Growing up, we observed Maunday Thursday, the night on which Jesus was betrayed & arrested, just after Palm Sunday. As adults, we participate in a Christian Seder meal. For years, my husband & I (along with various house guests) would stumble through the Jewish traditions to remember Christ's last night on earth. We ended with communion, just as He did... we sometimes even had a foot-washing. Now we are blessed to have Christian teachers who are knowledgeable about the Jewish heritage of our Saviour. For Jews, this is the Feast of the Passover to remember God passing over the Children of Israel when they were in bondage under Egypt & the entire plate is symbollic. This is the last meal Jesus had on earth & He changed everything. It is amazing to learn how the meaning of each element in the meal was changed by His coming.
The elements of the plate represent things in the original Passover. Parsley dipped in salt water reminds of the tears of slavery, horseradish of the bitterness of slavery, charoset is for the mortar in the bricks they made & the lamb bone for when the blood was smeared on the door lentils... Matzoh represents the unleavened bread from when the Children of Israel had to leave without waiting for the bread to rise. In Christ, all of these take on new meaning. Even the matzoh is pierced, bruised & striped (39 stripes for 39 lashes).There are 4 cups in the Passover meal. For the Jews they represent the blood of the lamb, the unleavened bread, being redeemed, & sealed. In Christ, the cups represent Sanctification, Deliverance, Salvation & Praise.
Long ago, if a Jewish man wanted to marry a young girl, he & his father would meet with her father to agree on a "bride price". It was usually quite high & when an agreement was reached, the young man would offer her a cup of wine. If she accepted it, he would go back to his fathers' house to prepare a home for himself & his bride. Our father of this earth, Satan, demanded a high price from God for us & Jesus willingly accepted the cup....this puts an entirely new meaning on Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." (Matt 26:390.
I like to think of Jesus on Palm Sunday, entering Jerusalem to the cheering crowds... not being taunted as He was beaten nearly unto death. I like to think of Him arisen victorious on Easter Sunday ...not trying to stand on nailed feet to catch a breath of air as He hung on the cross... I especially don't like to think about the nails... but each year on Good Friday, I take a time out to think about my role in all of this. I prayerfully consider how my sins & my being forgiven were on His mind as he hung there... *I* was there when he entered Jerusalem, when He was forsaken, & when He was separated from God through death. I will be with Him on Easter morning but once a year, I ponder how my relationship with God was on His mind through all of this... & I am humbled....
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