Sharing the Master's Cup

Just received a special newsletter with explicit instructions for the Passover Seder.  Find it to be very sobering.  Especially where the Scripture tells me that the decision to participate in the Seder rests on my shoulders.  From the way I understand it, everyone is commanded to keep the Feast of Matzah, but to participate in the Seder meal we must meet certain requirements.  The hard part is no man can tell us if we are eligible, we must tell ourselves.  In fact, what is happening, since Torah is now, is that we are responding to a RSVP from the Father.  We are letting Him know that we will or we will not be there. He sent out a blanket invitation but He did not command any of us to participate.  He wants to know the head count.  He wants to know if He can count on us.  When we make the response in the affirmative, then once again we are back at Sinai saying, Yes!, Yes we will!   

What an awesome undertaking! How many times throughout our lives do we make this heartfelt statement to our Heavenly Father?  Have you ever considered all the opportunities He has given us to get on board and the many times that we may have strayed?  The door is opened quite a number of times throughout Scripture.  But at Pesach/Passover time it is more than words.  It is action.  The Seder is extremely personal with me…. I don’t know about you, but when I pick up the “cup” and eat the “bread”, 1 Cor 11:27 rings loud. 

1Cor 11:27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Master's cup in a manner unworthy of the Master will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Master. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. :29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn't discern the Master's body. :30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. :31 For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn't be judged.

Not participating in the Passover Meal (Seder) is not wrong.  There can be many reasons not to.  Scripture gives us that.  Scripture also tells us to participate in it can be wrong, if we both drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the Master, and of the table of demons.  (1Cor 10:21)   He does not want us lukewarm.  It is far easier to deal with a child who always conforms just as with a child who never conforms.  But when a child is obedient one day and totally defiant the next, there is difficulty.   Y'shua had the same problem with us.  See Revelation 3:15-16.

After the Seder we observe the Week of Unleavened Bread.  Here we are commanded to eat unleavened bread (matzah) for seven days… no, that is not all we are permitted to eat, it is what we are commanded to eat. Every day! it is just a sampling so we do not forget what we are doing in this life, which paves the way for the next life.  I can’t wait to dig into the seven layered matzah cake! 

Getting back to 1 Cor 10:21…. Is there any reason that we don’t observe this throughout the year?  Shouldn’t we be on fire for YHVH all the time?  Can’t we show our love for YHVH and one another at all times?  Does it take a Feast Day for us to love one another as we love ourselves?  Does repentance only occur once a year (Yom Kippur)? Reminds me of hiring a consultant.  When I was in another life, the consultants came in, told us how to clean up our act and be productive.  When they left, the leadership informed us that we didn’t have to do what the consultants said.  After all, they were only consultants!   In the Word, YHVH shows us He is not merely a consultant! (1Sam 28)  I pray that I never treat Him as such, knowingly or unknowingly.   

Shalom for now!  Love you all.  

Frankly Speaking a/k/a Pinchas