was well in Jacob’s family. One of his sons, Joseph, has a dream that he excitedly tells his family—that he saw 12 sheaves of wheat encircling him and bowing down to him. The interpretation of his dream—that his brothers would bow down and serve their younger brother—was a catalyst that furthered the divide between his brothers and caused hatred to grow in their hearts. It didn’t help that their father Jacob favored Joseph over his other sons.
As the story progresses, Jacob gifts a beautiful robe to his son Joseph, that culminated in his jealous brothers ripping the coat from Joseph and throwing him into a deep well, eventually selling him to a group of slave traders on their way to Egypt.
Over time in Egypt (a story with its own twists and turns), Joseph rises to power as second in command over the entire nation. After predicting a seven year famine by the power of God’s Spirit, the country is prepared with storehouses of food. During this time, Jacob, along with all of the twelve tribes migrate to Egypt in a land called Goshen. While the the family was saved, over time and after a new pharaoh begins to rule, he becomes afraid of the growing Hebrew population and enslaves them through hard physical labor and cruelty.
It was during this tumultuous time, Moses (Moshe) was born.
Out of his anger and fear, pharaoh demands that the Hebrew midwives kill any boy right before they’re born, but because they feared God, they found ways to rescue the child. Through the Lord’s providence, Moses escapes after his mother has to give him up, by making a small basket and sending him down the nile river. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the baby, and decides to raise him as her own in the palace of Egypt.
One day, after Moses is grown, he is out with his Hebrew brothers and sees an Egyptian soldier beating one of his own people. In fury of rage and even justice, he kills the Egyptian. Terrified, he buries the body in the sandy ground, and eventually Moses flees to the wilderness of Midian after realizing somebody witnessed his act of murder.
How will God’s promise to Abraham be fulfilled?
And this is where our Passover story begins.
After the years have passed and the passion of the moment has faded, God appears to Moses through a bush in the desert, cloaked in a flame of fire—burning, yet not consumed. The voice of God speaks to Moses: You will be my deliverer.
God, YHWH wanted to show that he was more powerful than all of the Egyptian gods. So He prepares Moses with divine instructions: Go to Pharaoh and tell him to Let my people go so that they can worship Me.
After 9 relentless plagues of hail, flies, frogs, and blood, Pharaoh continues to hardens his heart. There is one final plague: the death of firstborn. And the only one way to escape is by spreading the blood of a spotless lamb over the doorpost of their homes. Only the Israelites obey God’s instruction. Only their firstborns live.
The first Passover was not a celebration (see Exodus 12). It was a night of apprehension, fear in their rush to leave Egypt, yet it was also a night of tremendous expectation for the beginning of a new journey for the children of Israel.
Would they find their long awaited freedom and deliverance?
Would Pharaoh keep his word?
What if the blood didn’t work?
In the calm but thick tension of the night, the Angel of Death did not pass over Pharaoh’s house as well those in Egypt who did not trust the words of Moses. There was weeping and wailing as fathers and mothers and family awoke to find death instead of life.
But the family of those who covered the doorpost of their house with the blood of the passover lamb were spared.
And so with their bags packed and in great haste, the Israelite people didn’t have time to wait for bread to rise. They ate matzah. They grabbed what they could carry. And they left their lives of slavery.
It was a new beginning.
It was the start of a season of sanctification as they embarked on their journey through the wilderness, but following after their mighty God who had brought salvation to their families and their nation.
The blood of the lamb had brought new life.
Yeshua, our Passover Lamb
Christians celebrate communion often, but did you know it’s directly connected to Passover?
When Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me,” it was part of a Passover Seder meal that He was having with His Jewish disciples.
In Luke 22:7-20, Jesus tells his disciples to prepare a Passover meal:
Then came the day of matzah when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
Now Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so we may eat.”
Just like God always provides for us, the disciples meet a man who allows them to celebrate their Seder in an upper room he had prepared.
God always makes a way.
