בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶעָשַנִי יִשְרַאֵל
Blessed are You, Adonai
our God, King of the universe, who has made me a part of Israel.
Shalom members and friends
of Tikvat Yisrael. Last Shabbat, “Shabbat
Hagadol”, rabbis typically give an annual “drasha” on how to prepare for
Pesach. While we were busy with the
African-Jewish Presence in the Bible outreach, I am instead sending this
message in lieu.
The above blessing is part
of the Birkat Hashachar (morning blessings), recited each morning, thanking God
for creating us as we are, as members of the Covenant with Israel. This reminds me of the purpose of this
message. Whether you are born under the
law, or you were born outside the law, (non-Jewish); the D’var Elohim reminds
us that we have all been brought near and made members of the Commonwealth of
Israel.
What does it mean to be a
member of the “Commonwealth of Israel”?
There are many answers to this question, however speaking directly to a
Messianic Jewish Community, at this season of the year it is my endeavor to
remind you of your covenantal responsibility as a member of the Commonwealth of
Israel. You are no longer foreigners and
outsiders, you have been brought near and you are qualified in your faith in
the Messiah of Israel to practice the Seder in preparation for His eventual
return for His Bride, and the wedding supper of the Lamb!
Today, April 18, 2016 on
the Hebrew calendar is 10 Nisan, 5776. What
is significant of the 10th of Nisan?
Exodus 12:3 Tell all the
congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take
a lamb for his family one lamb for the household…. 5 Your lamb
is to be without blemish, a year old male. You may take it from the sheep or
from the goats. 6 You must watch
over it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.
The Torah instructs us
that this day is the beginning of “Preparation Week”. You are to be preparing for the Lord’s
Passover. On Friday night, April 22nd
at sundown is the beginning of this festival of the Lord. This should be on the minds of each and every
believer in our community.
Some of you may be new to
all of this as you have begun the transition out of “Babylon”, others have been
at Tikvat now for years and you should be familiar at least with the basics of
the Passover. A “Moad” מוֺעָד in Hebrew means an “Appointed Time”. In other words, you have an “APPOINTMENT WITH
GOD”!!
If this is how the Bible describes this appointed time,
how much more should we who are believers, members of the covenant take this
day seriously? Again, it starts Friday
night at Sundown; and today is the beginning of the preparations. So, how do you prepare?
We prepare both physically and spiritually.
First, the physical.
We don’t take lambs because there is no Temple to slaughter them, this
doesn’t mean we don’t prepare however.
We begin by cleaning out our homes.
Spring Cleaning. It is time to
clean your homes. Also, begin to plan
your Seder meal, shopping, invitations, open your homes and be hospitable. By Friday afternoon, you have searched your
homes for all Chametz (yeast and leavening) and remove it by either destroying
it through burning, or throw it away and renounce it at the same time. It is not to be in our homes. (i.e. no possession). It is NOT a Messianic practice to sell it to
Gentiles and then buy it back after the holiday. So it is best to stop buying chometz products
weeks in advance so that you have a minimal amount to throw away or destroy
this week. Keep in mind all of the “hidden
chometz”. Cookies, pretzels, breaded
chicken in your freezer; even the Ice Cream sandwiches have yeast in them! Don’t forget to clean out your toaster and
toaster ovens. Why are we so meticulous at
removing the chometz, does God really care about all this?
I Corinthians 5: 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t
you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new
unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been
sacrificed. 8 Therefore
let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The Physical affects the Spiritual. We go through this exercise each and every
year as a reminder of the complexities and the difficulties of removing all of
the sin and pride in our lives. If we
think it is arduous to remove every little crumb of bread from our homes, how
much more difficult is it to renounce and repent and remove every little sin
and white lie from our lives? Do you
think it was “simple” for Yeshua to atone for your sin?
It is NO EASY TASK! The least we can do, is to prepare for Seder
night by practicing the Spiritual exercise of cleansing. Do it with your family, do it with your
kids. Do it by yourself if you have to,
it is a spiritual discipline and by doing it, YOU are the one who
benefits.
Then when you sit down for your Seder meal
this Friday night, at the Appointed Time, you are engaging in the covenant as a
member of the Commonwealth of Israel.
This is no cheap religious exercise.
Don’t dismiss it or think it is not important anymore. There is a great reward for those who grasp
hold of their covenant relationship and take it seriously.
