Monday, April 5, 2010

Spring Holy Days

I hope each of you had a wonderful Passover or Easter celebration! I love the parallels between the Jewish celebration of Passover and the Christian celebration of Easter.



The Jewish holiday is a reminder of the first Passover meal eaten by the Hebrews before they escaped from slavery in Egypt. Each household was to kill a lamb and swab its blood on the top and sides of their doorposts. Then they were to roast the lamb and eat it with bread baked without yeast, so they would be ready to escape quickly.

During the night, an angel passed over the land, killing the firstborn in every home without the symbol, but sparing every family with the blood over the door. When the Egyptians realized the cause of their national grief, they gladly sent away their Jewish slaves (Exodus 12). The annual Passover celebrates this joyous release from slavery and salvation from death.




In Christian tradition, Christ is called "the Passover lamb who has been sacrificed" for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). By faith, the application of his blood to the doorposts of our lives covers our sins and exempts us from condemnation. On Easter, Christian believers celebrate the resurrection of Christ, because after his sacrifice for sin, he was raised to assure us of life eternal.

I hope your celebrations were filled with joy.

2 comments:

  1. Neat post, I love that you parrelled both. I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

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  2. Good stuff. This weekend I considered how we use the Jewish calendar to determine Easter's date, since passover is part of the biblical account of Christ's passion. This way we know we are celebrating at the "right" time of year!

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