I miss Passover in New York City. I miss the posters at Eli’s,the larger-than-life sheets of matzoh looming over 3rd Avenue’s sidewalks, reminding all the Upper East Side Jewish elite to submit their catering orders now. I miss the descriptions of the Seders and feasts and fasts and the time-honored traditions that echo through thousands of years, from ancient Israel straight to Park Avenue penthouses.

As a Christian, I feel a kinship with the Jewish people that spans the Old Testament (and ends with the unfortunate disagreement over the Messiah’s identity. Then again, if I were living in the ancient Near East when Jesus showed up I shudder to think about what a Pharisee I would have been). So as I’ve contemplated the meaning of Holy Week and how to observe it, that kinship and my Manhattan matzoh memories have led me straight to Passover’s doorpost and its sprinkling of blood that meant salvation for Jewish sons…all except one.

When God shows up for a rescue mission, he follows his schedule, not ours. And the Jews in captivity in Egypt didn’t even have time for their bread to rise before they headed through the parting waters of the Red Sea toward the promised land, firstborn sons safely in tow. Over one thousand years later, Jesus revisited the theme of unleavened bread when he warned his followers to be on their “guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Yeast as impurity; leavening as a filling other than Him.

Then, the only one truly pure–the only one completely filled with God, a wooden post and blood, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices , the firstborn Son and no rescue mission in place. Each of us passed over, led through our daily Red Seas knowing only because of all he endured what awaits us on the other side. The symmetry of Old and New and a God that contains both by showing up, by fulfilling that which we could never achieve. By being the broken bread and poured out wine. The one who asks for everything, and responds by giving himself. This is what quiets my heart and stills my soul, this resting in the holy Enough.