Passed Over by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

I’m about to give up something I love very much—bread. I judge a restaurant by its bread, I love cinnamon rolls and hot sandwiches. However, Passover starts tonight at Sundown and ever since 2020, I’ve been fasting from bread at Passover. Why? I am a woman who had a Jewish father and G-d brought me back to my Jewish roots on a trip to Israel in 2014. So although I believe in Yeshua (Jesus), my Jewish roots and my faith in Christ have merged over the past decade.

Passover is a required biblical feast for those who are Jewish. In Leviticus 23 it says, “During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is ADONAI’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot to ADONAI. For seven days you are to eat matzah.” With a little honey and peanut butter, matzah’s not so bad.

So why eat unleavened bread for a week? What’s the point? This is done as a remembrance of what the LORD commanded as the Israelites fled captivity in Egypt. “For seven days you are to eat matzah, and the seventh day is to be a feast to ADONAI. Matzot is to be eaten throughout the seven days, and no hametz (leaven) is to be seen among you, nor within any of your borders” (Exodus 12:15). It’s a commandment for all time. We need to take those biblical lifelong commandments seriously.

Passover is also a time when Jews remember how the Angel of Death passed over their homes prior to being released from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. God had brought plague-after-plague upon Egypt to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites, but only the tenth plague, the killing of the first-born children across the land was enough to release Pharaoh’s stronghold. In order to protect their homes from this final plague, the Israelites had to take the blood of an unblemished lamb and paint it around their doorpost. That was how the Angel of Death knew to pass over the house.

As a Jewish believer, I am thankful for that gift so many years ago, but also thankful for all the times that the Angel of Death has passed over me throughout the years. I have had many close calls. What about you? I am also grateful for the Lamb of G-d’s sacrifice on the cross. I am passed over for eternal death. I never stop thanking Yeshua for that unmeasurable gift.

Whether you are Jewish or not, this is a good season to remember how you have been passed over. If you are reading this, you qualify. There are probably circumstances you are not even aware of. The car that almost hit you in the intersection. The sickness that could have ended in death. The tornado that just missed your house. I wonder if we’ll be able to review all the close calls we did not know about once we get to Heaven? Whatever the case, will you join me in being thankful? G-d is worthy of this praise.