Manning was the first of four stops for a South Florida evangelist active with Jews for Jesus.
Robyn Wilk presented “Christ in the Passover” on Sunday morning during a service at Grace Christian Fellowship Church on Raccoon Road in Manning.
Founded in 1973, Jews for Jesus now has more than 200 staffers in 23 branches worldwide, including North America, Israel, South Africa, the former Soviet Union, Australia and Brazil.
Pastor Mike Murdoch said the church has welcomed Jews for Jesus about five times in the last decade.
“It’s an evangelistic ministry proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Murdoch said. ‘It is so very crucial because they are reaching out to not just Jews, but everyone. Jews for Jesus is reaching out throughout the world, but particularly in Israel, to Jewish people, many of whom do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Wilk’s presentation included a table set with the traditional Passover materials, along with two chairs with pillows, as those partaking in the sacred ritual would typically recline while they ate.
“Many of you might wonder what Jesus has to do with the Passover,” said Wilk. “Well, Jesus was Jewish, and he celebrated the Passover every year. He is clearly pictured in all of the symbols in Passover, and in the story of Passover. The message of Passover is a message of redemption and one of our freedom from bondage.”
Wilk said the first night of Passover begins a seven-day holiday called the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. During this time, practitioners eat nothing that contains any leaven or yeast, “because throughout scripture leaven is linked with sin,” she said.
“Passover officially begins with the lighting of the candles, which is the duty and honor of the woman of the house,” Wilk said. “This is followed by a traditional Hebrew prayer. Throughout the Passover feast, each adult will drink and refill their cup four times. The first cup is called the Kiddish cup – the cup of sanctification. A blessing is then recited over this cup.”
Wilk invited young volunteers to read the parts typically reserved for children – The Four Questions.
“The first question is, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’” Wilk asked.
“On all other nights, we eat leavened or unleavened bread; why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread?” the question asks.
“Adults who know the story respond, ‘This is what the Lord did for me when he brought us out of Egypt,’” Wilk said.
Wilk then introduced matzoh tosh, a three-compartment bag for matzoh, or unleavened bread. She said the man of the house then recites a blessing and breaks the bread; one piece is put into the matzoh tosh pouches and hidden until later.
Wilk then asked for the second and third question.
“On all other nights we eat vegetables and herbs of all kinds; why on this night do we eat only bitter herbs?” her young volunteer asked. “On all other nights we are not required to dip the herbs once, why on this night do we dip them twice?”
Wilk then explained the different components of the Seder plate. She said greens (karpas), traditionally parsley, are dipped twice in salt water, which symbolizes tears. Root of a bitter herb (chazeret) is typically an onion or horseradish. The root represents the “root of life,” which is as bitter as it was for Jewish ancestors in Egypt.
The root is not eaten; rather, it stays on the plate. Wilk said a ground bitter herb (maror) was represented in her presentation by horseradish.
Next came a mixture of apples, cinnamon and nuts (charoset), which together represent the mortar Jewish ancestors used to make bricks in Egypt.
Next was a roasted egg – chagigah – which is a token of grief over the destruction of the Second Temple. The egg is broken open, peeled, sliced and dipped in salt water. A piece is then eaten by everyone present.
The final item is the shank bone of a lamb – Z’roa – which reminds those partaking of the sacrifices no longer offered and representative of the Passover Lamb.
Then came the final question.
“On all other nights, we eat sitting upright or reclining; why on this night do we recline?” her young volunteer asked.
“During the first Passover, they ate in a hurry to leave Egypt,” Wilk answered. “But they are no longer in a rush, so they recline.”
Wilk then discussed three remaining cups on her table – one of plagues and judgments, one of redemption and blessing and one of praise.
“Following the second cup, they sang a traditional song called, ‘Dayenu,’” Wilk said. “One of the kids would then go find the piece of matzoh – called Afikomen – that had been hidden earlier. Then everyone took a piece in a practice similar to communion.”
After the presentation, Wilk led in a responsive reading from the Book of Psalms, and then sang “Elijah’s Song.”
Raised in the Jewish faith, Wilk learned to read and write Hebrew and attended synagogue and Sunday school. Most of her friends were Jewish, and when her rabbi told her that Jewish people didn’t believe Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah, Wilk said she believed it without question.
“In high school, I felt happiest and most at peace when I played my flute,” she said. “I decided that my life would be complete if I could become the world’s greatest flute player! I studied at Wichita State University because the flute instructor there was excellent. As I got to know her, I noticed that she seemed to have ‘something’ that I just didn’t, apart from her musical ability.”
Wilk knew the instructor was a Christian, but wasn’t ready to connect that “something special” to her teacher’s believes.
“I began to question why we as a Jewish people didn’t believe in Jesus,” she said.
Wilk made her decision for Christ after a college friend shared the Gospel with her, and after listening to a former atheist make an evidence-based case for Christianity.
“My parents had a hard time accepting my new faith, but they came to accept it after I had a near-death experience after being stung by a man-of-war and the ensuing allergic and asthmatic reaction,” she said. “What my parents had a hard time understanding, or admitting at the time, was that I never stopped being Jewish. After all, if Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, what could be more Jewish than to believe in him?”
Murdoch said he hoped those gathered at Grace Christian Ministries on Sunday had a deeper understanding of the Jewish faith and that of the Passover ritual.
“I hope my congregation got out of this that, through the Old Testament scriptures, particularly the Passover, that Jesus Christ is absolutely seen as fulfillment of the Passover in the Old Testament from the Book of Exodus.”
