Passover Preparation - Day 7 - Final Touches

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste--so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. (Deut 16:1-3)

     It is now time to approach the Pesach Table, hopefully not with a heart which calls this a ritual, or even worse: a relic of the past; but we are to approach the evening of our Seder with an attitude of expectancy.
     As you read the previous six blogs I hope you clearly see the love and provisions of God which give us cause to seek the Lord, to celebrate His merciful acts and to honor His Name. Know that God desires us to attend this celebration so we can hear of His mighty acts of love and care.
     The scripture above shows it is God who invites us individually to come to His meal and to be His people. Our God is a living God. The scripture says God is the same yesterday, today and forever; who is still able to do the mighty acts which were shown to us in the past. I hope the Passover experience breeds expectancy and the desire to discover how God will bring us into a land flowing with milk and honey.
     The Hagaddah teaches we have a choice in our spiritual approach to the evening. Within the Seder we meet four sons: the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and they young son. How will you approach the evening: with a desire to learn, as a participant, with eager ears and a desire to understand, or to be enveloped for the first time in this production.
     The order of the meal is designed to change us. Many come to the table ill prepared. They go through the motions, mouth the prayers, read responsively, listen respectfully - and hopefully God does something during the course of the evening: He breaks through and changes us from dutiful participants to desirous people who experience intimately our departure from the land of Egypt.
      The discussions of the Seder are designed to give us a desire to share its actions and truths through the year. We have already observed the call to charity as we are to make sure that all can attend and participate in this service and its teachings. We are also called to share a spirit of understanding; for through the lesson we experience how we were once aliens and slaves who were forced to serve others and to live according to their whims. With this understanding we celebrate our freedom by caring for others who are not yet free.
     We share because Passover is a story of hope. God with mighty acts of judgment saved an enslaved people. If God can bring that generation out of slavery, God can and will free any person from enslavement when they cry out and seek Him.
     We share because the next generation needs to hear (and there is always a next generation and beyond). The act of sharing has kept the Jewish nation vibrant and alive for over 3,500 years: even though we were scattered across the globe and had no land to call our own for most of their history (Not only was our father a wandering Aramean, but through the years most of the Jewish people were forced to survived in lands not their own).
     The story and its truths are worthy, and because of this they have endured. Let’s keep sharing their truths and living their actions.

Passover Preparation - Day 6 - Charity to others

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. (Dt 24:19-22)
   One of the hardest things to accomplish in life is to see all sides of a situation at the same time. In order to prepare our hearts for Passover, we must do just this! On one hand, we will enter into a celebration which teaches us to be thankful because “we went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.” (Dt 26:5) On the other hand, we are to remember we were slaves in the land of Egypt - and we must have compassion on those who are slaves today.
   We enjoy being a prosperous and great people. We enjoy the trappings of our affluence, and look with disdain on others who are not so fortunate. “Get a job,” we say. We call the poor in our nation “lazy” without ever trying to develop relationships with them. We dismiss those who are different and have trouble learning our culture or language with, “Why don’t you go back home?" or "You must become exactly like us.”
   We forget that most of our ancestors came from humble backgrounds - the majority as immigrants from other places. America is a land of refugees. One reason people leave their homeland and travel is to escape problems; problems such as poverty, persecution, and enslavement. We are to empathize with less fortunate people and be the hand that helps them, as others helped us or our ancestors.
   We pride ourselves and grow our riches by squeezing the last penny out of every dollar. But that is not what God tells us to do. Notice, when we have finished the harvest, we are not to go back into the field checking for what we missed, or harvesting the late fruit. We are to enjoy our harvest, and leave the rest for the poor. [Leviticus 19:10] Likewise, if we have done well in life, we are to go out and look for the poor, the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow and help improve their life.
    One purpose of Passover is to teach us to be holy, separate, different from the world just as God is different from any other gods. The Bible calls us to be “a wise and understanding people” (Dt 6:6) so others will notice. “What other nation is so great as as to have such righteous decrees and laws” as those set before us by our God? (Dt 6:8)
   The Jewish people placed an alms box in the Temple for the purpose of helping the poor to enjoy Passover as a rich man. How has the lesson on slavery taught you to reach out to the less fortunate - especially in your community? Each of us needs a ministry to help us follow the command to remember we were once slaves.

