Haggadah

"And you shall tell your son on that day" Exodus 13:8

Last night, in preparation of the coming celebrations of Jesus' death and resurrection, we sat around a table and did the Haggadah (the telling). The Haggadah is a Jewish tradition of the family telling the story of the Passover night. The night the Israelites sacrificed an unblemished lamb, painted their doorposts with the blood which protected the household from the angel of God who past overhead that night to kill all firstborns.

Before I continue let me briefly introduce Zahava. I probably won't do her justice but here goes. Zahava was born in Israel near the Sea of Galilee to a family of rabbis. After a tough upbringing, she met a South African Jew and got married. They returned to South Africa to start a new life together. But then Jesus physically met Zahava in a miraculous way and she found the Messiah.

The following verses sum Zahava in a nutshell for me... Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
John 1:45-51

What was even more amazing was at the church in Durban where Jesus had an appointment with Zahava, her favorite song when she was young was sung, it was a song traditionally sung in the Haggadah. Jesus had known Zahava even when she was playing along the Sea of Galilee as a child and said "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false"

Zahava could not keep it in and high ranking rabbis came from Israel, in her words "to fix" her. Every week rabbis came to her home to try correct her ways. They forbade her to speak of this Jesus to any other Jew. Her son became a Christian and her husband said if their daughter also becomes a Christian it would mean the end of their marriage. It was either him or Jesus. Without her intervention her daughter found Christ and divorce soon followed.

I used to ask God what was it that He found good in the Jewish nation that he choose them to be revealed to the nations. In Zahava, I found the answer. When she found the Messiah, she became pure worship to Him. She has this joy and love towards God and man that is really seen. Her life glorifies God in all she does.

With this brief introduction to Zahava, let me continue with last night, which Zahava led for us. She started by saying that we must get that pagan name Easter out of our vocabulary because it is the name of a pagan goddess. The Jewish people see Easter as the celebration of this goddess and do not see the Messiah as he could never be in cohorts with this goddess. This is a big stumbling block for the Jews as there is only one God. The Messiah can not be associated in anyway with this goddess. Easter must go and celebration of His Death and Resurrection must take it's place.

The Haggadah is filled with symbolism and what was incredible was that all pointed towards Jesus as the Messiah. As Christians we can see them but for the Jewish people it just the story of remembrance of where they came from. Jesus is wired into that story. I do not want to go through the whole Haggadah and speak about all the symbolism as there are many and I might leave one out. But I do want to leave with you the most exciting one for me, the Yachatz or the breaking of the middle Matzah.Zahava then took three matzot or unleavened bread and folded them into a cloth or matzah tosh. She then took out the middle one also known as "the bread of affliction" and showed us the stripes and holes in it. She then broke it in two, the larger piece is then hidden and the smaller one put back. As Christians can you see where this is going? She told us that the Jews have many explanations for the three matzot. One of the explanations is that they represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But if this true, why do we break the matzah representing Isaac? He was only bound not broken.Abraham is known as the father of the nation, Isaac, the son of Abraham and Jacob represents the spirit of the Jewish people. But can you see the Father, Son and Spirit theme coming through? The hidden piece is called the afikoman which the Jews believe means dessert. But Zahava told us it is the only Greek word in the whole Haggadah and if you look up the meaning of this word it means "I come". This piece which is hidden will be later search for by the children for a reward. Doesn't this paint a beautiful picture of the Messiah?

Jesus the son of God was broken for us. He has gone away and will return soon to reward those who found Him. Jesus celebrated the Haggadah with His disciples the night He was betrayed. Imagine as He took the middle matzah and broke it and said "This is my body". How true were those words?