Category: Passover

The Last Supper

On the eve of Good Friday this year (2026), a few of us are getting together to reenact Jesus’ final meal. It was Passover, but we are not having a full Seder. Gentiles imitating them could be offensive to some Jews, and Passover prior to AD 70 was not the same as practiced today.

Passover was a celebration of God liberating his people in Moses’ time, opening the way for the Sinai covenant that established Jacob’s family as a kingdom of God. It also anticipated the day when God would free his people again to be a kingdom of God. That hope takes an unexpected turn in the meal Jesus led.

Continue reading “The Last Supper”

Significance of Passover (repost)

What did Passover mean in its original context (Exodus 12-13)?

What’s the message of the Passover story? What comes to mind for you? Do you picture a lamb being sacrificed for the people of God to be forgiven their sins?

Would it surprise you to know the Book of Exodus never says anything like that? We can’t understand what Scripture says if we smuggle in assumptions about sacrificial theology that aren’t there.

This matters because Passover is so significant. Even today, it’s still one of the most significant weeks in the Jewish calendar, celebrating the birth of their nation. More than 3,200 years ago, God released them from serving Pharaoh, to be something new and privileged: a nation directly serving the divine sovereign, a kingdom of God.

So what does Exodus say?

Continue reading “Significance of Passover (repost)”

Significance of Passover (Exodus 12–13)

Open Exodus 12–13.

What’s the message of the Passover story? What comes to mind for you? Do you picture a lamb being sacrificed for the people of God to be forgiven their sins?

Would it surprise you to know the Book of Exodus never says anything like that? We can’t understand what Scripture says if we smuggle in assumptions about sacrificial theology that aren’t there.

This matters because Passover is so significant. Even today, it’s still one of the most significant weeks in the Jewish calendar, celebrating the birth of their nation. More than 3,200 years ago, God released them from serving Pharaoh, to be something new and privileged: a nation directly serving the divine sovereign, a kingdom of God.

So what does Exodus say? Continue reading “Significance of Passover (Exodus 12–13)”