1. How is the timing of Passover calculated? Why does Passover sometimes fall after Easter?

The two special days are based on two different calendars. Easter is based on the solar calendar, the calendar commonly used today. In Western churches, Easter is dated as the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. It therefore occurs somewhere between March 22 and April 25. Eastern Orthodox churches have a different approach based on the lunar calendar.

Passover, on the other hand, is based on the Jewish calendar, a lunar calendar that has twelve 28-day months. Every two or three years, there is a thirteenth month called Adar II included in the calendar. Over the course of a 19-year cycle, this “extra” month occurs in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years. For example, the year 2008 was one of those years with an extra month. Passover occurs from the 15th to the 21st of the month of Nisan – which is the month right after the “extra” month of Adar II. The inclusion of the “extra” month in the lunar calendar thus caused Passover to fall nearly 30 days after Easter in 2008.

The four cups of Passover are an integral part of the Passover celebration. They stand for each of the four promises the Lord makes to His people in Exodus 6:6-7.

The Cup of Sanctification

“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

The Cup of Deliverance

“I will rescue you from their bondage.”

The Cup of Redemption

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.”

The Cup of Praise

“I will take you as My people.”

The ministry of Messiah speaks to each of these four promises:

Messiah Sanctifies Us

“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19).

Have you ever heard a marvelous piece of news that left you thunderstruck and open-mouthed with amazement? Those in the presence of John the Baptist must have experienced exactly that as they listened to his words recorded in John 1:29-“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

But what did John really mean? A brief survey of the Lamb and its multi-faceted identity in Scripture and the Jewish world may bring us a deeper understanding of Messiah’s fulfillment of John’s puzzling words.

Does your family keep heirlooms? No matter if you’re rich or poor, the chances are that somewhere, hidden in an attic or a drawer, there is an object from another generation that has somehow passed into your family’s possession. It could be a photograph. It could be a book. It could be a candlestick. From time to time, you might look at it and say, “If only it could talk. What a story it could tell!”

The Passover Seder plate is a little like that – for the story it tells is the story of the Jewish people. And the Seder plate is a silent witness of the finished work of Jesus the Messiah.

One day, while passing through the disreputable district of Samaria, Jesus encountered a woman at a well. You know the story. The woman, uncomfortable at the direction of the conversation, switched to a religious point: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship” (John 4:20).

If you think this controversy was put to rest in the time of Jesus, you might be greatly surprised at the answer.

Samaria – the Northern Kingdom of Israel

The death of King Solomon in the tenth century BC brought about the divided kingdom. Samaria was the capital of the territory occupied by the ten tribes of the north. The hostility that existed between Samaria and Judah was such that the northern kings were unwilling for their subjects to worship at the Jerusalem Temple. Instead, they set up a system of sacrifice in their own territory.

Every life has its landmarks: the first meeting with your future spouse, that initial open door that leads to other possibilities, or a decision to move on to uncharted territory. We reflect upon these landmarks as we consider the meaning of the story that the Lord is telling through our lives.

Nations also look back upon landmarks, and Israel especially does so. One of its most important landmarks is the Passover. Starting with the Exodus from Egypt, the annual Passover celebration has been a witness to every key event in Jewish history, including the most important of all, the coming of the Messiah. Passover, both past and present, is a time of earthly and heavenly excitement, especially in the Land of Israel.