As I ate my orange and drank my hot tea this morning, I began reflecting on Chag HaMatzoh, and how it has impacted me over this past week. But first, if you are wondering why I am celebrating what most Christians would consider to be a “Jewish” festival, let me explain.
The fall of 2010, I asked the Lord to show me more of Himself. I needed more of Him, wanted more, craved more on a deeper level. So in faith I sat down at my dining room table, opened my Bible and said “Where Lord, should I begin reading”? He took me to the book of Leviticus! Wow, I thought, really?! I found myself fascinated with the Temple, and how it related to anything in the New Testament. Hmmmm, I know all of scripture is profitable…so I kept reading. I began to ask myself questions about why an individual must exit by the opposite door from which he entered. Wondered why there were three chambers in the Temple, also read about the stream that will one day flow from the Temple of God….all of this! What I learned with further study in the following days is that the Temple is a picture of our relationship with Yeshua (Jesus)! The first door, as you enter the Temple, is called “The Way”…..you know what’s coming next don’t you…..the second door is “The Truth”, and the door to the Holy of Holies is…yep you guessed it,….”The Life”! Outstanding!! I found Yeshua in the Old Testament! Why, over all the years since I have been attending church, has this never been taught to me, I wondered? The answer is because we live in a modern western, non-Israeli culture. We have no physical ties to the Jewish people, only spiritual. If we are serving a living Savior who was placed into the Jewish culture, the scriptures are Jewish books, and the commands God gave to Israel were for not only them, but for all those “who attach themselves to Israel”, whether foreigner or slave, should observe the same laws as Israel, then why aren’t we seeking teaching from saved Jewish teachers?! Their history books ARE the Bible, and they WROTE it! Makes sense… doesn’t it?
I later came to understand parables that made no sense from our western mindset (and no Christian commentator I have ever read had a clue to their meaning). I understand some of them now because they are Rabbinic teachings, idioms Jesus used with His disciples and followers! Think about this….the New Testament didn’t exist when Jesus was on the Earth. He taught from the Torah! Why then do we Christians spend most of our time in the New Testament? Yeshua IS Torah made alive….in other words, He fulfilled Torah (didn’t do away with it, as He said Himself!). Jesus showed us how to live Torah – He summed it up for us. Have you ever received a summary of a document, and wanted to read the original that the summary was written from? Many Christians say that because Jesus didn’t teach on the laws of the Torah, then we don’t need to follow them. But He only taught from Torah, so how could He have not taught the laws? They also say the Ten Commandments are all we need – well, that is the summary document of the laws of Torah. Don’t you want to read the original document the summary was written from? I do! Because I have found Yeshua in the Torah, I want to spend as much time as I can and learn more, deeper truths about Him, and I have and I continue to do so. Now, on to Chag HaMotzah.
Swallowing my last bit of orange, I realized I felt better this week than usual. I surmised that perhaps I don’t need to eat leavened bread…perhaps the yeast makes me feel icky. I connected the leaven to sin, and how sin in our life really messes us up! We will feel better (spiritually) when we stay away from it. 🙂 It only takes a little leaven (sin) to do so. So this week of self denial of regular bread was a good thing. God gave this festival as a reflection on the death of His son, how He removed sin from us once and for all, if we have repented of our sin (leaven) and asked Him to save us. Celebrating this festival brings me closer to Jesus in a tangible way – not just in my spirit, but in my flesh, my body. Everything we do should be an act of worship, and celebrating not only this festival, but all of them in the Bible, brings us closer to God in a very real way.
I learned that I have more discipline that I thought, and that I have been making excuses for myself in other areas of my life that need to stop. The festival of Chag HaMotzah runs for 7 days after Passover – so we eat only unleavened bread that week. All the leavened bread, yeasts, any type of leavens, are removed from the home. It’s kind of challenging to put together some meals, but it brings God into even the process of fixing a meal, going grocery shopping, etc. As we reflect on what I eat this week, it brings to mind the laws regarding food in the Old Testament.
Do you believe, really believe that God loves you, and wants the best for you? Why do so many Christians think that these laws are so burdensome? God loves you and wants you to be healthy and happy. He restricts some foods because of this, I would guess. You know what, when I stopped eating high cholesterol seafood (bottom dwellers like crab, lobster, things without scales), my cholesterol went down. I also have stopped eating pork. In the Jewish culture, Beef is considered a very rich, luxurious meat. A rabbi I know says he thinks that the marriage supper of the Lamb will include big old Rib eyes! So, while I do eat beef, I imagine what the beef must be like from cows with no curse on them! lol YUM! Okay, I’ll stop rambling now. God has reasons for the laws, and they were not all punitive.
I would challenge you to reflect on the goodness of God, and how the commandments relate to a Christian…someone who is SAVED. Jesus said “If you love me, keep my commandments”. I don’t think it only means in the spiritual sense, or only as it regards charity, but those things are excellent. God wants us to literally “eat Him”! Not only ingest His words, but physically connect to Him through food as an act of worship…after all, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Passover seder (seder means “order”) taught me as well, that there were four cups of wine served at the table when Jesus sat down at Passover with His disciples. The cup mentioned in the NT scriptures was the 3rd cup in the seder…the cup of redemption. I am not comfortable divorcing this one cup from the other three in a once a month communion, because God has a reason for putting as a third cup – I may not know what that is right now, but I want to honor Him by taking this cup at Passover, and not every month or whenever “communion” is served. When Jesus said “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,..” doesn’t mean, according to the Rabbi, any time you decide to take it. It means as often as you celebrate Passover… BUT, I don’t judge those who do otherwise. I was once in that spot. 🙂
I pray that this little blog hasn’t put you out (irritated or angered) you. It wasn’t meant to. I write this in the spirit of love and to share what I have learned with you. I am on a journey, but the journey is meant to be shared. Will you stay with me? God bless.
cduty 