2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As you read today’s message, please consider yourselves God’s guests at a Jewish seder. Such an occasion is made possible by His incredible compassion for the children He loves. When you accept His Son as your Savior, you become one of His people even if you aren’t Jewish. So, this story has spiritual implications for you just as it does for every Jewish person who partakes of the seder meal. The Scriptures cited today are found in the Haggadah, the book that contains the order of this meal and the prayers that are said at it. My Haggadah is read from the back to the front and has English on the left page and Hebrew (which is read from right to left-the opposite of English) on the right page, as one goes through this book. Many of the prayers in the Haggadah are from the Talmud, a compendium of law and lore, and the Midrash. Interlaced in the Talmud with the legal treatises are discussions of Jewish scholars, thousands of parables, biographical sketches, humorous anecdotes, and epigrams that provide an intimate glimpse into Jewish life just before and after the first dyaspora (scattering of the Jews). The same group of rabbis who compiled the Talmud also gave the Jewish community the Midrash, a collection of rabbinical commentary on the moral teachings of the Bible. Around each verse of the Scriptures, the scholars wove some significant moral thought, often in the form of a parable or an illustration from life. I mention this, because a major section of the Haggadah is based on the Midrash, Mishnah Pesahim, which is a part of a confession annually recited by pilgrims bringing their first fruits to the temple at Shavuot, the Festival of the Weeks.
EX 2: 23-24, “Years later the Pharaoh of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still groaning under their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry went up to God, Who heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them.” This citation and others depicting God’s compassion and revisiting the Abrahamic covenant are read at a traditional seder. The cruelty of the Egyptians is revealed in the reading of citations from EX 1, such as verses 10-11 and 13. As the evening unfolds, the story of the first Passover is told and God’s keeping of His promises is seen. In a traditional seder, children play an important part. Evidence of this can be seen in the reading of DT 6: 20-25, “In times to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did the Lord our God command us to obey all the laws?’ Then, tell them, ‘We were slaves of the Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by His great power. With our own eyes we saw Him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their Pharaoh, and to their officials. He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as He had promised our ancestors He would. Then, the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and have reverence for Him. If we do, He will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. If we faithfully obey everything God has commanded us, He will be pleased with us.”
At a traditional seder, the leader rests on a pillow. This is not to prop him up because he is tired, but to symbolize the rest that comes from freedom. A free person can relax and recline, but a slave is never able to do this. When we stop and think about it, that is certainly true when we have the freedom that comes from having faith in the Lord. Later on, I will more to say about the special participation of the children in a seder, but for now imagine you are a guest at the table and the order of the seder is about to begin. (The descriptions I give in this message and tomorrow’s are from my own memories of the seders I attended both in my home and at our synagogue. Those of you who attend the Passover seders in our congregation will notice some differences, because out of necessity our seders are a considerably shortened version of the traditional ones).
The service begins with the lighting of the candles. At home, this is most often done by the mother of the family. The blessing that is said is, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments, and commanded us to kindle the festival lights. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season.” That is followed by the pouring of the first cup of wine and the blessing on the wine, the Kiddush. “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has brought forth the fruit of the vine.” A sip from the first cup is then taken. The leader then symbolically washes his hands while offering a prayer about being commanded to do this. Each place setting has a small paper cup containing salt water and a sprig of parsley. The participants are now invited to dip the parsley in the salt water as a reminder of the tears of the Jewish slaves in Egypt and to eat it. Then, it is time to say the prayer over the bread, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has brought forth the fruit of the earth.” In our synagogue, these prayers were recited both in Hebrew and in English. The bread that was always used is matzo, which comes in the form of rectangular boards and has no yeast or leaven in it. You will remember that yeast often symbolizes sin in the Scriptures.
I remember having a tough time with the delaying of gratification when I was a child. I was wishing the adults would hurry up and get the service part of the seder over with, so we could eat the meal. And yet, as you will see in tomorrow’s continuation of what happens as this wonderful Jewish custom unfolds, the children have an important part in the seder service. My recalling this with you now is to demonstrate that we all have this childish wish to shorten the delaying of our gratification that is involved in waiting for God’s perfect timing for whatever we want to happen. As a child, I needed to trust in the wisdom of paying attention to this seder service and in the fact that the meal would come. For us, we must have the discipline to endure in our faith, trust God, and know that one day we will all share in the greatest banquet of all, the wedding feast of the Lamb. While the stories of God’s bringing Abraham out of Mesopotamia to Canaan and the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant are told, we are given an example of faith rewarded. This is evidence that our faith with be rewarded too. We are allowed to see God’s compassion, willingness to keep His promises, and intervention in the events of both the life of Abraham and that of Moses during this special seder evening’s readings to allow us to examine God’s heart.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we look into the Jewish roots of our Christian faith, we are allowed to see that You have consistently loved and provided for those who believe in You. Our fleshly desires have always been in a conflict with the sweet Spirit You caused to dwell within us when we came to faith. You have shown us through the examples of faithful people like Abraham and Moses in the Scriptures that when we obey You, our lives are blessed. You are a valiant, courageous, loving, consistent Lord, Who wants nothing more than to have His children gathered around Him for eternity. You have given us the power to conquer our fleshly selves and perfect us as we struggle to do so. Those are the acts of a loving Abba, Who deserves to be the Sovereign of our lives. Teach us to appreciate what we can learn from recalling the events of the Exodus and from ancient Jewish customs designed to bring us closer to You. We offer You our hearts, Dear Lord, and dedicate our lives to Your glory. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue enjoying the seder together. Know that God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn