Jewish Feasts - Jesus in the Seder Meal

Scripture: Exodus 12, Deuteronomy 16:3,

As mentioned in a previous email, the Seder is the traditional Passover meal held on the first night of Passover, and in some cases, the second night. This tradition for the Jewish community has been a grounding event for them through all these years.

As we go through the meal again, and in more detail, there are some very strong symbols of Jesus. Some are lot more pronounced than others, but still point to Him.

I am going to start with an obvious one, and a very interesting one.

In my previous email, I mentioned the matzah(matzoh), the flat bread with no yeast, the unleavened bread. This bread represents/reminds them when their ancestors in Egypt were in such a hurry, that God commanded them to make bread without yeast since there was no time to wait for it to rise. During the Seder, there is a bag called an echad, which means “one” in Hebrew. This bag has three chambers in it. One piece of matzah is placed in each chamber. This is where it gets interesting.

The matzah in the first chamber, once inserted in the chamber, is never touched, used, eaten, or seen. The matzah in the second chamber is actually broken in half at the beginning of the Seder, one piece of the broken matzah is placed back in the chamber, the other is wrapped in a linen cloth. The matzah in the third chamber is the one used to eat during the meal.

The non-Messianic Jews, the Jews who don’t believe Jesus was the Messiah, see the three pieces of matzah, and the three chambers, as representing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they cannot explain why they would break Isaac. However, if we look at this through a different perspective, we get a completely different picture, and it starts with the bag. There are three chambers in this one bag, and the bag is literally called “one”, three in one. The first chamber represents The Father. The last chamber represents the Holy Spirit who lives inside us. The middle chamber then represents Jesus, who was broken for us, read 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, John 6:32-35. Pretty interesting that He is placed in the middle chamber. We typically say, The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. Jesus was also on the middle cross on Calvary where He was broken.

Let’s come back to the piece wrapped in linen cloth, after Jesus was broken and removed from the cross, He was wrapped in linen cloth. During the Seder meal, the piece of matzah wrapped in linen cloth is hidden somewhere in the house. After the dinner is over, the children are sent to go look for it. Once it is found, it is brought back, broken, and then shared for everyone to eat. To the believers in Jesus, this hiding and then finding, represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. To the Jews, this broken bread represents the affliction the Jews were under while leaving Egypt.

This is the first piece of the meal that symbolizes Jesus. There are more to come.