Does the Passover Seder Meal have spiritual truths pointing to Jesus’ Last Super?
There is a lovely symbolism of the Passover Meal – the Seder Meal.
Let’s look at a few of those items used in the Seder Meal:
The Kittel coat, the headwear, cups of wine, parsley, Matzah bread, an egg, stripes and holes in the bread and the Pascal lamb, the Passover lamb, all these are symbols that point beyond Moses’ Passover.
Table of Contents:
1. The Kittel coat shows the symbolism of the Passover Seder Meal
The Head of the house puts on a Kittel which resembles a Lab Coat, but has no pockets or buttons.
The origin of the Kittel comes from the priest’s clothes.
But NOT the High Priest’s elaborate garments.
When he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he wore simple linen garments.
The Kittel is a simple linen garment and it has a wonderful symbolism in the Passover:
It’s also used as a burial shroud:
The reason is that it is simple and it means that there is equality for all in death.
They are buried with nothing else – no worldly things and therefore the Kittel has no pockets.
Are we hoping to take anything with us when we die?
I wonder whether Jesus put on a Kittel at this Passover Meal to symbolise his burial.
John records that Jesus “laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him… When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place” 2 But John makes no mention of putting on a Kittel.
Traditionally the bridegroom wears a Kittel on his wedding day.
The bride wears her white wedding dress with no pockets, and the bridegroom wears the white Kittel with no pockets.
It is a symbol of marrying for love and not for what the other has got in their ‘pockets’!
The white is also a symbol of purity.
Guess what, Jesus is THE bridegroom!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Revelation 19:7-8 NIV
Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)”
Are we in love with Jesus?
2. At the Seder Meal, some Jewish groups wear a crown
The head of the house doesn’t put on a Jewish skullcap – the Kippah, which is a sign of respect.
He puts on a crown!
Not a pointed, flashy crown, but flat-topped with a low side.
He’s a humble king.
It is interesting that the Head of the Church, the King of Kings, could have put on a humble crown for the opening ceremony of bringing in the new Covenant!
3. The Headwoman of the Passover Seder Meal
At the Seder meal, the woman of the house then says a prayer and lights two candles.
The symbolism is that through a woman the Messiah would come and he would be the light of the world.
The prayer can be something like:
“Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has set us apart with your commandments and has commanded us to kindle these festive lights”.
4. The first cup of wine – the cup of sanctification.
This cup is all about being a chosen people, yes the Jews, but now all people who believe in Jesus.
The Head of the house picks up the cup of wine, the cup of sanctification and says a prayer:
“Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us among all peoples and has brought us forth from Egypt.”
Remember that Egypt represents being ensnared by the world and sin, but Jesus desires to have a people who are his:
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
a holy nation, a people belonging to God,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Everyone takes a sip from the cup of sanctification.
Then the Head of the house starts with Jacob (Genesis 25:26) and tells the story of the Jews and leads up to the time when they became slaves in Egypt.
5. A sprig of parsley, symbolic food
Dipping parsley into the salt water:
After taking a sip from the first cup of wine, everyone picks up the parsley, dips it into salt water and then tastes a bit.
Agh! That’s not nice!
This represents the Jew’s tears of slavery when they were in Egypt.
6. Matzah bread – symbolism of the Passover meal
Matzah (unleavened bread) and horseradish:
Then everyone takes some Matzah and dips it into the horseradish which represents the bitterness of the situation.
It is interesting to think of Judas at the Passover Meal and the moment when Jesus said:
The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.”
Matthew 26:23 NIV
Oh, the bitterness of the moment! Jesus is being betrayed.
7. A bowl of sweetness at the Passover Seder Meal
Another bowl with apples, cinnamon and honey:
This speaks of the promise of sweeter things to come.
The Matzah is dipped into this dish and it is nice and sweet after the last two dishes.
8. An egg is put into the flames
A hard-boiled egg:
In the modern Seder meal, there is a hard-boiled egg which is put into the flame of the candle and it is a symbol of mourning for the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Even to this day, there is no temple, no altar and no sacrifice.
The Jews tend to have chicken instead of lamb, and they just have a lamb bone on their table to symbolise the sacrifice of the Pascal (Passover) Lamb.
God wanted the old scheme of things to finish and for there to be a new Covenant.
By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and ageing will soon disappear.”
Hebrews 8:13 NIV
And the temple did soon disappear after the author of Hebrews had written that sentence in about 63-64 AD (see ‘When were the Gospels written?‘).
It was totally demolished in 70 AD.
9. The Pascal lamb – the Passover lamb:
At the centre of Passover is a sacrificed lamb.
In every house in Egypt at the time of the last plague, there was a death.
For the Egyptians, every firstborn male died – including the cattle:
Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.”
Exodus 11:5 NIV
For the Jews there was also a death in each house – not them, but a lamb.
They had to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on the doorposts and lintel.
That is how the Jews were spared.
And now, we are spared because of the Pascal Lamb:
John the Baptist said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ ”
John 1:29 NIV
That is the only way we can get our sins removed – through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
The spiritual reality of the Passover Meal is that the lamb is the Lamb of God, the Son of God.
Abraham prophetically answered Isaac by saying:
God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
Genesis 22:8 NIV
It could even be translated as:
God will provide himself…”
Genesis 22:8 NIV
10. Symbolic stripes and holes
The Matzah unleavened bread was often made with stripes and holes in it.
Wasn’t Jesus scourged with furrows and stripes and wasn’t he pierced by the nails, thorns and spear?
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
The apostle Paul connects Jesus’ crucifixion with the Passover sacrifice:
Our Paschal lamb, Christ has been sacrificed.”
1 Corinthians 5:7 –8 NIV
See this detailed article covering: [1] What is Communion is it the Passover meal?
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John 13:4-5 ESV ↩