When I first watched Mel Gibson’s movie, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, I was touched by many things. Admittedly, I cried through the whole thing! For whatever reason, the part that effected me the most was when Mary (Jesus’ mom) watched Jesus fall under the weight of the cross--and she flashed back to when Jesus was a little boy and had fallen--and Mary rushed to his aide. This time, unlike when Jesus was a child, there was nothing she could do. My tears kept flowing. In the midst of my tears, there were artistic symbols in the movie that left me confused and unable to decipher. I still haven’t figured out what that weird Satan-baby thing was about during the beating scene. Even more curious to me, was this: There is only one line in the whole movie that was in quotations (since the whole thing is in subtitles); why is that? I finally figured out that everything else in the movie is actually from Scripture, except for one line. When Jesus is arrested, the movie suddenly flashes to a scene of Mary Magdalene and Mary (Jesus’ mom). Mary Magdalene seems to be awakened by a sense that something is wrong and she says: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” That line is in quotation marks on the screen. It isn’t from Scripture, like everything else in the movie. It is a line from the Passover meal, a question traditionally asked by the youngest child present.
That one line stuck out to me from the movie. It jumps out at me at any Passover meal, like the one we had at church tonight. Why is tonight different from all other nights? Because tonight is the night that started it all. God saved His people through the blood of the lamb back in Egypt. Now Jesus, the Passover Lamb, agonizes in the Garden of Gethsemane…then He is betrayed and arrested. Tomorrow He will be crucified for the sins of the world. Tonight is different because nothing will ever be the same again.
For your education and inspiration, I found an intriguing article about this very thing (about this night being different from all other nights). This comes out of an organization called “Faith and Action” and their motto is: “Bringing the Word of God to bear on the hearts and minds of those who make public policy in America”. Sounds good to me!!! The article (below) is from their website.
Why is this night different from all other nights? Jesus and Passover
by FAA Staff03/27/07
http://www.faithandaction.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=221
Jewish heritage is rich with tradition and abounding with poetic symbolism, none more breathtaking than the feast celebrating the Israelites liberation from their slavery to Egypt, the Passover. Taken from the historical narrative described in the book of Exodus, the commemorative feast was established to memorialize Israel’s escape from God’s judgment and subsequent release from captivity through the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
There is a celebrated axiom that proclaims, “In the Old Testament the New Testament is concealed, and in the New Testament the Old Testament is revealed.” Nowhere in the Scripture is this adage more vividly affirmed than in the Old Testament account of the Passover and its New Testament counterpart expressed in the life, sacrifice, and resurrection of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Passover venerates the historical move of God universally referred to as the Exodus. The Lord had broken the back of Egypt, the most formidable superpower on the globe, ruining their economy, devastating their armed forces, and critically compromising their ecology through ten powerful plagues He unleashed upon the idolatrous nation. Once regarded as invincible, its Hebrew slaves could not negotiate their position or mount a rebellion to secure their freedom, but instead endured as organic assets invested at Pharaoh’s pleasure to enhance Egypt’s quality of life.
The evening of the Tenth Plague God commanded a ceremony designed to protect His people from His impending judgment, and prepare them for their liberation from bondage. This final scourge was the death of the first-born, and included Pharaoh’s child, heir to the most powerful throne in the world. In addition to breaking the scepter of Egypt, the plague issued a direct challenge to their highest deity, Ra who was powerless to protect their people or stop it.
The God of the weakest, most vulnerable people in the kingdom, who languished at the bottom of the Egyptian food chain, was determined to show Himself mighty on their behalf. At the end of the day, He flexed His muscle in a manner that left very little to the imagination.
Unlike their “owners,” Israel's first-born were delivered from death by living out a faith that sacrificed a lamb and placed its blood upon the doorposts and the lintel of their homes in obedience to God’s command. Thus, death played by the rules doing homage to the Almighty One, saw the blood of the lamb, and passed over those homes that had vigilantly obeyed God.
Passover is a foreshadowing of the destiny of those who have embraced the Blood of the Lamb by faith thus assuring the wrath of God will 'pass over' them on the Day of Judgment, sparing them from eternal death.
