Matthew 26:18 HE replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘THE TEACHER says: MY appointed time is near, I am going to celebrate the Passover with MY disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as JESUS had directed them and prepared the Passover. (See also Luke 22:10-11; Mark 14:13-14) [New International Translation]
Matthew 28:5-7 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be frightened!” he said. “I know you are looking for JESUS, who was crucified, but HE isn’t here! For HE has come back to life again, just as HE said HE would. Come in and see where HIS body was lying….And, now, go quickly and tell HIS disciples that HE has risen from the dead, and HE is going to Galilee to meet them there. This is my message to them.” [Living Bible Translation]
Summary
Passover 2019 will begin at sundown on Friday, April 19th. The Passover Seder is the Jewish feast or meal that marks the beginning of the Passover holiday, which many will celebrate for eight days. In Matthew 26:18, JESUS describes his intent to celebrate the Passover meal with his disciples—the members of his close community. The Seder is a community and often a multigenerational meal. It is a meal of instruction. Is it a meal that describes survival, overcoming and about how GOD intervened into the lives of HIS people. The LORD instructed Moses:
And you shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
Exodus 13:8. Passover tells the story. A story can be told in a number of ways---through song, prayer, through the reading of scripture, recitation and by means of food or the dishes served. The Passover plate tells a story. The plate contains “symbolic foods” that are arranged to tell the story of slavery and Divine Intervention. The six items on the plate include:
- Maror and Chazeret: Two types of bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the Jewish slavery in Ancient Egypt. For maror, many people use horseradish or horseradish root. Chazeret is typically romaine lettuce, whose roots are bitter-tasting.
- Charoset: A is a sweet, brown, paste of fruits and nuts, symbolic of the mortar the Jewish slaves used during their years of forced labor in Egypt.
- Karpas: A is typically a vegetable other than bitter herbs, usually parsley but sometimes cel-ery or cooked potato, which is dipped into salt water or vinegar often at the beginning of the Seder.
- Zeroa: A roasted lamb or goat bone, symbolizes sacrifice. The roasted lamb was eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
- Beitzah: A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Some view the hard-boiled egg as symbolic of mourning.
See, www.wikipedia.org and www,chabad.org.
The plate tells the story.
On Friday, April 19th, the same day that Passover begins, many Christians around the world will also commemorate and observe “Good Friday” or “Holy Friday.” In many Christian churches, seven preachers will mount a pulpit and preach about JESUS’ crucifixion death on Calvary. They will preach what is known as “The Seven Last Words of CHRIST,” seven recorded statements found in the scripture that JESUS spoke before HIS death on the cross. They will tell the story…of JESUS and HIS sacrificial LOVE for humanity.
On the Sunday after “Good Friday,” on Resurrection Sunday, another story will be told. Some churches may have children’s plays or programs. Some churches will have sunrise services. Some Sunday school teachers and church preachers and speakers will review the events of the resurrection found in Matthew 28, when the angel spoke to the women at the entrance of a burial site, where a stone was rolled away and the women shown an empty tomb, so they could see the body was not there. The women were told HE had risen from the dead and instructed to tell others---to tell the story.
Later when JESUS appeared to the disciples, they too would be told to “tell the story”---the story of salvation and victory.
As people of faith, our job is to “Tell the Story.” Many will celebrate their own survival, the survival of their families, including their church families. Many will celebrate the GOODNESS OF GOD, including GOD’s sacrifice, love and mercy toward us. Many will celebrate just being “in the number” of gatherers “one more time.” Some will just be grateful and able to “Tell the Story,” as a living witness and recipient of GOD’s love. One writer listed a number of reasons for telling the Christian story, including the following:
I love to tell the story; I love to tell the story;
’Twill be my theme in glory For some have never heard
To tell the old, old story The message of salvation
of Jesus and His love. From God’s own holy Word.
I love to tell the story;
It did so much for me;
And that is just the reason
I tell it now to thee.
MY PLATE.GOV
The Dietary Guidelines for American, 2015-2020, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published The Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years, since 1980. USDA publishes guidelines because half of all Americans have one or more chronic diseases, usually related to poor diet. The Guidelines and the USDA’s symbolic representation of a healthy meal by the “My Plate.gov” picture tries to convey the message that every meal that American’s eat, every food choice we make and everything we eat and drink over time matters.
Half of the items on the plate are fruits and vegetables. The message the plate conveys is the importance of vegetables, fruit and grains. The plate suggests avoiding eating sweets and des-serts.
The next time you fix a plate at home examine what your plate looks like. What story does your plate tell about you and your future?
TELL YOUR STORY
Just as a plate can tell a story so can a life. Part of the life we live includes the numerous plates we create/fix each and every day. Part of the life includes whether we exercise or don’t. Part of the life we live includes whether we care for the least among us, how we respond to injustice, whether we care for children, how welcoming we are to others, or even whether to see the church as a mere brick, mortar, wooden or stone building, or the church as GOD’s people.
So, tell your story too. Speak the WORD. Live the WORD. Pray and strive for greater spiritual and physical health. Pray that our lives become “acceptable” examples of GOD’s living WORD in our homes, our communities, in our physical places of worship and in the world.
So, tell the story. Live it. And BE BLESSED!
_______________________
From, “I Love To Tell The Story,” lyrics by Katherine Hankey (1834-1911)
