Passover

One day when the sun was shining bright and the air was crisp and chilly, two young boys, Antonio and Miguel, were playing on a swing set.

Antonio said to Miguel, "You believe in God, right?"

"Of course!" Miguel said boldly.

"Why?" Antonio asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you believe in God?"

Miguel paused and thought for a moment. He couldn't think of a good response.

"Dinner!" Miguel's mom sang out from the back porch.

"See ya later, Miguel!" Antonio hollered as he ran back to his house.

Miguel walked back to his mom with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong sweetie?" his mom asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing, it's fine."

Miguel's mom smiled as she closed the door behind him.

Miguel walks into the dining room to see his dad on a short ladder right outside the front door.

“Hey mijo (this means son), could you give me a hand with this?”

“What are you doing Papa?” Miguel asked.

His dad stopped what he was doing, came down, and looked his son in the eyes.

“I’m decorating for Passover,” he said with a smile.

“What’s Passover?”

His dad smiled; this was their family’s first year celebrating Passover.

Miguel’s dad responded, “Well, the most well-known Passover story is the one that took place when the Israelites were in Egypt and God commanded them to take the blood from a lamb and spread it on their doorposts.”

Miguel’s eyebrows raised.

His dad continued, “That’s why I’m putting this red chord around the doorpost, to symbolize the blood of the lamb.”

“Papa, I don’t understand. Why did the lamb have to die?”

“God showed His people that a plague was coming that would take the lives of all of the firstborn sons of all the people in Egypt, unless the blood of the lamb was painted onto the doorposts of their home. The lamb’s life was given in place of the sons of God’s people. To the people, the lamb saved them, it was very precious... a life given to spare another.”

Miguel’s eyes began to fill with tears.

“What’s wrong, mijo?”

“It just seems so sad that all of those lambs had to die to save the people. Would God ever do anything like that again?”

Now it was Dad whose eyes began to fill with tears.

,

“Well mijo... He did. You know that His Son Jesus came to this earth, and He saved us from our sin and made a way for us to be together with Him, right?”

“Yeah, Papa I remember." Miguel said as he wiped his eyes.

“He died on Passover. The people of God had continued to celebrate that first Passover that happened so many years earlier, remembering how the lambs had saved their lives. On the same day they were celebrating, Jesus gave His life as God’s Passover lamb for the entire world. He gave His life to save us from death and to free us to be with Him forever.”

“So no more lambs would have to die?” Miguel asked hopefully.

“That’s right, mijo. Jesus took every sin upon Himself... His blood was enough.”

Miguel looked down, clearly trying to hide his smile.

“You don’t have to hide your smile, mijo, it makes me so happy, too”

They both looked at each other with joy on their faces.

“Papa?”

“Yes, mijo?”

“When we were outside, Antonio asked me why I believe in God, but I didn’t give him an answer.”

“Well, Miguel, why do you believe?”

“What I know is that I feel His love... when we talk about Jesus, I can feel something in my chest... like how I feel when you hug me.”

Miguel’s dad pulled him in to give him a hug.

“And when I think about how those people must have felt about the lambs who saved their lives, and how much love they had for them... I feel that way about Jesus.”

“Me too, mijo, that’s a good way to put it.”

“I think that’s what I’ll tell Antonio when I see him.”

“Good idea, mijo! Now come help me finish these decorations!”

Unleavened Bread

In a small country house in the French city of Bastia, the Bernard family was celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the first time.

“Bella, why don’t you come help us search for the bread?”

“I’d rather not, Maman." (a french word for Mom)

“Are you still upset that I wouldn’t let you go to the bonfire?”

“I just don’t understand what the big deal is, and I really wanted to be with my friends.”

“Sweetie, I want you to be able to spend time with your friends, but Papa and I want you to be with us tonight as we celebrate The Feast of Unleavened Bread. And Bella, you cannot be disrespectful towards us. I hope you’ll choose to have a good attitude tonight... I think you’re really going to enjoy this."

Bella took a deep breath, got up from the stairs and headed towards her mother.

“Okay, so tell me what all of these things mean.” Bella sighed.

Her mother looked at her with a patient smile and held up the candle.

“The candle is like the Holy Spirit.”

“..but why turn off the lights in the house?” Bella asked.

Somewhere from the corner of the room, her father’s voice spoke out, “The Bible talks about how hard it is to know our own hearts. In the book of Psalms, King David even asks the Lord to search his heart to see if there is any evil in him.”

Bella suddenly began to think about the way she had treated her mother earlier, but she pushed the thought away.

“The dark house is like our hearts, and the candle is like the Holy Spirit, helping us see the things that don’t belong,” her mother explained.

“So, would the breadcrumbs be like sin?” Bella asked.

“That’s right, sweetheart. The Holy Spirit searches our heart for the sin we can’t see.”

“I get the candle, I get the bread, and I get the lights being off, but what about the feather and the spoon?” Bella asked.

Bella’s mother chimed in, “Our goal is to get out anything inside this house and in our hearts that does not belong. The feather helps us to sweep up any crumbs left behind and the spoon keeps us from having to touch it. We then put all the bread we find in this bag, and we will burn it all in the fire outside.”

“We’re having a fire outside?” Bella asked excitedly.

“That’s right!” Papa exclaimed. “Just like the Lord searches us and cleanses us from sin, we are searching through this house to burn away whatever does not belong.”

Bella was now filled with a heavy feeling that she had things in her heart that needed to be removed.

“I feel like there are things in my heart that don’t belong,” said Bella.

“What do you mean?” her mother asked.

“Earlier, when I had a bad attitude and was being disrespectful, I knew that it wasn’t right. I was disappointed about not being able to see my friends at the bonfire. I don’t want to be mean to you guys; I want to have a heart that is pure and free.” Bella was beginning to cry.

“Oh Bella,” her mother said lovingly, “We forgive you. We love you. Let’s pray right now. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would search our hearts with Your Holy Spirit and show us the better way to love You and to love each other”

“And Lord,” Bella spoke up, “Remove anything in me that doesn’t belong, and help me to be kind to maman and papa”

“In Jesus’ name,” papa finished, “Amen.”

Just then the sound of several car doors were opening and closing outside. Bella’s parents smiled at each other as they all walked outside.