Chag Sameach

“Chag Sameach” is a one way to offer a holiday greeting for Passover. According to the website chabad.org –

Sephardic Jews prefer the biblical term for a festival, “chag.” Thus, when wishing someone a joyous festival, they say “chag same’ach” (pronounced CHAG sah-MAY-ach). This greeting has its roots in the Torah, where forms of these two words are used in the commandment to rejoice on the festivals.

chabad.org

The Passover festival honors the provision of Almighty God to protect his people from the Angel of Death, who was sent to Egypt in what would be the final plague God sent to the nation that had enslaved the Hebrew people. The way the angel would know not to slay the Hebrews, according to Exodus 12:13, was if he saw the blood of the paschal lamb spread on the doorframe of a house. The blood of a slain lamb was the sign of the promise that God would protect them during this most deadly plague.

¹² “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike downevery firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

Exodus 12:12-13, New International Version

For Christians, we see Jesus Christ as our passover lamb. Perfect and blameless, slain on our behalf to take away our sins so that we would not be condemned to die a spiritual death. We do not have make a sacrifice every year, only to accept that it has already been made for us, in Jesus.

Jesus himself celebrated Passover with his disciples, and I can think it no bad thing to celebrate it today. If you are interested in the symbolism of the Passover seder (meal) and Jesus, I direct you to a post by The Gospel Coalition.

But is that just a coincidence? Did Jesus just happen to die during Passover?

The biblical answer is no. The reason he came to Jerusalem that final time wasn’t just to celebrate Passover, but to become our Passover. As the apostle Paul says plainly in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” 

The Gospel Coalition

Tonight, April 5, 2023, is the first night of Passover. If it is a topic of interest for you, consider spending time in Exodus 12 and Luke 22.