This year I planned our family’s first Seder dinner. Why, one may ask, did I decide to incorporate a distinctly Jewish tradition into our family’s observance of Holy Week? Am I just trying to be cool? Are Good Friday and Easter celebrations not enough? Isn’t this a pretty clear example of inappropriate cultural appropriation? I understand the questions and wrestled with them, myself. And I chose to host a Christian Seder. Here’s why.
The traditional Jewish Seder originates in Exodus 12. On their final night in Egypt, each household was to sacrifice a perfect lamb and use its blood to paint their doorframe. This would be a sign to protect God’s children from the final plague of death that would execute God’s judgment on those who held them captive. Safely inside, they were to eat a meal including roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs in preparation for their hasty departure the following day (Exodus 12:8). Then God instructed, “this day shall be fore you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast… And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses” (12:14, 26-27). So then around these three basic elements of eating roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, an entire service with other symbolic foods, liturgies, and traditions has developed.
It was while sharing this Passover meal with his disciples that Jesus added new layers to the ancient symbolism. “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom’” (Matthew 26-29).
Throughout the centuries the Jewish people have often suffered mercilessly in the name of Christ. Thus, I believe Christians must be very honest about our potential for insensitivity, disrespect, and even abuse. Personally, it doesn’t feel right for me, a Gentile Christian in my late 30s, to suddenly educate myself online in order to teach myself a tradition formed within a community of people who have been honoring it for centuries.
However, the apostle Paul does say that as a Gentile I have been grafted into God’s chosen people. As such, I am moved by God’s directives in the book of Exodus to establish this feast as a memorial forever. And finally, I’m awed to think of the formative power of these ceremonies when I consider that the Jewish people have held onto their identity as a people and the promises of God for over 4000 years, even while the majority of that time was spent living as scattered exiles in a myriad of countries. As a mother, I take seriously my calling to diligently teach my children.
For all of these reasons, I have chosen to begin this tradition in my family, structuring our Seder only around the four traditional questions asked by children in regards to the four foods identified in the biblical narrative (lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and I have added grape juice or wine). However, at this point I will not incorporate what I consider to be the more cultural elements, such as the hiding of afikomen, the presence of a boiled egg, and the particulars of the liturgy (aside from the four questions). If I were to ever be invited to participate in a Jewish Seder either in a synagogue or with a Messianic congregation, I would love to go! But this isn’t something I feel good about pursuing on my own. I acknowledge that there is plenty of room for different perspectives and criticism of my approach, but this is how I have reconciled the tension in my own heart and mind.
For more information I strongly encourage you to seek out the wealth of information online about the particulars of a Jewish Seder! Most of the traditional elements were used before Jesus’ life on earth, so I’ve loved learning about the way he likely celebrated with his family and disciples! I just don’t feel comfortable practicing these details, myself.