Seder Meal
Hope 968 March 19, 2010
The traditional Passover (Seder Service) retells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It speaks of God’s great redemption in bringing the nation of Israel out from bondage into freedom. It symbolizes God’s physical redemption of his people.
The Seder Service in Hope 968 on March 19, 2010 presented the traditional elements of the Passover Seder while at the same time showing how God’s redemptive grace worked through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. While the traditional Seder symbolizes God’s physical redemption of His people, this Seder symbolizes God’s spiritual redemption of His people.
The traditional Passover (Seder Service) retells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It speaks of God’s great redemption in bringing the nation of Israel out from bondage into freedom. It symbolizes God’s physical redemption of his people.
The Seder Service in Hope 968 on March 19, 2010 presented the traditional elements of the Passover Seder while at the same time showing how God’s redemptive grace worked through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. While the traditional Seder symbolizes God’s physical redemption of His people, this Seder symbolizes God’s spiritual redemption of His people.
Preparing the Passover
On the evening of Passover, the family with the light of a candle searches to whole house for leaven (yeast). The house needs to be entirely cleansed of leaven and any found during the search is burned. God commanded the children of Israel to eat only unleavened bread with the Passover meal. Typically, in the Bible, leaven is a symbol for sin.
“For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
(Ex. 12:19,20)
On the evening of Passover, the family with the light of a candle searches to whole house for leaven (yeast). The house needs to be entirely cleansed of leaven and any found during the search is burned. God commanded the children of Israel to eat only unleavened bread with the Passover meal. Typically, in the Bible, leaven is a symbol for sin.
“For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
(Ex. 12:19,20)
The Seder Service on March 19, 2010 was led by Henry Mattarita and his wife Darlene, both missionaries from Israel
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The Seder Service begins with the lady of the house lighting the candles. Just as the woman begins the Seder and gives light to the Passover table, so it was from the seed of a woman the Messiah came to bring light to the world
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The elements of the seder plate include
- roasted egg
- lamb shank bone
- horseradish root
- brown apple mixture w/nuts
- parsley
- bitter herb
- cup of salt water
The four cups of wine
The wine is red in color and represents the blood of the Passover lamb. The cup of wine is drunk four times and stand for the four “I wills” in Exodus 6: 6-7
Sanctification: I will bring you out of the yoke of the Egyptians
Judgment: I will free you from being slaves to them
Redemption: I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment
Praise: I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God
At Passover, these promises of redemption and relationship for God’s children are celebrated.
Sanctification: I will bring you out of the yoke of the Egyptians
Judgment: I will free you from being slaves to them
Redemption: I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment
Praise: I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God
At Passover, these promises of redemption and relationship for God’s children are celebrated.
The washing of the hands and feet
The washing of hands and feet was an ancient custom for the Jewish people to wash the hands and feet of their guests. In the days of Jesus, it was customary for a servant to perform this task. But Jesus took it upon himself to wash his disciples’ feet.
"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should was one another's feet." (John 13: 12-14).
"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should was one another's feet." (John 13: 12-14).
Dipping the parsley in salt water
Greens are dipped in salt water. The greens represent the hyssop which was used to place the blood of the Passover lamb on the door posts. The salt water represents the tears shed in Egypt and the Red Sea, both of which are salty.
The unleavened bread, matzah
Matzah, the unleavened bread, is in special covering that has three sections called a Unity. In Jewish tradition, three pieces are used in Passover because one loaf is normally used in the daily meal and two loaves are used on the Sabbath. The two loaves are a reminder of the double portion of manna (Ex. 16:22).
There are various explanations of this ceremony. Rabbis call the three matzah wrapped together a “Unity.” Some consider it a unity of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Others explain it as a unity of worship: priests, Levits, and the people of Israel. But we who know Jesus as Messiah can see the tri-unity of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There are various explanations of this ceremony. Rabbis call the three matzah wrapped together a “Unity.” Some consider it a unity of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Others explain it as a unity of worship: priests, Levits, and the people of Israel. But we who know Jesus as Messiah can see the tri-unity of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The matzah itself is a picture of the Messiah: striped, pierced, and broken.
- Striped: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our inequities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with is stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
- Pierced: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son…” (Zechariah12:10)
- Broken: Just as the middle piece of the bread is broken, Messiah, too was broken.
The leader of the Seder then takes the middle matzah and breaks it in two, leaving on half in the middle section of the unity. The other half is wrapped in a linen cloth called the “Afikomen” and hidden.
The reason why this middle matzah is broken is unclear in Jewish tradition, however, we as believers in Jesus realize that the unity represents the three persons of God. Just as the Afikomen is hidden, so Jesus was placed in a tomb and hidden for a time. And just as the afikomen will return later in the Passover seder, so Messiah rose from the dead.
The reason why this middle matzah is broken is unclear in Jewish tradition, however, we as believers in Jesus realize that the unity represents the three persons of God. Just as the Afikomen is hidden, so Jesus was placed in a tomb and hidden for a time. And just as the afikomen will return later in the Passover seder, so Messiah rose from the dead.
The bitter herbs remind of the sorrow, the persecution, and suffering of the children of Israel under Pharaoh. As the horseradish is eaten, it brings tears to the eyes as a reminder of the tears brought on by the great affliction of the Jewish people under Egypt.
The bitter herbs, horseradish, is dipped with a sweet apple mixture. This mixture is a symbol of mortar, representing clay bricks made by the children of Israel in Egypt. The bitter herbs are dipped in the sweet mixture as a reminder that even the most bitter of circumstances can be sweetened by the hope of God.
The bitter herbs, horseradish, is dipped with a sweet apple mixture. This mixture is a symbol of mortar, representing clay bricks made by the children of Israel in Egypt. The bitter herbs are dipped in the sweet mixture as a reminder that even the most bitter of circumstances can be sweetened by the hope of God.
The Exodus story can be found in chapter 12:1-13 of Exodus. These verses literally tell the Passover story of redemption. The Passover meal is a memorial feast of the physical salvation that God brought to His people.
