The night before God’s Spirit is to pass over the homes in Egypt; God gives very specific instructions to the Israelites on what to do e.g. roasting the lamb, eating with bitter herbs and bread w/o yeast. And says that it’s not just for tonight, but for ever, generations to come.
What developed over the years was a Seder which means order, because the specific order of service. Which is the way the Exodus Story has been told through the generations. The Haggadah is basically the program for the evening. The idea was to get all five senses and all the family members involved in the telling, with each member of the family holding a specific role.
Today we are able to celebrate the Passover but in it’s complete form with the knowledge of Jesus, his roles as the Pascal Lamb once and for all and as Moses did before, lead us out of exile, but this time a much bigger one; the exile from Eden. To restore what was lost in the beginning. The concept of suspended promises is what I want to focus on…
<1 st scripture> For over 400 years the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and then along comes Moses. Now again in exile from their promised land, this time in Babylon, they cling to the promise of returning to the promise land. <2 nd scripture> Once they are back in the land of their fore-fathers only a remnant of their once great glory, they hold to the promise of the Messiah. This promise was everything to them, it was the very basis of their social-economic thinking, it was the desire to regain what they had back in Solomon's day. Imagine getting a promise that your home will be worth 100x what it was purchased, but you have no idea when that time with come.
Jump forward 400 years after Nehemiah and Israelites return from the second exile and find themselves still clinging to an unfulfilled promise. Along comes Jesus; and what is his first miracle? He doesn't’ just turn the water into wine, but it’s the best wine of the evening and there’s a lot of it.
The candles represent the “presence of God”
Erik has broken this into sections of reading from a children’s Bible. Erik is typing this up and will be ready to be read.
Karpas is the word used to describe green herbs, parsley in this case. It is also used to describe “fine cloth” Joseph’s coat was of fine cloth and like the hyssop plant that was dipped in blood at the Passover to spread the blood onto the doorposts, so was Joseph’s coat dipped in blood, which some believe to have been the action that led to the slavery in Egypt. So the dipping of the Karpas here represents both betrayal and redemption. And it was most likely that it is this dipping that is referenced in Matt. 26:17 “He who dips his hand in the bowl with me will betray me”
![The Passover ,[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)