“‘With fervent desire I have desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
…And he took bread, gave thanks
and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
‘This is my body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.’
Likewise he also took the cup after supper, saying,
‘This cup is the new Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.”‘
Luke 22:15-19

Believers have heard these words so many times that some miss the meaning. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” what was he doing? He was celebrating the Passover seder. THIS is what we do in remembrance of him.

The Passover seder as is kept by Jewish people worldwide is filled with references to the One who was sacrificed on that Passover 2,000 years ago. Passover celebrates the great deliverance of the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Egypt is symbolic of the world, from which all who have received Jesus Christ are delivered.

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29

THE LAMB
When Moses approached Pharoah telling him he must let the Jews leave Egypt, Pharoah refused. Many plagues fell upon Egypt each time Pharoah refused, and the last plague was to be the death of all the firstborn in all the land. Moses instructed the Jewish people to kill a lamb for each household, and apply the blood of the lamb to the doorpost of their home. They were to put the blood of the Lamb on the top of the doorway, and on each upper side — portraying a cross. Every household that had the blood applied to it was PASSED OVER when the plague of death went through the land of Egypt.

“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
1st Corinthians 5:7

Whoever has received Jesus Christ as their Savior has had the blood of the Lamb applied to their hearts and will be PASSED OVER from the wrath of God.

THE MATZAH
Passover is to be celebrated with unleavened bread. The unleavened bread is called Matzah. Leaven is the Biblical symbol of sin, and whenever Passover or communion is observed, it is to be without leaven, in remembrance of the sinless one who shed his blood for the salvation of man. It is because he was sinless that we take communion with unleavened bread.

STRIPED AND PIERCED
The matzah used in the Passover seder is a thin, crisp, unleavened bread. The Matzah is striped and pierced, a clear picture of the One who was sacrificed. He was flogged, his back striped with running blood. When it came time to remove him from the cross, the soldiers pierced his side to make sure he was dead. Scripture tells us that the Jewish people have a veil over their hearts so that they do not recognize Christ. They have no idea why the matzah has to be striped, pierced, and hidden away. They would say “it’s tradition.”

HIDDEN AWAY
As the Jews celebrate Passover they stack three matzot (plural of matzah) covered on the table. The middle matzah is removed and hidden away. The three matzot represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the second one is removed and hidden away. What a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus. At the crucifixion, the second person of the Trinity was killed and buried, hidden away.

THE WINE
The third cup of wine used in the Passover seder is called “the cup of redemption,” the one Jesus said represented his Blood to be shed for us. Just as the blood on the doorpost, in the shape of a cross, spared the Jews when the angel of death went throughout Egypt, so the blood of Christ, the cup of redemption, spares all who have received him and who have applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorpost of their hearts.

THE SEARCH FOR THE HIDDEN MATZAH
After the seder, the children are sent to search for the hidden matzah. The child who finds the hidden matzah brings it to the father and the matzah is “redeemed” – the father gives the redemption money to the child who found it. Every person who searches for and finds Christ is given the gift of redemption by the Father, the gift of eternal life.

As we celebrate the Passover, and as Christians celebrate the crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection three days later, let us realize what we’re doing. Let us keep in mind the picture of the One whom it’s all about:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement for our peace was upon him,
and by his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned, every one, to his own way;
and the Lord has laid ON HIM the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:5-6

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