Messianic Musings ~ The Missing Matzah

In our study this week Jesus was celebrating Passover with those closest to Him, the 12 Apostles.  You might not know the very first Passover was celebrated on the eve of the Exodus and still continues today as commanded in scripture.  God tells His people in Exodus 12:14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance". 

I have had the blessing and privilege of attending a Passover Seder on several occasions.  Actually, 'attending' isn't really the correct word - 'participating' would be much more accurate.  The guests are not just observers but are heavily engaged as they take part in the beauty of the tradition.  I have heard my friend, who hosts this celebration, say many times why she loves this day.  So many of the holidays we celebrate, even 'Christian' holidays, can take on a secular twist.  Passover is about the Lord, plain and simple.

The celebration of Passover centers on the reading of the haggadah.  This means 'the telling' and is the fulfillment of the commandment found in Exodus 13:8 "You shall tell your son on that day, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt'."  There is no way I could do justice to the richness of the Jewish traditions that surround the reading of the haggadah  in a short blog post so I am going to focus on just one aspect of the meal.

It says in Matthew 26:26 "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to His disciples".  According to the commentary I have been reading, the piece of bread Jesus took was a very specific piece of matzah.  (Matzah is the unleavened bread commanded by God to be used during Passover.)  The matzah would have been taken from a ceremonial container called the matzah tash.  What is special about the container is that it has three distinct compartments.  At the beginning of the Seder the matzah from the middle container is broken in half.  One half is put back in the matzah tosh and the other half is given a specific name, the afikoman.  The afikoman is wrapped in a napkin and hidden away for later in the meal.  At a specific point in the reading of the haggadah the children who are present are given the task of searching for the hidden afikoman.  The lucky finder is rewarded.  This piece of matzah  was the bread Jesus would have blessed and broken and distributed to the disciples.

Without doubt, the ceremony of the afikoman is ripe with symbolism, not just to the Jewish people who have celebrated the Passover for centuries, but to us as well.  Jewish scholars are not sure when this part of the ceremony was incorporated into the haggadah but the commentary I am using believes that the ceremony of the afikoman illustrates the full ministry of Jesus, the Messiah.  Jesus' appearance - when the matzah first appears in the meal.  Jesus' death - when the matzah is broken in half.  Jesus' resurrection - when the hidden matzah is found and revealed.

As we have seen before, God is very deliberate.  There are many things that He has ordained in the past that the meaning was not fully revealed until a later time.  Some of what God had ordained in the Old Testament has been revealed to us in New Testament times.  Some will not be revealed until the age to come!

"Praised are You, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, who sustains the world with goodness, with grace, and with infinite mercy.  You give food to every creature for your mercy endures forever."  (The Haggadah)

Messianic Musings ~ It's Not All About Me

As a child I was enthralled with optical illusions.  I would intently study theses pictures.  Initially I would see a certain image and then all of a sudden my perspective would change and an entirely different image would appear before my eyes.  It wasn't a magical transformation.  The image had been there all along - I just didn't see it.  This same thing has happened to me as I have been writing this series of posts on "Messianic Musings in Matthew".  God has been altering my biblical perspective.  I am a Gentile believer and I saw Scripture through those eyes.  Basically, it was all about me.

I have mentioned that I have been using Rabbi Barney Kazan's Messianic commentary called Matthew Presents Yeshiva, King Messiah.  I have been so blessed by what I have been studying. God has opened my eyes in a new way to the beauty of His love for His Chosen People, the Jews.  This has been especially evident as I have studied Matthew 24 and 25.

In these chapters, Jesus is on the Mount of Olives teaching His disciples about the End Times, also known as the Time of Jacob's Trouble or the Great Tribulation.  The commentary I have been reading, in addition to our Wiersbe study, both stress the Jewish context of these passages.  A few of the specific reasons why they believe this is the reference to the Sabbath (only a concern for the Jews) as well as the parable of the fig tree (a fig tree has always been a symbol of Israel).

This brings me to Matthew 25:31-45, the parable of the sheep and the goats. Much has been taught about this passage and respected biblical scholars hold different interpretations of its meaning.  The view presented by Rabbi Kasdan was different than I had ever heard taught. I ask you to think about it through fresh eyes - to consider, as I did, that it is not all about us.

Jesus was comparing the sheep to the goats as two different groups of people.  He said of the sheep, that they had met His needs by giving food, clothing, and helping in times of trouble.  On the other hand the goats did not do any of these things.  The sheep asked when did we do these things for You?  Jesus replied "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me" (Matt. 25:40).

It was my understanding that in this passage Jesus was reiterating the principle found throughout the Bible that we should help those in need - all those in need. While true, this is not what Rabbi Kasdan believes Jesus is saying here.  Jesus calls those in need "My brothers".  Kasdan goes on to say that this passage is not about Gentile believers helping other Gentiles but Gentile believers helping Jesus' brothers - the Jewish people. He goes on to say that this passage is about the important relationship between true Gentile believers and God's Chosen People. Putting this into the context of Jesus' teaching on the End Times, Rabbi Kasdan believes this is a strong warning to those who actually go through the Great Tribulation. The Bible prophesies that this will be a time of great suffering, especially for the nation of Israel. The Jewish people will be in great need. How Gentile believers act will be an accurate reflection of their authentic relationship with Jesus.

I leave you with a quote from Rabbi Kasdan: "The parable emphasizes that one of the best fruits for non-Jews will actually be their treatment of the Jewish people in their daily lives. Since the days of Abraham, God has given both a promise and a warning regarding how the nations treat Israel. Clearly, the fruit of one's salvation may be evident in many ways, but it is reasonable that the proper treatment of God's own people will be a direct manifestation of that fruit.  With respect to the parable of nations, are you a sheep or a goat?"  (Pp 325, 327).

Messianic Musings ~ What is Jesus Really Saying?

Has anyone ever said to you, "I want you to hear what I am NOT saying."?  Sometimes we may have a preconceived idea of what someone is going to say to us. When this happens we can hear what we think they are going to say rather what they are really saying. This can happen when we read Scripture as well. 

I think many of us began our study of Matthew with the presupposition that Jesus and the religious leaders, meaning all of the religious leaders, were on two sides of a battle. We have seen in Matthew that Jesus was often accused of taking a stand against the law of Moses and Jewish tradition. We have learned this was far from the truth. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them".  

Reading through Matthew 23, it might seem that Jesus is speaking against the Law. He has some harsh things to say to the scribes and Pharisees who have been confronting Him. Jesus speaks about their words, their actions, and even their attire. What we may hear is what He is NOT saying.

Let's look at what Jesus is saying specifically about their attire: "For they make their phylacteries broad " (v.5). You may be wondering what a phylactery is. This is a small leather box that during times of prayer would be worn on the arm and the forehead. Inside the box was a small scroll that would have the words of the Sh'ma on it. The Sh'ma is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might".  Deuteronomy 6:8 goes on to say: "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes".

So is Jesus criticizing the Pharisees for wearing them? Quite the contrary. Jesus Himself was an observant Jew and would have worn phylacteries of His own. Wearing these prayer boxes would be a beautiful fulfillment of the law given in Deuteronomy 6:8. What Jesus was condemning was that some of the Pharisees would make their prayer boxes very large. It was not about what they were doing, rather, why they were doing it. If small is good, than large would be much more holy, right? They were doing this for man to see, not to honor God.

We have seen again and again that Jesus is after our hearts. We may not wear phylacteries on our heads but I am sure we could take this example and apply it to some of the religious actions in our own lives. Perhaps you could ask God to show you if there is something you are doing that is more about what others see than the joy of pleasing Him.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10)