Passover Preparation - Day 5 - Procuring the Provisions

Hallel Psalm 117:1 O praise the Lord, all ye nations! Praise Him, all ye people! 2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord!
Passover is a festival of celebration. Our people received the freedom, which brings life and happiness and joy. And, as is common, we celebrate by eating. The Passover meal is to be like a Thanksgiving meal, with lots of food and lots of people. When we eat together we tell stories, play together, and sing together.
     When families gather for Passover, everyone knows what the Seder will include, so they come hungry. This element of preparation requires a diligent person to plan and cook the meal. They need to buy meat, Motzah, morror (bitter herbs), ingredients for Charosis, the wine (at least four cups), the egg, and of course the vegetables.
     Sometimes we take the preparation of the Seder meal for granted. This is not to be so on Passover, for the story of this feast is told through symbolic foods, starting with the green vegetables. While it might appear that going to the store to purchase enough food for all the members of the family is a simple matter, we are reminded of a time before stores existed, when the family had to raise enough food for themselves or they would starve!
     While sometimes vegetables are given to balance the meal, or as a healthy food, on Passover green vegetables mean even more. They speak of life, for the world is reawakening to life once again. Our gathering is at the Spring Harvest time and we are called to give thanks to God who gives our crops and our food (even if we go to the store, we must remember it all starts with the planting of crops).
     The green vegetable is dipped in salt water to remind us of the tears our forefathers shed when in slavery. They had to produce crops, not only for themselves, but first and foremost for their taskmasters, the Egyptians. The saltwater calls to our attention the hard work of their physical toil, and the difficult reality that sometimes the seeds we sowed do not provide as much food as we would like and we go hungry. Bitter Herbs remind us how bitter life can be under slavery, in drought, under persecution, or when harsh circumstances come our way.
     In your daily life, are you a slave to your existence? Is your survival a day to day matter, getting the things done which you must, coming home tired, and then doing the same thing the next day? Or do you take time to celebrate each day and give thanks for all things - small or great - which God has afforded to you for your enjoyment?
     We eat the green vegetable to remind us to give thanks. And also we eat Charosis, and partake of four glasses of wine, to remind us that simple thanks is never enough in life - we must see even the small gifts from God with great joy and allow simple thanks to overflow into abundant rejoicing!
     Passover is a lesson on new growth and new things. It is the story of our new nation. The descendants of Israel left slavery to become a new people with all the trials and possibilities that would bring. The purpose of this feast is to call us to the perspective that we must give thanks for all things (whether easy or hard); and we must show gratitude to the God who provides everything (small and great); and that thanks is not enough, for God desires us to live life in joy, no matter the circumstances.

Passover Preparation - Day 4 - Separation of Plates

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

     An orthodox Jewish home will have at least four sets of plates. One set is for meat dishes; a second for dairy dishes, not to be mixed with meat. The third and fourth set are also for meat and dairy (always kept separate) to be used only on Passover, for they must be kept free of any leavening agents. This separation maintains cleanness in dietary restrictions.
     This process of separation is something we often miss. The Bible tells us not to mix wool and linen. We are told not to plant two kinds of seed in one vineyard. Why? In the case of the seeds, it is because they will cross-pollinate; in the case of life, it is because God desires we live holy lives, not getting mixed up with evil. The evil will cross pollinate the fruit of our relationship with God.
     Paul speaks of this separation of the pure from the pure in 1 Corinthians. While our lives are to influence the world by the holiness of God in us, we are to make sure the world does not have a negative influence in our lives. Sometimes we allow the world to cross pollinate the fruit of our relationship with our creator; in our language, dress, customs, worship, and relationships with other people.
     To follow the good and avoid the bad is not as easy as it would seem at times. We are told not to covet and we are told not to lust because something inside us (perhaps Satan) draws us to things that are not best for us (which seems pleasing to the eye, good to the taste, and something which will make us wise), just as products with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients attract us to desire the unhealthy.
     We have all seen evil, and perhaps experienced some. Once experienced, it is hard to rid our hearts of spiritually unhealthy habits. Consider the theme of Exodus: Moses had a hard time getting the Hebrews out of Egypt … and once he did succeed, he found it was even harder to purge life in Egypt (including its idols, foods, and lifestlye) from the minds and hearts the Hebrews.
     In your preparation for Passover, consider, what things do you need to rid from your life or avoid? It is time to remove the chametz (or yeast) in order to make sure our focus is purely and wholly on God.

Passover Preparation - Day 3 - Looking for the Unblemished Lamb

Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month they shall take for themselves every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. (Exodus 12:3-7)

