The Matzah part of the Seder is one of my favorite parts.
When we look at the Matzah we remember that the People of God were having to leave Egypt in a hurry. They didn’t have time to use leavening agents in their bread or to wait to see it rise. They had to hurry so they used unleavened bread.
Unleavened bread is baked with no leavening agents. It does not rise or appear puffed up. It is flat and crunchy; unlike bread that is usually used for special occasions; the unleavened bread (Matzah) is flat and plain and ordinary and rather humble in nature and appearance.
Matzah is said to be the bread of the poor because it is less expensive to make the bread when you don’t have to buy the leavening agent. This was the common bread that was placed on the everyday tables for physical nourishment instead of special celebrations.
Matzah is daily bread.
We know that Jesus was said to be a plain, ordinary man who had no outstanding physical characteristics which people would notice. He was humble; both in appearance and in actions. He lived his life on earth totally without sin.
Leaven is symbolic of sin; that is why when we look at the unleavened bread we think of the sinless life of Jesus.
The Matzah is stripped and pierced.
This makes the baking process work.
We know that Jesus was beaten before the crucifixion; his body was stripped just like the stripes on the Matzah. His hands and feet were pierced by nails in order that he could hang on a cross to bear away our sins. He was pierced just as the Matzah is pierced.
To the ancient people the Matzah represented their deliverance from God. They remembered the leadership of Moses when they came to the Passover and ate the Matzah.
Moses was a shadow and type of our Messiah Jesus Christ.
The ancient people of Israel were delivered from physical bondage and slavery to Egypt.
To Christians today the Matzah represents our deliverer who is named Jesus Christ. He has taken away the bondage and slavery of our sins and brought us into a freedom that will allow us to live with God forever and ever.
The Jewish people say the action of eating Matzah is a Mitzvah. That means it is a good deed, a good thing to do.
As we eat the Matzah of Passover as well as the Matzah we will fill ourselves with on the days of unleavened bread that follow; we will be symbolically filling ourselves up with The Messiah. We will be feasting on The Bread of Heaven that came to us with a promise of God’s deliverance and eternal freedom.
Many people try to put sin out of their lives and live like Jesus. That is a great thing to do and a worthy goal, but in our humanity we often fail. We leave those places where our sins once lived empty and worse sins can come in to take that place over again.
We must be on guard of this and fill up our empty places with lots and lots of Matzah; because that would symbolize replacing all of the sin (leavened bread) with Jesus (Matzah.)
So as you enjoy the Matzah of this special meal; know that you honor and worship Messiah as you partake of the Matzah.