You have a covenant, a
heritage, you have a place at the table with the Messiah, with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and his 12 sons and the 12 Shaliachim! You are a Messianic believer grafted into the
covenant with Israel. It is time we take
hold of our heritage and do it!
Will there be
opposition? Will there be people who
mock you and ridicule you and question why you are doing this? Certainly.
What happened to our fathers when they came back from Babylon to rebuild
the Temple?
Ezra 4: 4 Then the
peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them
afraid to go on building. 5 They bribed officials to work
against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of
Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Don’t be discouraged. You are rebuilding the ancient foundations of
the faith that were stolen and broken down for generations in your family. Yes you can expect opposition, both physically
from those you love and especially spiritually from the enemy of your
soul. The Passover continuously was
forgotten by Israel over the millennia and had to be restored by Kings and
Prophets. Just because you may have
people in your family who don’t get it and question you, don’t allow that to
stop you.
I have attached to this message a handy
Messianic Jewish Preparation Guide and Haggadah for you to use for your
personal Seder this Friday night and Saturday night. Use it.
If you are single and alone, and find
yourself without a Seder to attend or host, then call on your Mishpocha at
Tikvat, make friends and ask around about Seders. If you have a family and can host a Seder,
invite the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the downtrodden, the lonely, open
your home on this night and BE HOSPITABLE!
IT IS A MITZVAH!
Matthew 22: 22 Yeshua answered and spoke to them again
in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who made a wedding feast for his son. 3 He sent out his servants to call those who were
invited to the wedding feast, but they wouldn’t come…. 7 Now the king became furious!
Sending his troops, he destroyed those murderers and set fire to their city.8 “Then
he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were
invited were not worthy. 9 So go
into the highways and byways, and invite everyone you find to the wedding
feast.’ 10 And those servants went
out into the highways and gathered together all they found, both bad and good;
and the wedding was filled with guests.
The Wedding Supper of the
Lamb is a Passover Seder, and Yeshua told this Parable. Many are invited but few will come. It is a mitzvah to host others at your table,
just as it is during to Sukkot to invite guests to your Sukkah.
No one should be without a
Seder to attend this Friday evening.
This is also why it is important to join a Havurah Group during the
week. Cleveland Heights, Parma, and
Mayfield all meet weekly and Tikvat has other small groups that meet as
well. We are all responsible to get
plugged in, and not separate ourselves from the community.
Most of everything in the
Torah is observed in “family” environments.
For example, you can’t have a Seder without children to ask the 4 questions
and search for the Afikomen. Likewise,
how do you properly light Shabbos candles without a lady of the house, and
bless the children? The Torah says of
the Passover:
Exodus 12: 4 But if the household is too small
for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor are to take one according to the
number of the people. According to each person eating, you are to make your
count for the lamb.
You are supposed to OPEN YOUR HOME to your
neighbor if their household is too small.
If someone is single, or a widow and they have no one to celebrate with…
this is a COMMANDMENT.
Friends, this message is an appeal to make
Passover as important or even MORE IMPORTANT than Thanksgiving. We live in a society that forgets God’s
commandments and makes laws and customs that deteriorate the family unit. Even the Body of Messiah has assimilated to a
“once a week religious experience” where Sunday is the only day of the week
where a believer rubs shoulders with other believers, and if it is a “mega-church”
you can get lost in the crowd without ever being noticed.
Friends, this is NOT the way God intended for
believers to live. We have to change our
community, one family at a time. We must
not neglect the Mika Kodesh (the holy gathering) (Hebrews 10:25), but we must
also not make the Shabbat the only time we gather.
Hebrews 13:2 Tree of Life Version
(TLV)
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers—for in
doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Friends, if Passover hasn’t
been on your radar this year, it’s not too late. Make today, Nisan 10 the beginning. Use the
attached Preparation Guide, just do it.
You won’t regret it and make it your annual observance.
Practice it year in and
year out so that we will be ready for the Day.
Remember that you have been brought near, you are now a member of the
Commonwealth of Israel, you have an Appointed Time scheduled by the Almighty
Himself, and he expects to meet with you this Friday night.
Start preparing now.
B’ahava Yeshua,
Rabbi Eric
To download the Preparation Guide & Haggadah click here: 2016 Passover Prep & Haggadah.pdf
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