Ten Ways to Find Messiah in the PassoverSample

The Messiah Will Wipe Away Our Tears

Early in the Passover Seder, we dip parsley in saltwater. This act is a reminder of the bitterness of Israelite slavery in Egypt. Specifically, the saltwater represents the tears of the Israelites as they cried out to God for deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 2:23). Familiarity with the exodus story should not numb us to the gravity of the Israelites’ predicament. Egypt rigorously imposed hard labor on the Jewish people. If the Israelites did not comply with their orders, their Egyptian guards would beat and abuse them (Exodus 2:11). In addition, the saltwater reminds us that Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives not to allow any male babies to live. Since the midwives refused to carry out this evil plot, Pharaoh ordered his people to drown all male Hebrew children (Exodus 1:17–22).

At that time, the Israelites were oppressed—with no end in sight. They desperately needed a deliverer, and God met their need by calling Moses to deliver them from their physical bondage. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul also spoke of sin as another form of slavery (Romans 6). At Passover, the tears of slavery remind us not only of our bondage to Pharaoh but also of the seriousness of sin and the suffering it causes. Like Israel in Egypt, we could not save ourselves. We needed God to rescue us. He did so through the Messiah Yeshua, who, in this larger sense, frees us from bondage to sin and death. We still have troubles and sorrow in the world (John 16:33). However, as the children of Israel longed to enter the Promised Land, we look forward to when God will bring the new heaven and new earth.