Today, the day that the Body of Jesus lay in the grave... perfect and sinless, is represented here by this special bread. We know that on the second day Jesus was with the thief in "paradise" but his body remained in the grave. We also know that Jesus did not go to hell to take our punishment as some believe, because on the cross Jesus said, "It is finished!" So he was laid to rest in the grave, without sin, for He had been a perfect sacrifice.
The day Jesus died on a cross was on the same day of the month that the Hebrews left Egypt 1500 years eariler, this event is recorded for us in Exodus 12 , is known as the "Passover" and was established as a tradition in Leviticus 23. No other feast or celebration on earth has run longer; running every year for nearly 3500 years! This box of Passover Matyos baked under the supervision of the chief rabbi of GIVATAYM are strictly kosher. They are made on Jobotinsky Rd. Benei-Brak 51228, Israel. But does this rabbi even know what they represent?
I just received them as a gift from our old neighbor Rosental and his mother Sarah after a short visit with them. I had not seen Sarah in almost a year...and the fact that she was 91 then......I didn't even know if she was still alive. She is 92 now and carried on a very polite conversation with me. I had no translator and she very paitently put up with my very bad romanian. Any way, we talked for quite a while. She said over and over that she is so sad that we are not her neighbors anymore. (We moved to an apartment that is near our hold house) You might remember my asking you to pray for our 90 year old Jewish neighbor whose name just "happened" to be Sarah! Well, when Rosental presented this box to me it gave me an opportunity to ask some questions. (it is interesting to me that before WWII, Sarah taught at a school in Soroca, Moldova, where I recieved my call to missions in June of 2002) She began to explain the Exodus in detail. But it was all about the bread. I began to ask about the lamb. She had no answers. I tried to ask them questions about the instructions to put lamb's blood on the door post. This is where the conversation picked up abit ......
Sarah became a little upset. She began to tell me that there was NO BLOOD, that was a myth, a Christian myth. There was only bread- no blood. The Torah said nothing about the blood and she began to ask Why? Why Blood? Pentru Ce?...."for what?" She just kept saying it over and over. I asked Rosental where the Bible was that I gave him a year ago. He promptly went into the next room and brought it back. I opened to Exodus 12 and had him read verse 7. "They are to take the Lambs blood and smear it on the top and sides of the doorframe of the house where the lamb was eaten? Sarah insisted..."e nu adeverat" " is not true" and said, "E nu scrie acolo" -"is not written there!" I was amazed at how she was fighting this truth from her own Torah....forget the symbolic nature of the blood and lamb. She outright said that the Torah was wrong......! I find it ABSOLUTELY AMAZING that the "blood of the Lamb" in that story which so perfectly represents the death of Christ, the lamb that takes away the sins of the world..is such a picture of Christ's death that this dear Jewish lady has been taught to totally ignore this critical part of the story....the "blood of the lamb." Even though it has been a part of their tradition for over 3500 hundred years.
We who have had our sins forgiven through the "blood of the Lamb" know that she is blinded by the god of this world. Please pray for Sarah and Rosental. You know as well as I do that "all must be born again" this includes those from the nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham,.....pray that we can reach her somehow, some way soon....at the age of 92 we must ask ourselves......how much longer could she possibly live? We must pray for the salvation of her soul and that her eyes will be opened to the richness of her own heritage through which came forth the Savior of the World. The Lamb that came from God. The Lamb that takes away the sins of the world- John 1:29.