The Tenth Plague eroded the bedrock of Egypt’s brittle religious reality upon which most of its cultural institutions rested. It was not only the death of the nation’s firstborn, but also the resounding destruction of their spiritual understanding and worldview that was leveled. To their horror, the Egyptian gods were no match for the God of the Hebrew slaves: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Passover is rich in cultural and spiritual heritage, given to us by God to honor what He has done in setting Israel free from slavery, and for Christians, humanity free from its bondage to sin and death by the Blood of the Lamb of God. The celebration itself revolves around a ceremonious meal called a Seder, which, when understood in light of the New Covenant, adds a unique depth to the faith, especially the Lord’s Supper, a tradition which was part of and instituted at, a Passover Seder.
The traditional gathering incorporates explicit foods, methods of preparation, and moving observances, along with deeply evocative customs that vividly recount the miraculous deliverance of Israel from its bondage to their Egyptian taskmasters. And while all of these dramatic sacraments cannot help but fill the heart with wonder, the beginning of the celebration may be the most wondrous portion of the Passover. For it begins with the youngest member of the family asking the father what are known as The Four Questions.
The Four Questions describe key portions of the Seder and probe the historic meaning of the Passover. Their answers, given by the father, instill a solemn sense of gratitude while invoking the memory of the slavery, suffering, and deliverance of Israel.
They begin with a threshold question that some feel is the only question really asked: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The other queries simply describe how the night is different. Throughout the centuries, these questions have changed marginally, but never in substance so that while the message may vary slightly, its meaning has remained unblemished.
The Four Questions are:
1. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?"
2. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?"
3. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?" and
4. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?"
Their answers are:
1. We eat only matzah because our ancestors were unable to wait for their bread to rise when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt. They had to take their bread out of their ovens before it had risen and was still flat, which was matzah.
2. We eat only Moror, a bitter herb, to help us remember the bitterness of slavery that our ancestors suffered while in Egypt.
3. We dip twice, first with green vegetables in salt water, and then the Moror in Charoses, (a sweet combination of nuts and wine). Dipping green vegetables in salt water symbolizes replacing our tears with gratitude, while dipping the Moror in Charoses represents sweetening the yoke of bitterness and suffering to lessen its pain.
4. We recline at the Seder table because in ancient times only free people reclined at a meal, slaves could not. And so we recline in our chairs at the Seder table to remind ourselves of the priceless glory of freedom.
Passover describes the salvation offered through the New Covenant in that the Hebrew people went from slavery to freedom inheriting the Promised Land. Through the work of Christ, we are all set free from slavery to sin and death passes over all humankind, both Jew and Gentile. And just as Passover remembers the death of the lamb in Egypt, which protected and led to the freedom of the Israelites from slavery, Jesus, the Lamb of God, protects us from sin by His shed blood and leads us to a new life free from its tyranny. Thus, we are told that as often as we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we do it in remembrance of His death, the Lamb of God who is our Passover and takes away the sin of the world.
That one line stuck out to me from the movie. It jumps out at me at any Passover meal, like the one we had at church tonight. Why is tonight different from all other nights? Because tonight is the night that started it all. God saved His people through the blood of the lamb back in Egypt. Now Jesus, the Passover Lamb, agonizes in the Garden of Gethsemane…then He is betrayed and arrested. Tomorrow He will be crucified for the sins of the world. Tonight is different because nothing will ever be the same again.
For your education and inspiration, I found an intriguing article about this very thing (about this night being different from all other nights). This comes out of an organization called “Faith and Action” and their motto is: “Bringing the Word of God to bear on the hearts and minds of those who make public policy in America”. Sounds good to me!!! The article (below) is from their website.
Why is this night different from all other nights? Jesus and Passover
by FAA Staff03/27/07
http://www.faithandaction.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=221
Jewish heritage is rich with tradition and abounding with poetic symbolism, none more breathtaking than the feast celebrating the Israelites liberation from their slavery to Egypt, the Passover. Taken from the historical narrative described in the book of Exodus, the commemorative feast was established to memorialize Israel’s escape from God’s judgment and subsequent release from captivity through the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
There is a celebrated axiom that proclaims, “In the Old Testament the New Testament is concealed, and in the New Testament the Old Testament is revealed.” Nowhere in the Scripture is this adage more vividly affirmed than in the Old Testament account of the Passover and its New Testament counterpart expressed in the life, sacrifice, and resurrection of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Passover venerates the historical move of God universally referred to as the Exodus. The Lord had broken the back of Egypt, the most formidable superpower on the globe, ruining their economy, devastating their armed forces, and critically compromising their ecology through ten powerful plagues He unleashed upon the idolatrous nation. Once regarded as invincible, its Hebrew slaves could not negotiate their position or mount a rebellion to secure their freedom, but instead endured as organic assets invested at Pharaoh’s pleasure to enhance Egypt’s quality of life.
