MEMORY VERSE
This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 (NIV)
Ever celebrated a holiday? Ever wonder why it was called a holiday? Well, it was originally HOLY DAY! A holy day was a day set aside to remember or celebrate something very important to the church. They are days that we take time out of our lives to worship God for specific things He has done in the past.
To give an example of Holiday Worship, we decided to explore one of the most important holidays to the Jewish people that also became very special to the Christian Church: Passover. This week's story took place over such a long period of time that we had to use a time machine to experience it all in our short class period!
First, we went all the way back to ancient Egypt in the year 1450 B.C. Moses had just told Pharaoh to let God's people, the Children of Israel, go. Pharaoh refused so God stepped in. He sent nine horrible plagues (really bad things) to cause Pharaoh to regret defying God: turning the water to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, killed the livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and even darkness. None of this budged the Pharaoh's hard heart. So God decided to send one more devastating plague.
God saw that the only way to get Pharaoh to give up was to take the life of every first born son in Egypt, including Pharaoh's! God told Moses that he was sending an Angel of Death to do this but that there was a way to protect the Israelites. They were to take a perfect lamb that had nothing wrong with it and sacrifice it, painting the top and sides of their doors with its blood. That way, the angel would see the blood and pass over their home. This is how Passover got its name. It worked! Pharaoh knew he was beaten and let the Israelites go. (The parting of the Red Sea happened a little later)Then we got back into the time machine and went forward to the year 520 B.C. This is the year that a great prophet named Zechariah foretold how Israel's king would arrive in Jerusalem on a donkey.
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9 (NIV)
Back into the time machine we went and traveled forward to the year 33 A.D. When we got out of the time machine we found ourselves just outside Jerusalem only five days before Passover. Jesus was just arriving with his Disciples along with thousands of other Jews from all over who came to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.
Jesus sent some of His disciples to go fetch a special donkey that had never been ridden. He even told them where to find it and how to convince its owners to let them have it! Jesus then got on the donkey and began riding into Jerusalem.
The people must have remembered Zechariah's prophecy because they grabbed palm branches and began waving them and laying them, as well as their coats, on the road in front of him. They even started shouting "HOSANNA! (Which means Save, we pray). Blessed is the King of Israel!" This did not make the Pharisees happy. They told Jesus to quiet the crowd down. Jesus told them, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40 NIV)
Five days later, Jesus and His disciples got together in an upper room to eat the Passover meal (which is called a SEDER). Before they could eat, Jesus got up and began washing the disciples' feet, a job usually meant for the servants. At first, Peter didn't want Jesus to wash his feet. He thought that Jesus was too important to be washing anyone's feet! Jesus explained that He needed to do it or else Peter would have no place in His Kingdom.
Jesus was showing, by example, how we should be servants to others.
Afterwards, Jesus gave them some bad news. He said that one of them would betray him! They were all shocked! One by one they asked Him if they were the one until, lastly, Judas Iscariot asked, "Is it me?" Jesus, who already knew it was Judas, told him that what he was going to do he had better do quickly. He didn't even try to stop him!!! Judas left without anyone knowing why.
After dinner, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and passed it out to the Disciples. He said, "This represents my body which is going to be broken for your sake." (paraphrase) Then He took His cup of wine and said "This represents My blood which is being poured out so your sins can be forgiven." (paraphrase) We still celebrate this ceremony today. It is called communion.
We will pick this story up where we left off next week as we learn about Altar Worship and the greatest Christian Holiday there is: EASTER!
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