How Does the Feast of Passover Relate to the Ancient Jewish Wedding Process? And How Does That Impact My Understanding of Communion?
As Lent approaches, I wanted to take the opportunity to share my Passover Study. This is part of a greater study on the Feasts of Leviticus 23. (Currently, just the Passover section is posted. I will post more as time permits, so be sure to subscribe!)
What Will You Learn?
Did you know that the Feasts in Leviticus 23 are a type of wedding rehearsal? The Hebrew word for feasts in Leviticus 23:2 is the word “moed” which means “appointed times.” God in his sovereignty chose to work on a very specific timetable using the Jewish calendar. The word for sacred assemblies is the word “miqra” and it can also mean a rehearsal of sorts. So, every year the Jewish people without realizing it are acting out a wedding rehearsal between Christ and His Church as they celebrate their feasts/holidays. More information on this can be found on the Introduction to the Feasts of Leviticus 23 on my Feasts of Leviticus 23 page.
Further down on the page you will find my Passover resources. There you will explore questions such as the following:
- How does the Passover Lamb compare to Jesus?
- Why do the Jewish people rid their houses of leaven during Passover ?
- Why is it important that a woman lights the candle?
- How does the Afikomen (the unleavened bread) compare to Jesus?
- How does the food on the Seder plate and in their Haggadah (Passover liturgy) point to Christ?
- Why is it significant that we Christians use only the 3rd cup (out of 4 cups) of the Feast of Passover for our Communion celebration?
- How does all of this relate to the Jewish wedding ceremony?
Background
The Discovery
In the beginning of my teaching career, I taught the Sophomore Bible Class at the small 7-12 Christian school were I worked. The curriculum covered the Gospels and Acts. And by curriculum I mean that I was given a Bible, not an actual curriculum, so I had to write my own lesson plans, which I loved doing!
The topic of Jesus eating Passover with his disciple was coming up, so I got to digging. That’s when I stumbled upon Zola Levitt’s videos “The Miracle of Passover Parts 1 and 2.” Zola Levitt was a Messianic Jew who had a video series about the Feasts in Leviticus 23. What I watched blew my mind. I’ve been a Christian my whole life and was raised in Christian schools, but I never truly understood the meaning behind Passover and how it related to Communion. Passover, and therefore Communion, is a love story between God and his people! It was amazing. I was so excited to share this information with my class. Needless to say, my sophomores weren’t so excited about watching a video of an old person talk about Passover as I was. 🤣
A More Hands-On Approach
A few years later I was teaching 8th grade religion in a Lutheran Middle School in northeast Ohio. The curriculum again was the Gospel and Acts. However, this time I had an actual curriculum to follow. At the same time I was involved with a vibrant young adult ministry that gave me a lot of Christian friends. One of my friends discovered a Community Passover Seder being held by the Jewish community in Cleveland. After what I had learned a few year prior I was excited to go and experience a Passover Seder myself. It would obviously be from a Jewish perspective, but that was fine by me as Zola Levitt introduced me to some of the Messianic symbolism embedded in the ancient Jewish practice. After the meal, I got to talk to some of the ladies hosting the meal, and I asked them for the leftovers to use with my students. (Teachers are always trying to score free resources for their students. 😉) They were so excited that I was excited that they gave me a chocolate Seder plate to use with my students. So that night, I pivoted my lesson plans and did a Seder with my 8th graders complete with an explanation of how the elements pointed toward Christ.
Public Schools
Eventually I moved to Virginia to teach in the public schools. Obviously there wasn’t a religion class in a public school, but I did teach Number the Stars by Lois Lowry as part of my holocaust unit. In Number the Stars the first scene is of a Jewish family celebrating the Passover. For most non-Jewish students this is hard to understand, so I did the Passover Seder with them substituting grape juice for wine and tying it to the Holocaust theme. (If any middle or high school language arts teachers are reading this post, I highly recommend doing a Seder with your students if you teach a Holocaust theme.)
As Part of My Discipleship Program
When I moved to Virginia, I started discipling other women in our young professionals group. (You can find the Genesis and Exodus portions of that curriculum on my blog, and I hope to post the rest soon.) When we got to the Exodus portion of the Passover, I gathered my young adult friends together to do a Passover Seder where I highlighted the Messianic connections. By this time my understanding and knowledge of the Passover and its connection to the ancient Jewish betrothment process had grown. It’s truly amazing when we view the Leviticus Feasts as a rehearsal for the greatest love story ever told. You can replicate this event, by using my Passover study on my Feasts of Leviticus 23 page! (Although it may be helpful to purchase or download a Haggadah to use as well.) Feel free to reach out if you have additional questions.
As Part of My Church
When I moved back to Ohio I rejoined a Lutheran church. The church had an amazing Sunday School class. It was the best small group/Bible study I’ve ever been to. We went through the books of the Bible, and the facilitator was amazing. He was able to bring together both the veteran and newbies of Scripture in an edifying way in a discussion format that went deep. Not to mention that everyone was cracking jokes all the time!
One day I was asked to do my Passover Sedar with the Sunday School, so I did. Everyone brought a dish and we went through my study. One of the ladies that was part of the Sunday School liked it so much that she wanted me to do it for another group in the church she was involved. They asked me back for the next three consecutive years. This time they cooked the food, which made it so much easier for me to facilitate. 😊
With All of You
Understanding the Passover can truly transform your spiritual life. It can open your eyes to not only the love of Christ but also to His sovereignty. One of the ways that it has truly benefited me is that it brought a deeper understanding of what is meant when I “eat His body and drink His blood” at the Lord’s Table. I don’t want to be a hoarder of knowledge, but I want other people to have access to the same knowledge that I gained over the years. That’s one of the primary reasons I started my blog Word & Numbers.
My desire is that you take the resources that I created over the years and use them. You can use them independently or to disciple someone else. During this season of Lent, you can gather your friends and do a Passover Seder with them using the resources on my Feasts of Leviticus 23 page.
May God bless you and keep you during this season of lent!
Upcoming
Soon I will post my study on Song of Songs which is read during Passover on the Jewish liturgical cycle. It will take a deeper dive into the connection between the Jewish wedding ceremony and the Feasts of Leviticus 23 . So, if you want to know when I post that be sure to subscribe.
Share & Subscribe
For lent commit to sharing this post (or another Christian post) with your Christian friends on social media. I’m still slowly posting resources as time permits, so if you want updates, please be sure to subscribe.
Comment
Let me know if you have any questions! Or if you do a Seder with your friends, small group, or church community, let me know how it went!
