There are many things I love about being connected to a Messianic synagogue: They dance in service (!) ; They raise their children, especially their boys, to walk in and be accountable to their faith from a young age; They really invest in community; but the thing I love best is the way their position, deeply rooted in Jewish practice and history, provides so much insight into the intricacies of the story God is, even now, enacting!
Take the Christian tradition of celebrating Easter:
--Palm Sunday (Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey foal and being cheered by the crowds)
--Maundy Thursday (last supper)
--Good Friday (crucifixion)
--Easter Sunday (resurrection)
I have celebrated these things for years and never got the full significance of any of it! What follows is a brief(ish) summary of what I have been learning about Passover and Easter and why I am more excited by this set of holidays than I’ve ever been before!
Palm Sunday: They story we read in the Bible tells of Jesus sending his disciples to bring him a donkey foal, which he then rides into Jerusalem (thereby fulfilling messianic prophesy) amid crowds shouting “Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Is it not strange to think that these people were all assembled to greet Jesus, armed with palm branches? How did they know he was coming? Why would they have assembled? I’ve thought about these questions before, but without any kind of urgency. I just accepted that this was one of those things that Jesus did-- fairly interesting, certainly picturesque for children’s reenactments, but otherwise unconnected to anything else to do with Easter. But the thing is, it really DOES have quite a lot to do with Easter!
See the backstory to this is that the high priest in Jerusalem went to pick his Passover lamb several days before it would be sacrificed. It had to be a perfect, less than one year old lamb (either sheep or goat) and it had to be inspected three separate times to ensure that it was indeed without blemish. Traditionally, when the priest went to choose his lamb (the temple herds were kept in Bethlehem--seeing any significance here?), the people would gather along the road into Jerusalem and when the priest returned to the city, the people would shout “Hosanna!” meaning “save us” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” because the high priest was supposed to do just that.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds started shouting--probably a few people just started the cheer, maybe one of Jesus’ followers, maybe someone who jumped the gun a bit, but it got passed along until the whole crowd was shouting, much to the chagrin, I’m sure, of those of the priesthood who knew that the high priest they were expecting was still a ways off. Regardless though, what the people were witnessing was actually the entrance both of the true High Priest and the perfect sacrificial lamb entering the city to be slain for their salvation-- and they didn’t even know it! It gives me chills to think of it!
Maundy Thursday/Good Friday: This is the celebration of the last supper, which is traditionally believed to be the Passover meal where Jesus washed his disciples feet and ate a meal with them, explained his death and identified his betrayer, and proclaimed the new covenant.
It is important to note here that while this was a significant meal, it was probably not actually the Passover meal. In Luke 22, we have an account of Jesus sending His disciples to “make preparations for us to eat the Passover”, but it was traditional at the time to prepare for the Passover the day before. We know that it is not the Passover because Jesus says 15 "I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die! 16 For I tell you, it is certain that I will not celebrate it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God." (Luke 22:15-16) We have further proof in John 18 in that when Jesus was arrested and brought before the Roman governor, the priests would not go into the palace (remember this was AFTER the meal that Jesus ate with his disciples):
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
This is significant because if Jesus was to be the ultimate passover lamb, it would make very little sense if his death did not coincide with the actual feast. God does nothing unintentionally. Rather when he was arrested, it was the beginning of the three examinations the passover lamb had to undergo before it was declared acceptable for sacrifice. He was examined by the Pilate, Herod, and then Pilate again who declared him innocent/blameless.
3 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
By now, we are well into the day of what Christians call Good Friday. The chief priests, after they handed Jesus over to the Romans, would have been busy with Passover preparations, namely, the slaughtering of the passover lambs which they did on a hill that would have been visible from Golgatha where Jesus was crucified. The high priest slaughtered all the other lambs first, then before he killed his own, he would pause and say, “I thirst”. Someone would hand him a drink and then he would say, “It is finished” and slaughter his own lamb.