The evening of the Tenth Plague God commanded a ceremony designed to protect His people from His impending judgment, and prepare them for their liberation from bondage. This final scourge was the death of the first-born, and included Pharaoh’s child, heir to the most powerful throne in the world. In addition to breaking the scepter of Egypt, the plague issued a direct challenge to their highest deity, Ra who was powerless to protect their people or stop it.
The God of the weakest, most vulnerable people in the kingdom, who languished at the bottom of the Egyptian food chain, was determined to show Himself mighty on their behalf. At the end of the day, He flexed His muscle in a manner that left very little to the imagination.
Unlike their “owners,” Israel's first-born were delivered from death by living out a faith that sacrificed a lamb and placed its blood upon the doorposts and the lintel of their homes in obedience to God’s command. Thus, death played by the rules doing homage to the Almighty One, saw the blood of the lamb, and passed over those homes that had vigilantly obeyed God.
Passover is a foreshadowing of the destiny of those who have embraced the Blood of the Lamb by faith thus assuring the wrath of God will 'pass over' them on the Day of Judgment, sparing them from eternal death.
The Tenth Plague eroded the bedrock of Egypt’s brittle religious reality upon which most of its cultural institutions rested. It was not only the death of the nation’s firstborn, but also the resounding destruction of their spiritual understanding and worldview that was leveled. To their horror, the Egyptian gods were no match for the God of the Hebrew slaves: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Passover is rich in cultural and spiritual heritage, given to us by God to honor what He has done in setting Israel free from slavery, and for Christians, humanity free from its bondage to sin and death by the Blood of the Lamb of God. The celebration itself revolves around a ceremonious meal called a Seder, which, when understood in light of the New Covenant, adds a unique depth to the faith, especially the Lord’s Supper, a tradition which was part of and instituted at, a Passover Seder.
The traditional gathering incorporates explicit foods, methods of preparation, and moving observances, along with deeply evocative customs that vividly recount the miraculous deliverance of Israel from its bondage to their Egyptian taskmasters. And while all of these dramatic sacraments cannot help but fill the heart with wonder, the beginning of the celebration may be the most wondrous portion of the Passover. For it begins with the youngest member of the family asking the father what are known as The Four Questions.
The Four Questions describe key portions of the Seder and probe the historic meaning of the Passover. Their answers, given by the father, instill a solemn sense of gratitude while invoking the memory of the slavery, suffering, and deliverance of Israel.
They begin with a threshold question that some feel is the only question really asked: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The other queries simply describe how the night is different. Throughout the centuries, these questions have changed marginally, but never in substance so that while the message may vary slightly, its meaning has remained unblemished.
The Four Questions are:
1. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?"
2. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?"
3. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?" and
4. " Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?"
Their answers are:
1. We eat only matzah because our ancestors were unable to wait for their bread to rise when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt. They had to take their bread out of their ovens before it had risen and was still flat, which was matzah.
2. We eat only Moror, a bitter herb, to help us remember the bitterness of slavery that our ancestors suffered while in Egypt.
3. We dip twice, first with green vegetables in salt water, and then the Moror in Charoses, (a sweet combination of nuts and wine). Dipping green vegetables in salt water symbolizes replacing our tears with gratitude, while dipping the Moror in Charoses represents sweetening the yoke of bitterness and suffering to lessen its pain.
4. We recline at the Seder table because in ancient times only free people reclined at a meal, slaves could not. And so we recline in our chairs at the Seder table to remind ourselves of the priceless glory of freedom.
Passover describes the salvation offered through the New Covenant in that the Hebrew people went from slavery to freedom inheriting the Promised Land. Through the work of Christ, we are all set free from slavery to sin and death passes over all humankind, both Jew and Gentile. And just as Passover remembers the death of the lamb in Egypt, which protected and led to the freedom of the Israelites from slavery, Jesus, the Lamb of God, protects us from sin by His shed blood and leads us to a new life free from its tyranny. Thus, we are told that as often as we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we do it in remembrance of His death, the Lamb of God who is our Passover and takes away the sin of the world.
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