The bitter herbs and wine are on the table. The lamb is resting. The other roast trimmings will be there too but tonight we remember the first and the last Passover. The last? Because Jesus fulfilled all the law. Tonight, and the coming week, is about honour and remembrance and learning and awe of how the law pointed toward Him, and all that He did.
As I made our unleavened bread I thought of the certainty and care with which the women would have cleaned out their homes. I thought of how we are so totally unable to free ourselves from sin. And how little we search our hearts. I think of the first Passover women as the tension and excitement of the evening mounted. Making, bread for their meal, but bread for their journey out of Egypt as they packed all their belongings ready to walk away from their bondage and servitude. I think of them carrying great bowls of dough as they travelled, and how reliant on this bread that they were for their sustenance over those weary days.
As I scooped our bitter herbs (tabouleh) into a bowl, I thought of the bitterness of slavery, and the tears of oppression.
As I carve the lamb I wonder at this animal that gave its life so I could eat of it. I wonder at Jesus who gave His life so that I may partake in Him.
As I’ll pour the wine I’ll wonder again, for the billionth time at His blood… the blood of the sinless Son of God, the chosen connector of heaven to earth, the chosen vehicle to redeem all things in heaven and on earth, even me.
And when I go out and look at the full Passover moon I’ll remember this was how it looked to Him as He prayed in the garden through the night. How it looked to Him when His closest and best fell asleep as He agonized over all to come and how it looked to Him when they came to arrest Him. This is not a game to me. This is not a journey into law for law sake. This is not a means to evoke feelings of holiness. This is the night I remember He brought me out of darkness, into His wonderful light. He is beautiful beyond description.
(This little series has been posted with dates in the opposite order to which it was written so as to appear sequentially to readers)