Today's video explores the Last Supper as a Passover Seder. 

The Gospel writers include details about the meal found within traditional Passover Seder celebrations. 

We can even discern where some of the disciples would have been sitting relative to Jesus that evening by looking closely at these details. 

Finally, we explore an element of the celebration called the Afikomen.

​Many scholars believe that the piece of unleavened bread (matzah) that Jesus identifies as his body is, in fact, the Afikomen.

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​In this week's lesson, we look at the details about the Passover in Exodus chapter 12. 

We can then compare the details about Jesus that are included in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. 

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are nested within the holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.  

The Gospel writers, in particular, are sure to include seemingly small details that help their audience point back to Exodus 12 and the original Passover Lamb. 

The New Testament writers see Jesus as God's Passover Lamb that has been offered to redeem the whole world.

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​In this video, we begin short three-part series on Passover. 

Passover is the most important holiday within the Hebrew Bible and for the nation of Israel. 

This lesson takes a ten-thousand-foot view of the Passover holiday and how it connects throughout the Old Testament and into the events surrounding Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. 

We look into the "four expressions of redemption" (Exodus 6:6-7) and how it relates to the Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples the night before his death. 

Understanding the Biblical Holidays (Leviticus 23) and how they relate to Jesus is a goldmine for Christians to help them better understand the Gospels and so much of the New Testament

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The fastest growing religious cult in the 1st century surrounded the worship of a god called Mithras. Many link the birthday of this god - December 25 - to the dating of the Christmas celebration as we know it today.

Mithras was envisioned as a powerful god who had the ability to control the cosmos. There are no sacred writings from this cult, only the sculptures found within the Mithras worship sites - called Tauroctony.  The Tauroctony tells the story of Mithras through the symbols of the zodiac.

Due to the discovery of the Procession of the Equinoxes by Hipparchus many in the ancient world were looking for a god that was bigger than the cosmos. By the time of the advent of Jesus the world is primed to be looking for a God that has the power to enter the cosmos and bring shalom. 

Join us in this faith lesson as we explore the origins of this mystery cult. 

For further study I recommend the work by David Ulansey. 

You can find an article on the Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras at David Ulansey's website. A link is provided here: http://www.mysterium.com/mithras.html

I also recommend an article that was published in the Journal of Biblical Literature on the cosmic symbolism found within the gospel of Mark. A link provided here: http://www.mysterium.com/veil.html

Gethsemane - COVOID-19 Zoom edition!

This latest video is a recording of a class conducted on Easter Sunday during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recording is of a Zoom class which explains the audio.  As skill with Zoom increases, so will the overall quality of video production. 

Jesus and his disciples ate their final meal together. From the upper room, they walked past the Temple, through the Kidron Valley, to a place called Gethsemane. 

The Gethsemane itself provides insight into the events of that night. 

Join us as we explore what the Gethsemane is and how we can better understand the events of that fateful night.