Easter and Passover
Yesterday was Palm Sunday, which means that this week is probably the most important week in the Christian faith--the week leading up to Easter. So that is what I am going to write about today. This is how the story goes...
Jesus had been traveling and preaching throughout Israel for about three years, and all this time, the religious Jewish leaders (called the Pharisees) were getting all worked up about him. They had been grumbling about Jesus for a while, but things were getting bad:
"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. 'What are we accomplishing?' they asked. 'Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.' [...] So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples." (John 11: 47-48, 53-54 NIV)
But finally, the time came for Jesus to stop avoiding Jerusalem, and He entered the city riding a donkey--and the people went crazy. They came out in droves, cheered and shouted, and lay their coats and tree branches on the road in front of Him. (Read the story in Luke 19: 28-40.)
To make matters worse, the next day, Jesus visited the temple, and faced with how the vendors were taking advantage of those who had come to worship, He chased them all out. (Read the story in Matthew 21: 12-17.)
Needless to say, this didn't really smooth things over with the Pharisees.
It all came to a head on Thursday night, the first day of Passover.
"Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present." (Luke 22:1-6 NIV)
Passover celebrates the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. God had sent Moses to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh said no. So God sent plagues upon Egypt to get him to change his mind. God turned their water to blood, and sent frogs, gnats, lice, and flies. The Egyptians livestock got sick and died, then the Egyptians themselves were afflicted with boils, and their crops were destroyed by hail and by locusts. Finally, darkness covered the land for three days. But still, Pharaoh was stubborn and refused to let his slaves go free. So God sent a final plague on Egypt. The firstborn son of every family--even of the livestock--would die. But God gave the Israelites instructions to protect their own sons. They were to kill and eat a lamb, and put the blood of the lamb over their doorways, which would protect the people inside the house. In his grief, Pharaoh told the Israelites to go--and so they fled, not even taking the time to let their bread rise. (Read the story of the first Passover in Exodus 11-13).
So that Thursday night, Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the first night of Passover (which, by happy coincidence, occurred tonight this year). Jesus washed his disciples' feet, a job normally reserved for the lowest servant, and they ate together. During the meal, Jesus took some bread (it would have been unleavened Passover bread) and some wine, and told His disciples, "This is my body, this is my blood. Whenever you eat and drink this, remember me." (Read the full story in Matthew 26: 17-35.)
I don't think the fact that the first Easter coincided with Passover was a mistake. There is so much symbolism in Passover, and it is reflected in Easter. Just as so many lambs died to save the Israelites on the first Passover, Jesus was slain. This was foretold by John the Baptist on the day Jesus got baptized:
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" (Luke 1:29 NIV)
And when Jesus gave His disciples the Passover bread and the wine, and told them that it symbolized His body and His blood, He was telling them that He was going to die on their behalf.
"For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life." (Leviticus 17:11 NIV)
One other thing of note happened at the Last Supper. Jesus predicted the betrayal of two of his disciples. Simon Peter hotly denied it. But Judas--the one who had made the deal with the Pharisees--quietly slipped out to do his deed.
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