”And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exod. 13:8–9, 14 [1]).

“Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The teacher says, ‘My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover” (Matt. 26:17–19).

Interdenominational Passover Seder at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland

Chicago Passover Seder

In a previous Shabbat Shalom meditation on Passover,^₁ I focused on the principle of personalization (corporate solidarity) found in both the Hebrew Bible and the Passover seder—a principle that embraces Jews and Christians alike in their common Hebraic roots. I also mentioned other common Jewish-Christian themes associated with Passover: liberation, hope, rebirth, purification, and peace. In this study, however, I offer a uniquely Christian perspective on Passover.