Worthy is the Lamb that was slain! Revelation 5:12
Passover is an annual festival celebrated by Jewish people every year around Easter time. During the feast, families celebrate how God brought the people out of Egypt and released them from slavery. The people eat a special meal called Seder (pronounced say-der) to celebrate this freedom.
During a Seder meal, symbolic foods are eaten to remember the history of their Jewish ancestors who lived in Egypt under harsh conditions as slaves. There are 6 essential parts of a Passover plate. Each item on the plate represents a special part of the Passover story from Exodus in the Bible.
6 Items on a Seder Plate
Shank Bone – represents sacrifices made by the Jewish people
Lettuce– bitter herb to represent the pain of the slaves
Bitter Herbs – represents the pain of the Jewish people being enslaved in Egypt
Charoset– a sweet salad made of apples, grapes, and nuts that represents the mortar that holds bricks together. In Egypt, the slaves were forced to make many bricks
Parsley– dipped in salt water and represents the tears of the slaves in Egypt
Hard Boiled Egg – represents new life and the Spring season
Today we recognize that Jesus’ blood on the cross was shed for us, and because of His sacrifice death passes over us, just like death passed over the Israelites when they spread the blood of the lamb above their doorframes. We have eternal life when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us. That is why Jesus is called the sacrificial lamb.
1 Peter 1:18-19
“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Want to teach your kids about this intriguing topic? Consider purchasing this Seder Plate lesson today.
Seder Plate Sunday School Lesson
The Sunday before Easter, our class celebrated with a Passover Meal. This would have been the last meal that Jesus ever ate with His disciples. This is the meal where Jesus took bread and broke it and told the disciples to eat it and remember Him. He took a glass of wine and talked about a new covenant of His blood.
This celebratory Passover meal was steeped in tradition. It was an annual rememberance of how God had saved the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. It was a time to remember how God had always provided for His people and kept His oath to deliver them to the promised land. God saved them from death by shedding a lamb’s blood over their doorframes. The shedding of Jesus’ blood initiated a new covenant where death also saves us from being slaves to sin and saves us from death.
Understanding Passover is essential to grasping the Jews’ history and important to understanding why Jesus’ death on the cross saved us from death.
Set the mood for your Passover Celebration
To help the kids learn about this important event, we held our own Passover Feast the Sunday before Easter. Before class, I went to the dollar store and bought enough plastic goblets for each child to have their own. I bought gold table cloths to place on the tables. Then I placed white lights around the perimeter of the classroom and turned off the main lights to give the room a more somber feel.
I filled each goblet with grape juice and placed one copy of this seder plate worksheet next to each goblet. I bought flat crackers and placed it in the center of the tables. (Our community does not have a large Jewish presence so I could not find matzo in the stores. If you have this same problem, you could buy some online or use crackers like I did).
Prepare Your Room to Celebrate
Usually the kids come right into the room as they are released from church service. Today, I had the door shut and made them wait outside with me until most of the children had arrived. I read them Luke 22:7-16 from the Bible before we went in. I explained to them that this would have been a very important meal for Jesus. Not only was it an annual holiday to celebrate the Jews escape from slavery out of Egypt, Jesus knew this was going to be His very last meal with His friends.
I then told the kids that I had a room prepared for them and that we were going to celebrate the Passover meal like Jesus and His disciples did. (I did explain to the kids that an actual Passover meal is quite a long ordeal so we were doing something simple to help them get a basic understanding of what the meal was and the meaning behind the Seder plates.)
Washing their Feet like Jesus washed the Disciples’ Feet
The kids came down and took a seat. If I would have had time, I would have had the children come in and take off their shoes and washed their feet but time prohibited this. If you have time, I’m sure this would be a moving experience for many of the students.
We then read through the Seder Plate lesson and completed the worksheet together. I had sciccors and glue readily available so we could complete the sheet. We then took communion together with the grape juice in the goblets and the crackers on the table.
I explained to the kids that was during this meal it was tradition for the participants to sing several Psalms during or after the meal. These pslams were Pslam 113-118. I read that last part of Psalm 118:24-29 to the children.
Psalm 118:24-29 New King James Version (NKJV)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord,
And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
This is the day the Lord has made!
I reread verse 24 and asked the kids what Jesus said about that day. Jesus said the Lord made this day and He was rejoicing in it! Jesus knew He was about to be arrested, beaten, and killed in a terrible way but He still sang about rejoicing God. The Son of God still sang about God’s love. What an amazing thing! Jesus died for us because He loves us. Wow! His love is unfathomable.
At this point, I gave the kids a few moments of quiet time to thank Jesus for His sacrifice and to really let that point hit home. This lesson helped kids understand the importance of the Passover meal and gave them some good insight to what Jesus’ last meal would have looked like.
This was a fun Easter lesson that the kids still talk about!
Check out these other Sunday School Lessons:
Road to Emmaus Sunday School Lesson
Queen Esther Sunday School Lesson