A LENTEN ADVENTURE for 2024 - Friday March 15

 

It’s almost lunchtime, and I can smell the rice cooking downstairs in the kitchen. It makes me think of the first Passover so many years ago, and the smells that must have come from the kitchens in those days: the smell of lamb roasting over a fire, the smell of unleavened bread baking, the bitter herbs …

Today, we will conclude our Passover reflections, and we will talk about the commandments of God regarding how to eat it.

In Exodus 12:8-11 we read: “That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.”

The Passover meal: fire-roasted lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

The bitter herbs represented the bitterness of slavery in which the Israelites had lived for 430 years in Egypt, an affliction of servitude which would end that same night of the first Passover when the people of Israel left for the Promised Land. “The Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” (Exodus 1:12-14) In the New Testament, is it possible that this same bitterness and affliction are represented in the cup of suffering which Jesus was willing to take by going to the cross, that cup of intense agony which He drank on our behalf (Luke 22:42,44)?

The unleavened bread was eaten for seven days, from the evening of Passover on, and the homes were cleansed of all yeast, thus representing the removal of all sin and all evil in the homes and in the lives of the Israelites. In the New Testament, we see that Jesus referred to Himself as “the bread of life” (John 6:35), as “the true bread from heaven”, and “the bread of God” who “gives life to the world” (John 6:32,33). In Hebrews 4:15, in 1 John 3:5, and in 2 Corinthians 5:21 we see that Jesus “did not sin”, that “in Him is no sin”, and that He “had no sin”. The unleavened bread from the Passover meal thus pointed to Jesus, our sinless “bread of life”.

At the very first Passover celebration, the meat of the slain lamb was to be eaten at night, roasted over a fire – everything was to be consumed without leaving anything for the next day, and it was all to be eaten quickly as the Israelites were to be getting ready for a journey.

First, we see that the Passover lamb was not just to be slain and then contemplated; it was to be eaten as well. In much the same way, we need to “eat” of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. He is our spiritual food – He is our nutrition, our sustenance, our strength, and our growth. In John 6:51,54 Jesus declared to the people that were following Him: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world … Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life …” In Luke 22:7-20, we read the story of the last Passover supper that Jesus ate with His 12 disciples: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”, He told them when they had all sat down together at the table. It was on this night that He instructed them to eat the broken bread, symbolizing His body given up for them; and to drink from the cup, symbolizing the new covenant in His blood that was poured out for them.

We also see that the Passover lamb was to be eaten in its entirety. God specified that the Israelites were to eat the whole lamb, “with the head, legs and internal organs”, not choosing only the parts that they liked and simply leaving the rest. In the same way, we must eat and nourish ourselves on all that Jesus is, not choosing only what we prefer and ignoring the rest. We must bear the yolk and the cross of Christ, if one day we also want to wear His crown.

And we see that the Passover lamb needed to be eaten without leaving anything for the next day. That is how it ought to be with us: Jesus ought to be our spiritual food, new and fresh every morning – not a meal either reheated or eaten cold from the day before. The book of Lamentations says that the Lord’s mercies and compassions never fail because they are new every morning. And Psalm 92:1,2 says: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night…” 

Dear friends: why don’t we prepare our hearts and souls in these days of Lent and Holy Week and eat the Passover meal?

• the bitter herbs, reminding us of all the agony and affliction that Jesus suffered when He accepted to die for us on Calvary’s cross
• the unleavened bread, reminding us that Jesus is the true bread from heaven and our sinless bread of life; as such, He is a worthy and acceptable offering to God on our behalf
• the fire-roasted lamb, reminding us that Jesus gave His body so that we might have life; and reminding us that He is our spiritual nourishment and sustenance, in His totality

Dear friends: let’s enjoy this meal, today and every day!

As 1 Peter 1:17-21 says: “… conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

For this weekend, I invite you to read through John 13 – 17: all that Jesus said and did with His 12 disciples on the night of the last Passover that they celebrated together before His death and resurrection.

+ REFLECTIONS