We have had the Parasha Tazria and the Shabbat HaGadol in preparation for the most special period of the year, when all lovers of God come together to have the most significant meal of the year.
In the Tanakh (Old Testament) we can find how the Elohim required His People to eat a “Passover meal”. The Hashem Jehovah instituted this meal as a mitzvah (command) so that every generation would remember how He alone arranged for their deliverance out of slavery in Egypt. He wants us to remember this Passover night, when the angel of death “passed over” the homes that displayed the blood of the sacrificial lamb on its doorposts.
In every home that did not display the blood, someone perished, which convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. This is why another name for Passover is Hag ha-Herut (The Holiday of Freedom).
And hayom hazeh shall be unto you for zikaron (remembrance, remembering); and ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) to Hashem throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) by a chukkat olam. Shivat yamim shall ye eat matzot; but the first day ye shall put away se’or (yeast, leaven) out of your batim (houses); for whosoever eateth chametz from the first day until the seventh day, that nefesh shall be cut off from Yisroel. And in the yom harishon there shall be a mikra kodesh, and in the yom hashevi’i there shall be a mikra kodesh to you; no manner of melachah shall be done in them, except that which every nefesh must eat [i.e., activity necessary for the preparation of food], that only may be done of you.
(Exodus 12:14-16 OJB)
Rabbi Sha’ul (the Jewish Apostle whose name changed to Paul) asked his followers if they did not know that a little yeast [representing sin] leavens the whole batch of dough, and requested them to get rid of the old yeast, so that they may be a new unleavened batch — as we really should be as well.
For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Therefore he asked to keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6–8)
Paul also requires each one to examine himself before he shall come to eat of the bread and drink of the cup and not to boast
Your boasting is not good. Do you not have da’as that a little chametz all the mixture leavens? Purge out the old chametz (leavened bread), that you may be issa chadasha (new dough, batzek, deaf dough, having no indication of fermentation), as you are indeed like matzot (unleavened bread). More than that, our Korban Pesach has been sacrificed, Moshiach. [SHEMOT 12:3-6,21] So let us celebrate Pesach, not with old chametz, nor with the chametz of kavvanah ra’ah (malice) and wickedness, but with matzot of kenut (sincerity) and emes. [SHEMOT 12:14,15; DEVARIM 16:3]
(1 Corinthians 5:6-8 OJB)
Therefore, whoever eats the Pesach matzoh or drinks the Kiddush Cup of [Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach] Adoneinu unworthily will be guilty and answerable for the basar and the dahm of [Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach] Adoneinu. But let a ben Adam apply cheshbon hanefesh to himself and in that manner let him eat of the Pesach matzoh and let him drink of the Pesach Kiddush Cup.
(1 Corinthians 11:27-28 OJB)
Examining ourself, we should check if we are ready and able to come together at that special assembly where we remember the liberation not only of the Jehudi or Bnei Yisroel but also the installation of HaBrit HaChadasha or the New Covenant by the shedding of blood of the Lamb of God, Jeshua giving himself as a ransom for the sins of all.
Before coming to the Passover meal to remember the sacrifice of Jeshua for our sins, we need to examine our hearts to discover how we have disobeyed God. We can do this by praying the words that David wrote:
Search me, O El, and know my levav; test me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any derech otzev (torturous crooked road) in me, and lead me in the Derech Olam.
(Psalms 139:23-24 OJB)
We need to be open to hearing what the Spirit has to say because He knows it all anyway:
To where can I go from Thy Ruach [Hakodesh]? Or to where shall I flee from Thy presence?
(Psalms 139:7 OJB)
asked David.
Once we become aware of what sin needs to be cleansed, we must confess it just as the Israelites confessed their sins at the Temple.
When an Israelite brought his offering to the priest, he laid his hands on the animal and confessed his own sins and that of his family (since only men were permitted to enter the Temple courtyard).
In a similar way, when we confess our sins to God, we might imagine laying our hands over Jeshua, our final sacrifice.
The Apostle John assures us that if we confess our sins, Hashem shall be faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Once the confession has been made, we can offer our sacrifice.
After confession, the Israelite personally experienced the magnitude of his sin, as he killed the sacrifice: a life had to die as a substitute for his own sin. (Leviticus 4:27–33).
The priest then sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the altar, which made atonement for the sin.
And that is what Yeshua did for us!
This is why Paul wrote:
For as often as you eat this Pesach matzoh and drink from this Pesach Kiddush Cup, you do proclaim the mavet [YESHAYAH 53:8 9; DANIEL 9:26] of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu until the Bias HaMoshiach.
(1 Corinthians 11:26 OJB)
Therefore it is not just once in a year we come together to remember the Last Supper of Jeshua. Regularly we come together, as often as we can, to eat this bread and drinking the cup as symbols, proclaiming the rebbe his death until he shall return.
Like the Israelites, with atonement made, we are now free to serve our Creator, holy and set apart for His service.
But freedom is not without responsibility. God requires from us teshuvah, which in Hebrew means to return and walk with Him and turn away from our former ways, making sure we not participate in heathen festivals (like Easter) or do acts wich are not in accordance with God’s His mitzvot (like bowing down in front of graven images).
In early Jewish tradition, it is written that the one who says,
“I will sin and repent, I will sin and repent”
… [does not depart from this practice easily and convinces himself that he really did not sin thus] an opportunity to repent is not given to him” (Yoma 8, 9; CE 10–200).
True repentance means that once we have acknowledged the sin we committed, confessed it before God, and made the sacrifice, we then change our behavior and attitude in a long-term way.
That is repentance and that is Jeshua’s first command recorded in the Book of Matthew:
saying, Make teshuva, for the Malchut HaShomayim has come near.
(Matthew 3:2 OJB)
With the leaven (sin) in us repented of and our attitude reflecting God’s attitude, we can enter into true fellowship with Him — a restored relationship where communication and love flow without hindrance.
That is the kind of freedom Jeshua came to give us.
May this Passover be for you a wonderful Hag ha-Herut — The Holiday of Freedom — from any and all bondage and of overwhelming joy!
And let us come together this Friday night to remember what the Most High provided for us all, being thankful for that salvation and showing to the world how we want to unite under the guidance of Jeshua and keeping the remembrance meal with many all over the world, telling that night what happened in the previous years, so that the next generations also shall remember.
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Find also to read
- Egypt, Moshe and Those who never felt they belonged there
- At the Shabbat HaChodesh: readings about blood, liberation and purification
- Commentary on Parashat Tazria
- Why Fuss over a Little Leaven (Yeast)?
- Purification and perfection
- Shabbat HaGadol in preparation for Pesach
- Biblical Yeshua/ Jesus or Another European Greco- Roman Jesus ??
- A perfect life, obedient death, and glorious resurrection
- 2017 Wednesday 5 April – Sunday 9 April 30 CE Pesach or Passover versus Easter
- Lost senses or a clear focus on the one at the stake
- This day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Most High God
- Fellowship over meals
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Jeshuaisten / Jeshuaists 
11 gedachten over “A meal as a mitzvah so that every generation would remember”