Pesach or the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Pesach always starts on the same date every year, the 14 of Nissan in the Jewish calendar. Pesach is celebrated in commemoration of the exodus out of Egypt, where the children of Israel where slaves under the Egyptians. Because the Jewish calendar contains fewer days than our calendar an extra month is added some years in order to keep the calendar on track. Therefore the start of Pesach may vary in relation to Easter.

"'These are the LORD's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'"
Leviticus 23:4-8

Pesach means “pass over” and shall be a reminder of the last evening and night God’s people spent in Egypt. Every family of the people of Israel was on the tenth day in the first month to take a perfect male lamb of one year and store it till the 14th. Then every family/ household was to slaughter the lamb at dusk and take some of the blood and stroke the sides and the tops of the doorframes of the houses where they were going to eat the lamb. They were to eat the lamb in a haste that night, be fully dressed and have shoes on their feet. They were also to make a dough without leaven and bring it with them. It was to serve as food for them for seven days. We know that the LORD struck down every firstborn in Egypt this night except inside the houses where blood had been put on the top and the sides of the doorframes. Read Exodus 12

Moses brought all of the people of Israel out of Egypt. The LORD spoke to Moses and said that the children of Israel should henceforth celebrate Pesach and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in commemoration of the Exodus. When the children of Israel arrived to the land the LORD had promised to them they were also to celebrate the Feast of First fruits during which they were to offer a sheaf of their first grain harvest. This feast begins the 16th of Nissan and occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The night when Jesus celebrated his last Pesach supper with his disciples, he ordained the sacrament. Jesus symbolizes the lamb at Pesach and that particular Pesach Jesus saved humanity from the slavery of sin by his death on the cross. When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day it was on the day of the Feast of First fruits.

When God ordered the children of Israel to celebrate the Feasts of the LORD He told them they were to celebrate them at appointed times. In the early Christian community Pesach was for a long time celebrated in a Jewish fashion. When the church in the 4th Century wanted to break the ties with Jewish tradition, they reshaped the LORD’s Feasts and followed no longer the Jewish calendar.

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Before Pesach starts everyone thoroughly cleans the house from yeast and bread, cookies and other things that may contain yeast and flour. You clean your houses and you throw everything you cannot for sure rid of yeast and leavened dough. You change your china to a set that is only used during Pesach. In stores they close the shelves that normally have bread and other products containing yeast and flour. No ordinary bread can be bought during these seven days. During Pesach you eat no leavened bread, chametz, instead you eat unleavened bread, matza. Chametz includes anything made from the four major grains (wheat, rye, barley and oats) that have not been completely cooked within 18 minutes after coming into contact with water.

Pesach begins with the Seder meal (Seder: order) on the first night. The meal includes a ceremonial part, a regular meal and the sacrament. The whole meal is a long and exciting story about how the LORD rescued the children of Israel out of Egypt. The families sing and read from the Haggadah which contains the story and prayers associated with Pesach.

On the Seder table you have three bread (matza), a Seder plate with bitter herbs (maror, often horse radish), a vegetable (parsley dipped in salty water), charoset (a mixture of apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon), a burnt egg and a burnt leg. At the middle of the table a cup is set aside for the prophet Elijah.

CELEBRATE A MESSIANIC SEDER
If you are interested in how the Seder is celebrated and you would like to read the texts or would like to celebrate your own Seder, you can download a great Haggadah from The Watchman Internationals homepage. There you will find in detail how to prepare the food, how to set the table, what accessories are necessary on the table and all the texts that are to be read.