Weekly D'rash Tzav

This week there is a special Shabbat. In addition to its being the weekly day of rest, it is the Shabbat before Passover. It is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath. According to Jewish tradition, the day that the lamb was chosen for sacrifice (10th of Nisan) fell on Shabbat when the Egyptian Passover took place. Regardless of the date, we commemorate this Shabbat before Passover as a “Great Shabbat.”  Another reason for the Great Shabbat before Passover is that it is on this day that we refresh our memory of the Haggadah and the story of the Exodus. This is in addition to the normal Torah reading and d’rash. In other words, it is a long Shabbat of learning!

Another reason for the Great Shabbat is that the haftarah portion for the day comes from end of the book of the prophet Malachi which describes the coming of the Messiah. An underlying tradition in Judaism is that the Messiah will come at Passover. That is why we open the door for Elijah and there is an empty seat at the seder table. It is also why in several parts of the Haggadah, the days of Messiah are mentioned. A newer tradition developed by Chabad is to have a third seder at the end of the holiday called Messiah’s seder, which looks forward to the final redemption. I have always found it interesting that at the end of the book of Revelation, we read about a joyous victory meal called the “marriage supper of the lamb.”  Like the Seder, it commemorates the consummation or final redemption at the end of the age.

This year on Shabbat HaGadol we will remember the coming of the Messiah, the Lamb of God, with Messiah’s Table. We will take the matzo and the cup remembering the past, present, and future redemption. This prelude to the Seder is a significant day for us. I hope you will be with us this coming Shabbat.

We are reminded in the Haggadah that our redemption had (has) the dual meaning of freedom from slavery in Egypt and from an environment of false worship. Another way of saying this is that our redemption is really freedom to be a slave of God and to live the life that he intended which is a robust life of joy, satisfaction, significance, and hope.

The focus at the seder is the sacrifice lamb. May I suggest that this was a kind of peace offering. The instructions in Exodus 12 sound like Leviticus 7:11–15. These verses describe the thanksgiving motivation for the peace offering. It was to be eaten along with unleavened bread, and none of it could be left over until morning. In Leviticus, the thank offering was an act of faithfulness and devotion to God. The Passover lamb was offered as an act of devotion to God, but it was unique because it literally saved the life of the firstborn and led to freedom.

When Paul says that Messiah is our Passover sacrificed for us, he uses all this symbolism. We become as the firstborn—having new life which is symbolized by unleavened bread. This is why he says, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:7–8)

By using the analogy of the Passover lamb, Paul is emphasizing the robust life of shalom in all of its semantic range. He is not emphasizing the forgiveness of sin (even though it is implied), because neither the thank offering nor the Passover sacrifice was for the forgiveness of sins. It was for deliverance. Yes, we receive deliverance because of the atonement, but Paul is emphasizing deliverance, being a slave of God, and embracing new life. (When John says, “behold the lamb who came to take away the sins of the world,” may I suggest that he is using the word “lamb” as a general word for sacrifice for sin, but not necessarily the Passover lamb). Paul is saying, remember your deliverance and quit living the old life!

This is a great message for us. Let us remember our deliverance and new life in Messiah. Old things have passed away. Let us rid ourselves of the leaven (sin) in our lives and be who we really are—“unleavened.” As the writer of Hebrews says, “ . . . let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Yeshua . . . (Heb. 12:1–2).

As we come to Shabbat HaGadol and the celebration of Passover, may we set our heart on living in the Messianic freedom that Yeshua has provided for us!

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Rabbi Howard