Mystery of the Afikomen

He is risen!
The most encouraging words of all time.

As Jews who believe Jesus ( Yeshua) is the Messiah, besides celebrating Resurrection Day, we always do a Passover Seder(memorial dinner). Every year, when we arrive at the end of the Seder dinner, and the children are sent out to find the "Afikomen", I wonder anew at the symbolism of that part of the ceremony.

Earlier in the service, three pieces of Matzoh are placed in a tri-section bag. The middle section matzoh is broken and then half of the broken piece (afikomen) is hidden for the children to go find at the end of the Seder. The one who finds the afikomen  gets a reward of some kind traditionally, money or a new car, depending on how many ceremonial cups of wine the pappa has had. I have done a little research into why the traditional Jewish ceremony has a tri-section bag, and why in the middle of the most reverent Jewish ceremony of all, spoken throughout in Hebrew, a Greek word is thrown in at this pivotal ending. Afikomen. I find a good bit of disagreement over what all this symbolism means. One site tells me that Afikomen is not Greek, but Aramaic. The language of Jesus. This scholar says it is derived from "afiku" which means "to take out".  Most people seem to feel it is derived from the Greek work, epikomion, which means revelry or big celebration after dinner. However the most electrifying translation is the Greek verb-ikneomai- which means, "he came."

The afikomen of the Seder has come to mean the traditional last bite of food the Jewish family is to have until the next day. But why? As far as I can discern, no one seems to really know. They don't seem to agree or know why a tri-pouch bag is used, and why the middle afikomen is broken. One source said the afikomen is hidden to keep the children alert and interested in the ceremony.  For a ceremony so replete in symbolism, this strikes me as a cop-out. What is even more interesting is before Jesus, the Seder did not include the afikomen. That tradition only arose after Jesus lived on Earth.

Why?

The Seder is the celebration of the Jewish exodus, release from bondage to Egypt. It looks forward to the coming of the Messiah, and the symbolic and traditional passover lamb is a critical part of the ceremony. I love the symbolism of the triune pouch, from which the middle section is broken away, hidden, and then found.

"I found it!" shouted Asherel, holding the Afikomen high in victory.

He is risen!

1 Corinthians 5:6-8
⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Matthew 28:5-7

 ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.