During the Seder service, four cups of wine are blessed and consumed. Each corresponds to a promise God made to Israel: removal of burdens, freedom, redemption, and divine acceptance. The third cup is associated with the sacrament, which we partake of every week to remember the Savior's redeeming sacrifice.
Ammon’s Dayenu
The Hebrew song Dayenu helps us to recognize the cumulative nature of God's blessings. It also helps us develop a greater contentment and a deeper sense of being loved, as we recognize that many of the blessings we receive are wonderful but not essential. Ammon echoes this pattern at the end of his fourteen-year mission.
Plagues
The plagues were divinely architected in a sequence intended to achieve God's objective: the liberation of Israel. But this fact doesn't minimize the pain people suffered as a result. We can sympathize and hope at the same time, mourning with those that mourn even as we hope with those who have reason to hope.
Unleavened
Jewish families prepare for Passover by carefully eliminating all leaven from their homes. Jesus and Paul taught that leaven is representative of impurities in our souls. Thoughts and feelings which "puff us up" make us less holy, less prepared to stand in God's presence and receive His grace.
Bitter
Disciples of Christ absorb bitterness. Imagine the impact as people experience suffering without passing it along and without letting it define them! Like the maror in the Seder service preceding the Paschal lamb, our suffering can turn our hearts to Christ, who can replace the bitterness with exquisite joy.
“Remember This Day, in Which Ye Came Out from Egypt”
Passover represents not only miraculous deliverance, but prolonged discouragement leading to liberation. It represents not only escape from a devastating plague but also the end of the plagues. It reminds us that God is there, as we pass through difficult challenges, and that if we don't yet see Him acting on our behalf, we will.
The Sign of Jonah
Jesus highlighted the prophet Jonah as a symbol of His Atonement. Jonah prefigured Christ by offering himself to save his shipmates. Additionally, he learned to accept Christ's individualized mercy during his three days in what he called "the belly of hell."
Into Thy Hands
The Atonement of Jesus Christ is not only the mechanism through which He saves us but also emblematic of the process by which we receive that salvation. As He suffered on our behalf, He quoted from a psalm, reaffirming His commitment to submit fully to the will of His Father.
Silver Pieces and the Worth of a Soul
Joseph's enslavement prefigures the Savior's Atonement. Like Joseph, the Savior was sold for a small amount of silver. Like Joseph, He was betrayed by someone close to Him. That betrayal set in motion the very events through which He would save all of God's children, including His betrayers.
With the Rich in His Death
Two members of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, prepared Jesus's body for burial and buried Him in Joseph's tomb. Their courageous service literally fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would be "with the rich in his death."