     The most obvious symbol of Passover is the lamb. The Hebrew people, on the first Passover and during each Passover in the Old Testament, were to take a lamb - one lamb per family (or two, depending on number of people) - and keep the lamb in the house four days. During this time parents and children would form an attachment to this yearling pet.
     The Lamb selected was to be a perfect lamb, an animal without blemishes, a lamb to be desired. Why is this? First of all, we should always give our best to God. But more importantly, we worship a Holy and Perfect God, and the lamb represents our adoration for the Divine. We see the fulfillment of this in Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God. (John 1:29; Acts 8:32-33; 1 Cor 5:6-8; 1 Pe 1:17-21)
     On the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, the people of Israel are to take the lambs and kill them in exchange for the firstborn sons (John 3:16). Some would object, calling this extravagant or bloody, but there is symbolism in this instruction. The first symbol is our attachment and attraction to sin, which we want to hold and which holds on to us. All sin, no matter how minor, hurts someone. The shedding of blood is a lesson so we will understand how much our sin hurts others and how much our sin hurts God.
     The second symbol is that of a lamb who will save a whining, complaining, mostly prayerless people who only cry out when all hope is lost, save a miracle from God. The blood is a symbol to save their own family so the Angel of Death will “Pass Over.”
     A third symbol is the shedding of Jesus' blood as a sacrifice for our own sin, which is incredibly similar to the blemishes of the Hebrew people so long ago. God wants us to attach ourselves to Him and love Him (therefore keeping Him in our hearts and homes) so we will fully understand the depth of the price Jesus paid for us on the cross.
     Is your participation in this Passover motivated by simple interest (or obligation), or will you become part of the story, understanding every facet intimately? Have you taken part in this story through the selection of a lamb? Do you understand the consequences of your sin and live in appreciation for the marvelous gift God gave to bring you out of slavery into freedom?
     Is your faith in Jesus just a religious idea? Do you have a strong bond with the Lamb of God who gave His life for the sin of the world? 

Passover Preparation - Day 2 - Meeting God

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. … Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” And Moses said unto God, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:1-2, 10-11)

     Moses was a person like us, with a few advantages. He was born during the time the family of Israel was crying out to God over the atrocities visited on their people. This included the male children of the Hebrew people being thrown into the Nile River. This fate would have been visited upon Moses, save for his mother’s quick thinking. She protected him with a basket boat and put him into a field of bullrushes near the place Pharaoh’s daughter went daily to bathe. She then stationed Moses’ sister Miriam to look after her new brother.
     In time, Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and taken into her father's palace. This adoption afforded Moses the best education possible in the world at that time. For many years he enjoyed the benefit of his placement - until two eventful days. On the first, he saw a Hebrew slave, one of his people by birth, being beaten by an Egyptian overseer, and Moses killed the perpetrator. On the second, he stopped a fight between two of the Hebrew slaves, and became fearful when one of them said, “Are you going to kill me, too?”

     Moses escaped to the wilderness, where he met Zipporah, the daughter of a Midianite Priest. They were married, and Moses became the shepherd of his father-in-law's flock.
     While Moses was watching the sheep, God appeared to him in a burning bush. God called Moses to a monumental task - to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Moses attempted to escape the call, but God's instruction is inescapable.
     God prepares each of us, giving us a spiritual gift so we can accomplish a task. Do you know your gift and calling? God will show us in His own time and way where we are to be involved, and in what kind of ministry. Can you describe how God called you? Is the calling something you attempted to escape? To avoid God’s call is to miss a blessing.
     When you answer a call, you will in a sense guide people from enslavement to God’s blessing and desire for their life. Pray today to find your calling.

Passover Preparation - Day 1 - Our Cry to God

And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried; and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God took heed of them. (Exodus 2:23-25)

     Passover begins with prayer. The seventy members of the family of Jacob went down to Egypt during a time of famine. While the Hebrew people lived in exile (400 years), a change occurred in the Egyptian government. The new regime was not accepting of this privileged class of foreign people, and actually feared the Hebrew people, who had grown in population. So they put them into slavery.
     For a period of time the Hebrew people went along with their enslavement. At first they were in shock at how fast their status had changed under the new regime whom they feared. Then as generations passed their status became “normal” and they saw no way out but to accept their “lot in life.” With the passage of time, and a new generation who observed how the rest of the world lived, expected tasks wore on the people. They saw the freedom others were experiencing, and they began to cry out to God in their pain.
     Nowhere in the story does the Bible tell us that God forgot His people. To the contrary, the Bible teaches us God loved His people then, and God loves his people today. The topic of this devotion is relationship and prayer. God’s people accepted life as it came, dwelling in the normality of daily life, and in the routine of this schedule they forgot to pray. Perhaps they were busy (because their taskmasters demanded it); but the point is they were not praying daily and gaining the strength from the relationship with God as His people.
     When we forget to pray; when we lose the most important part of our relationship with God, and all of life becomes a crisis. Within the routine, the crisis was allowed to become severe. And God’s people (after talking and complaining to each other … just like we do today!) began to complain to God. They cried out in their pain, and God heard their cry.
     The question is, how is your relationship with God? Do you pray daily? Do you read the Bible daily? The concept of faith begins with the continual presence of God. God desires us to seek, desire and acknowledge that relationship, and in the relationship to seek Him in His word (the Bible) and prayer. Group meetings are then an enrichment and not the context of our faith.