We’re Not Jewish, but we’ll Celebrate Passover.
We are not Jewish, but we will celebrate Passover. 🎉
Hindsight is 20/20. I’m almost 50. As an older and wiser mother, I see areas in which I could’ve done better raising my boys. If I had it to do over, I’d do a few things differently. One is I’d intentionally celebrate Passover with them.
They are grown now. But I still have a daughter at home… 😆
I’m not Jewish.
I’m not Jewish, I’m Christian. Therefore, my understanding of Passover is limited to the basics of the Old Testament book of Exodus. You know: God sent Moses to rescue His people; Pharoah said no, God sent plagues; God instructed His people to slaughter a lamb and place its blood over the door so the angel of death (the final plague) would “pass over” that home, sparing the family’s firstborn male. The next day, Jewish people fled Egypt with instructions to commemorate how they were saved.
I’m more familiar with Jesus celebrating Passover as the Last Supper with his disciples in the New Testament before his betrayal. Christians consider the Passover meal as the means through which Jesus showed his disciples what would come on the cross. His words and actions at that last meal were so significant that they became a sacrament of the church; holy communion. When Christians take communion we remember Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. (That’s a very basic explanation.)
All of that to say, I was a Christian with a limited understanding of what Passover was. We protestant Christians are all about grace, so why do we need to know anything more than the basics, right? (I’m kidding! Kind of.)
Every kid got a bag of plagues for Passover. 🪰
So why this sudden philosophical change?
It started when I was a children’s pastor. I fell in love with hands-on teaching (you can read more about that here). That’s what God did; He instructed His people, but He also showed them how to do what He instructed. (I know, Best.Teacher.Ever.) It’s like the old adage: give a man a fish, feed him a meal; teach him to fish, feed him for life…
So, for instance, when we studied Exodus in Children’s Church, every kid got a bag of plagues (plastic locusts, stuff like that) to show their parents. When we discussed the specific plague with the angel of death every kid got a branch, dipped it in ketchup, and painted a doorway. (The conversations were off the chain!) Then we compared being covered by the blood of the Passover lamb 🐑 to being covered by the blood of the New Testament Passover lamb – Jesus. When we celebrated Resurrection Sunday, the kids understood on a much deeper level.
I came home embarrassed to be a Christian.🫣
The other reason I’ve decided to be more intentional about Passover as a Christian stems from my disturbing visit to Germany this past summer.
My deployed son invited me to visit him in Ansbach, Germany. (Well, he invited his dad, but Alan couldn’t go, so I was the next best thing!) We decided to see as much of Germany as possible so Harrison rented a car, and we hit the big cities: Munich, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Berlin, and Frankfurt. We wanted to see some historic cathedrals and learn about medieval Europe. And, of course, we also wanted to see the remnants of World War II and attempt to understand how Hitler and his minions almost took over the world…
It was an amazing trip, and yet, a bothersome trip. I came home a different person. The WWII sites were impactful. But it was the trips to the cathedrals that changed me. I came home embarrassed to be a Christian.
We Christians forgot our roots.
Perhaps I’m in the small category of Christians who failed to realize this, but the Catholic church has a horrendous history of antisemitism. And even more shockingly, it’s right there – on some of the cathedrals – in front of God and everyone! There are gargoyle-type sculptures or engravings called “Judensaus.” (That loosely translates to “Jews’ Sow.”) It’s a derogatory image of a Jew in the midst of an obscene act with a female pig. The depictions were meant to ridicule Jewish people over their dietary restrictions. What’s worse is that these works of “art” have been there (on the cathedrals) since the middle ages!
Now, before we protestants get too high and mighty and point the proverbial finger at the Catholics, it’s important to note that the father of the Reformation, our very own, Martin Luther, was equally as bigoted. Remember the 95 Theses nailed to the door? Well, there is a horrible Judensau on that very church, with Martin Luther’s own demeaning words. I know! Incomprehensible! 🤯
Anyway, my point is that somewhere back there, we Christians apparently forgot the fact that the very Jewish Jesus Christ’s entire life, death, and resurrection pointed us toward God’s love; not hate. ❤️ And it still does!
At any rate, we are not Jewish. Still, as a family, we will be intentional and celebrate the Jewish Passover in an effort to understand Judaism and Christianity a little better. (Read more.) If nothing else, it will remind us that Jesus was a Jew. He acted like a Jew; He thought like a Jew; He understood life as a Jew. He reinterpreted some things for us. But He was never ashamed of being Jewish.
Four important questions…and food.
I’m guessing my thirteen-year-old daughter won’t go along with my children’s church idea of reenacting the night of the tenth plague by painting ketchup over our door. Fair enough. But a dinner where she gets to ask four important questions, and her parents get to lead her through what happened to the Jewish people thousands of years ago…with food? Oh, that’s a no-brainer! Bring on the seder!
Let’s celebrate being God’s people.
The Jewish religion still awaits the Messiah. Christians differ because we believe Jesus was the Messiah, and we wait for his return. But regardless, celebrating the salvation of the Jewish people is celebrating our Christian heritage. As Paul said in Romans 11, we (non-Jews) are gentiles grafted into the tree (we are not a new tree!). So Christians, let’s take a minute and understand where we are from and how we got here. Then let’s all celebrate being part of God’s people! 🥳
