In my house, both Passover and Easter arrive together each spring. For those of you who like to prepare a festive and lavish Easter meal, I can promise you there are far more dishes to clean up following a Passover seder!
I have come to understand that both holidays are profoundly tied together. Not because of the time of year; not because the Passover meal is memorialized as the Last Supper; and not because Moses ordered the Israelites to put lamb’s blood on their doors so the Angel of Death could pass over their first born and Jesus is like the Passover lamb, sacrificed for the world. Easter and Passover are alike because they are about the same thing: the dead rising to new life.
For my husband and his family, Passover commemorates and celebrates the resurrection, by God, of the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery. The Passover seder retells the story of the Jews’ exodus and liberation from Egypt, led by Moses. The story and the seder plate are chocked full of symbolism: matzo = poor person’s bread, the bread of freedom & affliction; maror = bitter herbs like the bitterness of slavery; charoset = apples like the sweet paste used by Jewish slaves to cement bricks; four cups of wine = the four expressions of deliverance; zeroah = shank bone, the lamb of paschal sacrifice. Lastly, baystah = egg, an offering, the sign of new season, new life and hope… like a pastel-colored egg in a basket.
Passover and Easter are celebrations of rebirth. The resurrected rebirth of Jesus is explicit in our liturgy. For Jews, the long-awaited liberation of the Israelites and their return to their ancestral land is the rebirth of a people from slavery and oppression. Both rebirths are joined at their cores, the celebration of the defeat of death and the life restored.
At a Passover table, just like at an Easter table, people gather, prayers are said, candles flicker, foods are prepared. Outside snow is melting, winds are warmer, buds are growing. Hopes are similar and bright. Paths are different, destinations the same. If you’ve never read or know little about the story of Passover, I recommend you bone up. A good synopsis puts a lot into perspective and I bet you’ll have a-ha moments. If not, remember that at this time of year, there are millions of people, outside of our church world and maybe right next door, who are hoping and praying for the same things as we.
-Vikki Jacobson
Sudbury UMC Lenten Devotions 