The fourteenth of Nisan is this coming Monday…Passover…April 22 for us. I’m  not sure why Easter and Passover do not always sync together perfectly. Certainly this year they don’t occur simultaneously.

The Crucifixion has been especially meaningful this year for me, I’m uncertain why. Maybe as the years go by, the gift our Yeshua gave us becomes dearer and dearer to me. I’m still pondering the Passover Seder…the betrayal…Crucifixion…Resurrection. It is more wonderful than I can wrap my head around.

The week before the Crucifixion,Jesus and the disciples had been staying somewhere on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. Jesus we know prayed in the garden there before His arrest. In Mark 14:32-36, we find our Messiah praying that this hour, this cup might pass from Him. Why did Jesus use those particular words? 

On the Passover table there are Four Cups and during the meal participants drink from all 4 cups. However there is a Fifth Cup on the table also. This cup is empty. Why? 

In establishing the Passover celebration…the Night of Remembering…the rabbis could  not decide whether to include this Fifth cup or not.  It was mentioned in their scriptures. This cup was the cup of God’s wrath. They decided to place it on the Passover table..but empty.

What does that mean for us as Christians?

The teachers and rabbis I have been listening to and reading from this season say it is empty because Jesus, our Messiah, drank all of the cup of wrath for us. It can no longer be poured out on those of us who believe.

I don’t think we give this gift from our Messiah enough thought…He drank the cup of ALL God’s wrath. We NEVER need fear. We are held safe for Eternity.