A Passover Seder in the Light of Christ
Roy Schoeman

INTRODUCTION

Let us begin “in the beginning” ­ in the book of Genesis, with the story of our father Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac: (Genesis 22):

1 After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his

son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22, RSV, except v.18 NKJV)

It was Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac which God reciprocated, two thousand years later, with the sacrifice of His only-begotten son, born also from Abraham’s seed, on yet another mount, that of Calvary. And so we see that Abraham’s utterance “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”(v. 8) was prophetic far beyond anything he knew, referring not only to the provision of the ram “provided” by being caught in the thicket, but referring far more profoundly to the only truly acceptable sacrifice, that of God’s Son Himself on the altar of Calvary. So as we celebrate the Exodus of the Jews from their slavery in Egypt, with its central symbol of the Paschal lamb sacrificed that first Passover night and yearly, ever since, on the night of the Seder, let us remember the true Paschal Lamb, sacrificed on Calvary to bring us true freedom, freedom from our sins, freedom to be sons and daughters of God through participation in the sacrifice of His Son the Messiah. For since the dawn of Christianity, Jesus has been seen as the true Paschal lamb. In the words of St. Augustine, (Contra Faustum Manichaeum)

...[what was thus prefigured in] the feast of the paschal lamb ... has been fulfilled in the sufferings of Christ, the Lamb without spot.... In the gospel we have the true Lamb, not in shadow, but in substance; and instead of prefiguring the death, we commemorate it daily [in the holy sacrifice of the Mass]

Since Apostolic times the release of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt has been seen as a figure of mankind being released from the bondage of sin, and each event in the Passover narrative as a prefigurement of an aspect of our redemption through Christ. For example, let me quote St. Cyril of Jerusalem, one of the post-Nicene Church Fathers, in his “First Lecture On The Mysteries.”

Let us now teach you the effect wrought upon you on that evening of your baptism ... When Pharaoh, that most bitter and cruel tyrant, was oppressing the free and high-born people of the Hebrews, God sent Moses to bring them out of the evil bondage of the Egyptians. Then the door posts were anointed with the blood of a lamb, that the destroyer might flee from the houses which had the sign of the blood; and the Hebrew people was marvelously delivered. The enemy, however, after their rescue, pursued after them, and saw the sea wondrously parted for them; nevertheless he went on, following close in their footsteps, and was all at once overwhelmed and engulfed in the Red Sea.

Now turn from the old to the new, from the figure to the reality. There we have Moses sent from God to Egypt; here, Christ, sent forth from His Father into the world: there, that Moses might lead forth an afflicted people out of Egypt; here, that Christ might rescue those who are oppressed in the world under sin: there, the blood of a lamb was the spell against the destroyer; here, the blood of the Lamb without blemish Jesus Christ is made the charm to scare evil spirits: there, the tyrant was pursuing that ancient people even to the sea; and here the daring and shameless spirit, the author of evil, was following thee even to the very streams of salvation. The tyrant of old was drowned in the sea; and this present one disappears in the water of salvation.

The crossing of the Red Sea, passing from slavery to freedom, prefigured our Baptism freeing us from original sin; the Blood of the Lamb on the doorpost turning away the avenging angel and sparing the Jews from death prefigured the Blood of Christ on the Cross turning away God’s rightful judgment, sparing us from eternal death; the forty years journey in the wilderness until reaching the “promised Land” and Jerusalem was a “type” of our lifetime here on earth until we reach our eternal home, the “Heavenly Jerusalem”; and the manna with which God miraculously fed the Jews in the desert prefigured the true bread of life, the Eucharist, with which God feeds us with heavenly food during our pilgrimage on earth.

The identification of Passover with the most sacred mysteries of the Church is not dependent just on the writing of the Church Fathers ­ it is evident in the circumstances of Christ’s life, and is made explicit in the New Testament itself. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (always seen as representing the Eucharist) and the subsequent “Bread of Life” discourse both, as John is careful to point out, took place at Passover time (John 6):

1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” ... 11Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself....

24 So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. ... 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52... “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”

Jesus Himself not only made clear the parallel between the Eucharist and the manna in the wilderness, but he did so at Passover time! And, as we all know, the Passion and Death of Jesus itself took place at Passover, and the Last Supper, which was the first Mass, not only took place at Passover but was itself a Passover ritual meal (a Seder). Exodus 12 makes it clear that no Jew can claim membership with the Jewish people if he doesn’t participate in eating the Passover lamb; similarly, one cannot participate fully in the redemption Jesus offers without eating the true Passover lamb; his flesh and blood in the Eucharist. The Old Covenant foreshadowed in symbols the reality of the New Covenant.

The fact that Christ Himself was the true Paschal lamb, sacrificed to take away our sins once and for all, is made clear over and over in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 5 St. Paul writes:

... For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.

And in Hebrews 9 and 10 says:

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. ... 18 Hence even the first covenant was not ratified without blood. ... 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins ... 26 ... [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ...

And 1 Peter 13:

18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Even in the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah in Isaiah 53, the Messiah to come was referred to as the true sacrificial lamb:

3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ... 5 ... he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. ... 7 ... like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. ... 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

And of course John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the “Lamb of God” in John 1:

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

So with that background, let us begin our Passover Seder.

Next: Blessing of the Candles

This Seder appeared in The Hebrew Catholic, #73, Winter 2000-2001. All Rights Reserved.

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Glossary

Charoseth: A sweet mixture of chopped apples and wine which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt.

Hagaddah: The book or booklet with the instructions, prayers and text for the Passover seder. Literally means “recounting”, because it is a recounting of the story of the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt.

Maror: Bitter herbs (traditionally horseradish root) which symbolizes the bitterness of the slavery of the Jews in Egypt.

Matzo (plural Matzot): Unleavened bread used during Passover, recalling the unleavened bread used by the Jews in their flight from Egypt.

Passover: The Jewish festival commemorating the freeing of the Jews from their slavery in Egypt (the Exodus).

Seder: The ritual festival meal celebrated during Passover (literally means “order” since the meal is highly ordered).

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