By Elimu Assistant Team 
Meaning of Passover
This is the major Jewish spring festival that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, lasting seven or eight days from the 15th day of Nisan. ~Dictionary.com
Exodus 12:14
14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, you shall observe it as an ordinance forever.
Meaning of Easter;
The most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Christ and held (in the Western Church) between 21 March and 25 April, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox. The weekend from Good Friday to Easter Monday.
Similarities between the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter
- Blood was shed as a symbol of salvation in both cases.
- In both cases, God used an individual to liberate the people.
- In both cases, they remember God’s love for His people.
- Both the Passover and Christian Easter are annual feasts.
- In both cases, sacrifices and offerings are made.
- In both cases, the participants remember the suffering and victory.
- Both incidents are important historical events that form the basis of the belief and practice in Judaism and Christianity respectively.
How Jesus Christ gave the Passover a new meaning
- The bread represented his body which would be broken for their sake to save them from sin (disciples).
- The wine represented the blood of Jesus which would be shed for salvation’s sake.
- The cup represented God’s new covenant with his people
- Jesus here is the new sacrificial lamb replacing the old Passover lambs that were sacrificed on the night of the exodus.
- The sacrificial offering of the body and blood of Jesus Christ was done once and for all.
