Haggadah: A Christian Interpretation of a Jewish Tradition

For thousands and thousands of years our Jewish brothers and sisters have celebrated Passover. This holiday commemorates their Exodus from slavery. These miraculous events changed misery to peace, slavery to freedom, sin to grace. One of the last things Jesus did with his disciples was to celebrate Passover and retell the story to them. It's no coincidence Jesus chose the Passover meal for what the Church now celebrates as the Mass and Eucharist. God gave us the Passover celebration as a foreshadowing of the redemption Jesus would bring. He used the same celebration to teach us even more about His love. God cared for His people, our ancestors, long ago and He cares for His children today. Haggadah means, “telling.” This will be a parallel telling of the traditional Seder as conducted by our Jewish brothers and sisters since the days of Moses as well as the significance and fulfillment of these signs and wonders in the Messiah, Jesus. Traditionally the leader of the Passover meal is the oldest male in the household. Some parts are lead be the oldest female such as the lighting of the candles and the serving of the meal. The four questions are asked by the youngest male. I composed this resource for use in the middle school classroom to explain the origin of our Catholic liturgy and give children a sense of the connective continuity between Judaism and Christianity--to illustrate how we will be able to see, hear, and taste the great love God has for us!