As the children of Israel were being released from their 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God brought upon the nation of Egypt Ten Plagues. Those plagues were intended to motivate Pharoah to release the slaves from their bondage and to permit them to leave Egypt in one mass as a people. The final and most horrifying plague was the visitation of the Angel of Death upon the people of Egypt. Here is the scripture that describe the Passover:
Exodus 12:1-13 NIV
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire — head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
The day after the Passover, they left Egypt and God established the commemoration of the Passover as the principal feast for the Jewish people forever. For something like 4000 years the Jews have observed the Passover just as Christians have celebrated Easter to commemorate Jesus’ victory over sin and death for nearly 2000 years now. The Passover is not only very meaningful for the Jewish people, it is also a very important celebration for Christian people. At the Eucharist we sing the praises of “The Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world.” The Lamb of God is Jesus who has removed the plague of sin and death from us and given us new and everlasting life. In fact, the Last Supper that Jesus ate with his disciples was the Passover celebration that Jesus and his disciples celebrated just before his arrest, trial, passion and death. That Passover celebration from some 2000 years ago is what you and I participate in each time that we commemorate and celebrate the Holy Eucharist.