What Is Passover?
Passover is the festival commemorating Israel's release from slavery in Egypt; the Hebrew 'pesach' is explained as 'to pass over, to spare'. According to Exodus, in the final plague death 'passed over' the houses whose doorframes were marked with the blood of a lamb, and that night the people went out of bondage. The feast is kept yearly with lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and its story is handed on to children through questions: 'Why is this night different?' Passover is the Bible's way of remembering salvation: the past deliverance is retold as each generation's own story. In the New Testament Jesus' last supper is a Passover meal, at which he connects the bread and the cup with his own death. The Gospels set his crucifixion at Passover time, and Paul makes the link explicit: 'Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.' In Christian tradition the Lord's Supper and Easter rise on these Passover roots.