This is a Kregel Book Review: Enjoy!
In college, God preserved me walking away from the church by sitting me in the synagogue. That may not make a lot of sense, but it was the way that God connected with me and it’s where I learned a lot more about this Jewish Messiah named Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew). MY family couldn’t understand why I wanted to attend a synagogue, especially when Jews didn’t believe in a Messiah, but because of that time in the synagogue, I was able to learn how Christianity was never supposed to be separate from Judaism, instead it was supposed to be a reformed version; a merciful, grace-filled version of Judaism.
So when it came time to read Messiah in the Passover I couldn’t resist! I knew that I just had to read this book—especially if it meant that I could read more books that had been edited by Mitch Glasser.
Written by the Staff of Chosen People Ministries, I knew that I probably had a great resource for the professional who has already attended seminary. While I feel that I do completely already understand how Jesus fulfilled the feasts of Israel because of where I had walked in faith already, I wanted to to see how “Lay-friendly” this book is. We are coming upon a time in US history where we are either going to stand nor abandon Israel. Many so-called mainline christian denominations are starting to preach both anti-Israeli rhetoric and replacement theology—so I wanted to make sure this was a resource that I could hand over or suggest to people who are 1) curious about Jesus and how He fulfills the Passover and 2) could be used as a teaching tool in my own ministry within the Methodist Church.
The layout of the book is great and flows extremely well! Set up in 5 parts the book, starts with biblical foundations of the Passover in Torah, then throughout the old testament; then to the Passover and church history; next you explore Jewish Traditions of the Passover; after that the communication of the Gospel through the Passover and finally celebrating the Messiah in the Passover.
Passover in the Torah
As many know the meat of the story of the Passover is in Exodus; every year, every Jewish home recounts the Exodus story. However, if we really delve into the story of Passover, we’ll note that Passover doesn’t begin in Exodus, rather the Passover story starts in Genesis. The Passover isn’t just a story about God saving a people that were in danger of being abolished through slavery, instead it’s a blue print of God’s redemptive plan! No matter the characters from Abram to Moses, God’s blueprint is there—how He will save the world.
Church History and the Passover
Instead of starting with a reconstruction on how the early church celebrated Passover; this section starts with how the early Jews celebrated in the 1st century. Then it goes on to give us an example of how the Christians celebrated Passover and what we now call The Lord’s Supper.
Jewish Tradition and the Passover
Pretty cut and dry right? Not exactly. The understanding of Passover has changed through out history, thanks to the Jewish writings about Passover—this includes the Talmud. Needless to say that Judaism is multifaceted; and because of that, so is the interpretation and understanding of Passover.
Communicating the Gospel through the Passover
When I was in the synagogue one day, I had a Holocaust survivor come to me and tell me “Rachel, it is easy for you to come to the synagogue; especially since we claim to believe in the same God—but it is very difficult for a Jewish person to go to a Church, because you also have Jesus.” Another gentleman in the congregation used to get angry when I would come to the synagogue. He was hurt badly by Christians by being asked to leave his church for asking questions and seeking God…that when I came to the synagogue with the same issues—being hurt by the church, but still attending Liberty University, he was immediately suspicious of me. He immediately came over and said “I know why you are here, and we don’t care about Jesus, YOU can leave.” Dumbfounded, I asked the rabbi if I was welcome in the synagogue and she said “Of course, we just ask that you leave Jesus at the door, because it is hard to for Jews to understand how you can think that he’s the Messiah.”
If you already accept Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMishiach) as the Messiah, then it’s not hard to see how Jesus fulfills the Passover. However, this book includes two essays on how to communicate the idea of Messiah Jesus fulfilling the prophecies as Messiah of Israel.
Celebrating Messiah in Passover
This for me was the BEST part of the book! Starting with ways to celebrate Passover as a Christian or even a Messianic believer in your home—and I also ask that you invite your Jewish friends and neighbors—not so they can “see you’re right” but so that they see you, as a believer have a sincere appreciation of Judaism and it’s teachings. Chapter 19 gives traditional Jewish recipes to use for dinner on Passover.
So while this book is dry reading, and it is; it is well worth the read. As a Christian on my journey through faith, this book is exactly what I expected—great for both the pastor and the laity and even the congregation. I highly suggest this book for those who needs a message of hope and one of understanding what Judaism brings to us as Christians!
***I received this book free from the Publisher for an unbiased opinion and review.***
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