April 7 – “Charoset and maror”

 

 

We celebrated Maundy Thursday here at the house during Life group this week.  We did a Seder.  Well, sort of.  It was more of a Seder teaching.  One of the biggest cultural lessons we learned was just how long one of those meals would have taken.  Hours.  So we didn't actually go through the whole thing.  I just skimmed through it and pointed out some key teaching elements and how they related to what Jesus was doing at the Last Supper. 

 

It was kind of hard to prepare for.  One of the things that is quite prominent on display is a lamb's shankbone.  It represents the lamb that had to be sacrificed so the Israelites could put its blood on the doorposts of their house and thus be passed over by the angel of death.  Apparently no one has old bones any more.  Cost cutting measures have made local butchers a thing of the past.  How terribly sad.  Now the WalMarts and Krogers and Randalls of the world just have the meat shipped into the store already wrapped.  I did have a brainstorm, though.  I went over to the dog section to see if they had anything that looked close.  I did find one that looked very authentic.  It was an actual bone that had been roasted or barbecued or something, in fact, with some traces of meat left on it.  I had it almost in the basket, but my sense of purity got the better of me.  I just couldn't bring myself, in this teaching about a highly significant Jewish event, to put the thigh bone of a pig on the table.  That would have been – what? – sacrilegious?  Instead I used one of those chew toy things that is shaped to look like a bone.  Cailyn was with me when I got it, and she was very excited that Fritz and Heidi would have a new toy.  In fact she spoke up for them.  She was sure that one bone would never be enough for the two of them.  I had to put back her choice.  It was a bag full of bones.

 

We learned some new Hebrew words - charoset and maror.  Lots of grape juice flowed.  We tasted parsley and horseradish (Well, I didn't eat the horseradish.  I have tried it before and just a small taste would have torn up my stomach).  There were some boiled eggs (Though Jennifer didn't eat those – she assured us that she would have vomited all over the room.  That wouldn't have been a pretty picture).  I even made some of the charoset stuff – granny smith apples and walnuts and honey and cinnamon (Chris said I put in too much cinnamon.  The recipe called for one fourth of a tablespoon.  That couldn't possibly have been enough).  I left out the wine.  Didn't even substitute grape juice, though I thought about it.  It seemed kind of dry to me.  Much better than the horseradish, though.  Generally speaking, I think it went well.  Ann was already planning for next year.  She volunteered to roast a lamb so we could have the whole feast and see what it felt like to do the whole thing.  For that we'd need to enlist the help of our Messianic Jewish friends, I think.  Hmm.

 

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 says, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."

 

Father, thank you for the unspeakable sacrifice you made for us.  Amen.