Jesus—Our Passover Lamb

Every year on Easter weekend, Hillcrest Church of Christ in Abilene goes to the H.E.B. encampment for a church retreat weekend.  We have just returned from our weekend for 2012.  This past weekend, the theme for our retreat was Passover.  The highlight for the weekend was on Saturday evening when we all participated in the Passover meal.  As twilight began, we entered the meeting room where red paint had been dabbed on the doors to the entrance.  We were seated in family groups.  Before us, all the elements of the Passover meal were waiting for each family group.

We ate the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, lamb, and a mixture of items representing the bricks made in Egypt, and we drank four cups of wine (grape juice).  The blessings that accompanied the meal were spoken and the Psalms (113-118) were read.  All the elements of the meal were explained as we participated together in this most ancient, ceremonial meal together.

We were urged to think in two ways as we participated together in this Passover meal.  First, we were urged to remember Israel in Egypt at their very first Passover.  We were asked to think about how Israel had experienced nine plagues alongside the Egyptians.  And now, on this night, an angel was going to pass through the land of Egypt and every firstborn child in the land was subject to death.  Secondly, we were asked to think about the subsequent Passovers—how this became an educational process for Israel in all future generations.  As we ate together and reflected, the power of this meal for Israel was obvious.

Our experience was heightened because our Passover event was also viewed from a Christian perspective.  As we looked back to Egypt and Israel to the early Passovers, we reflected upon the way in which Jesus used the Passover meal to institute for us today a new remembrance.  Jesus Himself has become the Passover Lamb for us.  He has rescued us from bondage—freeing all of us from the slavery to sin.  When we eat the Unleavened bread (as Israel did), we remember His sacrificial act that rescued us from sin.  When we drink from the cup the fruit of the vine, we remember the precious blood that Jesus shed for us.

I hope you can experience the Passover meal at some point.  Maybe your church can do this together.  Or, maybe your family can have this experience together privately.  If you would like the information that was shared by our church family, contact me at hillcrestonline.com.

Prayer:  Father, we thank You for providing for us Your Son, Jesus—our Passover Lamb.      

Terry Brown

Abilene, Texas