Refresh Your Next Easter Celebration with a Passover Seder

By Kerry Weisser | April 25, 2017

When I was growing up, my family celebrated Passover-led by my wonderful Jewish grandfather. I did not realize the incredible richness and depth of importance in the details of the Seder service until I was in my teens, after I had become a follower of Jesus. Although the Passover celebration is a Jewish festival, it holds deep significance and meaning for believers who call themselves Christians. So this Easter season, our life group from our church decided to have a Seder dinner, and the next night we attended a Seder dinner held at the Messianic Jewish Congregation gathering in a nearby town. Adding the Passover Seder dinner as part of our Easter festivities has enhanced my appreciation of the significance of all the events surrounding the trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Every detail is a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures as I truly believe that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb that came to redeem all people.

Passover (Hebrew word is pesach) occurs in the Spring. The Passover Haggadah (haggadah literally means “the telling”) contains the complete liturgy and instructions for the ceremonial Seder (order of service). Historically, Haggadahs have been written and revised numerous times, but the basic theme of God’s redemption of the nation of Israel from bondage to Egypt remains constant. Most of the ceremonial practices of the modern Seder have been in place since the late Second Temple period (second temple period was 530 BCE to 70 AD).

For thousands of years, even up to the present, the Jewish people have believed that God would again send redemption on Passover. Redemption did arrive on the very day they were looking for it, but it took a surprising shape. For God had engineered a far greater liberation than they had imagined–freedom not just for one people, but for all people. And it was to be a liberation not from the earthly power of a political enemy, but from the sinister power of sin and death. On the first Passover, God freed his people by taking the life of the firstborn sons of Egypt. Many centuries later, God made salvation possible for all who would accept it by giving the life of his firstborn Son–Yeshua (Jesus), our Passover Lamb.

Here are some pictures from our Passover Seder dinners……(look for recipes in future posts)

Round #1 with our small group

Matzah Ball Soup