At this point, all the lambs would get put into the temple ovens, whole (remember, none of Jesus’ bones were broken), and roasted in preparation for the passover feasts. The high priest would stay in his inner sanctum until night fell, indicating the beginning of Passover (Jewish days begin at sundown), while the rest of the priests would cross a bridge over the Kidron Valley and bind up the barley they would later harvest for the First Fruits offering. They didn’t cut it down, they left it bound and alive until the feast of First Fruits which always falls on the first day of the week (Sunday) and in this year, occurred three days after the Passover. (The number of days between Passover and First Fruits varies because as with most Jewish holidays, Passover’s date is based on a lunar cycle. Only two are to be celebrated on the first day of the week: First Fruits and Pentacost.) The priests would then cross back across the Kidron Valley and have the Passover meal.
Jesus’ crucifixion follows this timeline perfectly. As the high priest was about to sacrifice his lamb, the last lamb of passover, Jesus said, “I thirst” and when he had drunk from the sponge of vinegar, he said, “It is finished” and gave up His spirit as the high priest sacrificed his lamb. Then in Matthew 27, we find that
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
These people who were dead and had been raised to life, were Jesus’ First Fruits offering to God. They appeared in the Kidron Valley, a huge graveyard over which the priests would have walked as they marked their First Fruits offering, and stayed alive and in the city until Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday when He ascended into Heaven, bringing to God the “harvested” First Fruits offering at the same time that the priests would have presented their harvested offering to God in the temple.
Easter Sunday: Many people in the Messianic community don’t celebrate Easter, which I found really strange at first-- they are, after all, Christians so why would they not celebrate a Christian holiday? The answer to that lies in the fact that they celebrate Passover in light of Jesus’ fulfillment of it’s purpose-- to take away sin and provide a place for us to hide behind. When the Israelites painted the door-frames of their houses with the blood of a lamb at the original passover in Egypt, they ended up painting the letter “hchai” which means life and they hid behind it when the spirit of death descended upon Egypt. Jesus as the perfect sacrificial lamb went through the process of being examined and slaughtered, with his blood poured out to atone for the sins of the world.** His resurrection had major purpose/significance because He was, at once, the sacrificial lamb and the high priest and He fulfilled his duties to both roles by dying for our sins and bringing to God the First Fruits of His labors and sacrifice!
I can’t express how much this extra background has blessed me this season! It grounds everything that happened during “Holy Week” in God’s plan and intention. It explains WHY it had to happen the way it did! And somehow it makes everything seem so much more real. What an incredible God we have! He provided us with all the clues we need to understand His purpose and intention and yet we miss so much of it because it’s been buried by holidays that man has instituted! Now don’t get me wrong, I think God is pleased when we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Sure, the bunnies and eggs were part of a pagan fertility ritual, but that part has faded and now it is just a secular thing that happens to coincide with a christian holy day. I celebrated a Passover Seder with CBM on Tuesday, and rejoiced with my church over a service, baptisms, and a festival on Sunday and I think God’s heart would have been glad over both events, but I think I was able to celebrate Easter Sunday all the better for the preparation of Tuesday’s Passover Seder! Barux Hashem! (Thank God!) for all His thoughtful provisions!
**There is some thought that when the earthquake happened, the Arc of the Covenant was exposed and that Jesus’ blood fell onto the “Mercy Seat” a section of the Arc where the blood of sacrifice was supposed to be poured out--rather than on the ground which was only for blood of sacrifices that were found to have a blemish at the last minute. See by that time, the Arc of the Covenant had been lost. Legend has it that when the first temple, which was situated on Golgatha, was invaded and then destroyed, the high priest at the time commanded that the Arc be lowered beneath the temple rather than removed when the invading armies approached. When the temple was destroyed, the Arc was buried. So when the earthquake came that cleaved boulders in two, it is entirely possible that the blood that poured from Jesus’ pierced side actually made its way to the Mercy Seat.-- how cool is that?!