Institution of the Lord's Supper
Many of us know this as the Lord’s supper, but why was it called supper? The word for supper indicates it’s an evening meal. And this is because the Passover meal is always eaten at night, the evening of Passover in order to remember the night before God’s mighty deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt.
And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never it eat again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
At the Lord’s appointed time, Jesus with the full moon high in the Israeli sky, He gathered with his friends and family in an upper room. They likely recounted the Exodus story, remembering the bitter tears of their people in Egypt. They celebrated that if the Lord had only rescued them from slavery in Egypt, but hadn’t provided for them in the desert, it would have been enough!
If he had only let them cross the sea of reeds but hadn’t given them instruction through the torah of moses, it would have been enough.
If he had only fed them with manna, but hadn’t brought them to the promised land, it would have been enough!
And when He had taken matzah and offered the bracha (blessing), He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you. Do this in memory of Me.”
And so he takes the first piece of matzah, which is bread without leaven, he blesses the Lord who brings forth manna for us to eat. Who sustains us with living bread from heaven. He reminds his friends, that it represents his body that is given, and broken on our behalf. He tells us to remember Him as we partake of his goodness.
In the same way, He took the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.
In the tradition of the Passover Seder, there are four cups of wine had during the meal. The third cup happens after the meal, and signifies the cup of Redemption. The cup of deliverance, or salvation. So Jesus raises this cup, likely says a prayer over it, blessing God for the fruit of the vine, and reminds his friends that this cup represents the new covenant of his blood that is poured out for us.
The new covenant prophesied long ago by Jeremiah. That the Lord would make a new covenant with his people, one that would give us his Spirit and where he would write his instructions on our hearts. That His Spirit would empower us to want to know and follow the one true King. That would lead us to trust Him with every part of our being and every aspect of our lives.
The one who is and is to come, the Messiah, the Lord’s anointed one, pointed to in every Jewish feast has appeared in the flesh. He became the passover lamb on our behalf so that his blood could be painted over the doorposts of our heart in order for God’s judgment to pass over us. Today, two thousand years later, we still tell the story of the Lord’s faithfulness to keep his promises.
We celebrate that in Jesus, Yeshua, we have salvation. That God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, but that he has redeemed us from the curse of the law and has become the curse on our behalf. We remember his sacrifice as we gather with friends and share a Passover meal together. We turn our hearts to the great King in awe and reverence, and with grateful hearts.
Finding your story in the Passover story
As we make this intimate connection of Jesus’ last supper with the Jewish holiday of Passover, it is very appropriate for believers in Jesus to celebrate the story of the Exodus, and realize that it is also represents our story.
We remember that like the children of Israel, we were slaves—in bondage to sin and death. We remember the moments in our lives where we screw up royally, where we missed the mark. We remember the season of despair and depression that felt like they would never end. We remember the relationships that didn’t end up like we anticipated. We recall the seasons where our actions hurt, harmed, and Brought death to others.
In the days of Moses, life was given to people of faith by the blood of the lamb painted over the doorposts of their homes. Today, we remember and receive the life of the blood of Jesus “painted” over the doorposts of our hearts.
We also remember that these circumstances were not the end.
We celebrate God’s faithfulness to lead us to freedom and life. To rescue us from the place He found us in. That He showed mercy and compassion even when we were stuck. That He pulled us out of the situations in life we were mired in. That he miraculously made a way through the desert seasons. That He set us on a mountain of his goodness. That he prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies. That even in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, we could have joy and peace because He sustains us with life and every good thing.
And so I encourage you as a follower of Jesus to celebrate Passover.
As you do may you find our saviour and Messiah in the rich, ancient soil of our Jewish heritage. May you come to know deep within your soul, the never-ending goodness of the God we serve. And may he richly bless you with a renewed love of the way He is always working things out for our good and His glory, and may He fill you with His joy and shalom. 🙏
If you want to dig a little deeper listen to Episode 8: The Feast of Passover… for Christians? from the Ancient Way Podcast where we have a conversation about what it looks like to follow Jesus in a Jewish way.
