Easter - and the Jewish Passover - is coming soon, so I thought it
was time to think about Jesus giving up his life, and I have a
question for Ben, too.

Jesus died at the time of the Passover. Beforehand, he gave the
disciples the example of the Lord's Supper, that we might remember
what he has done. "Take this bread, this is my body...take this
wine, this is my blood shed for you..." We might ask, what is
the significance of the bread and the wine? What does this mean, "my
body, my bread"?

I think it's absolutely no accident that Jesus was put to death at
the Passover. The Passover was God's provision to keep the
Israelites from suffering from the hand of death during the last
plague inflicted on the Egyptians, before they let the Israelites
leave Egypt. The firstborn in every family in Egypt, both human and
animal, was to be put to death. But God told the Israelites to make
a sacrifice, take a lamb, and the blood of that lamb would cover them
from the hand of death.

I see parallels, then, between the Passover and the Lord's Supper:

Ex. 12:21. Go at once and select the animals for
your families and slaughter the Passover lamb...

Luke 22:19. And he took bread, gave thanks and
broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given
for you."

Ex 12:22. Take a bunch
of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the
blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.

Luke 22:20. In the same
way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the
new convenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, the sacrifice made for us.

Now, the question for Ben: how do the Jews celebrate the Passover
today? Can any symbolism be found in the various rituals used today
that would have direct significance for a Christian?...or a Jew who
believes in Jesus? Does bread and wine have any particular
significance in the Jewish Passover celebration?

That's a final point that I'm not entirely clear about...why did
Jesus use the bread to symbolise his body, rather than an actual
piece of lamb meat? And why the wine for blood? My guess is that in
doing this he was demonstrating that he really is
the LAMB of God himself, in which case it would no longer do to have
a mere sheep to represent him. In a way you might see it as a kind
of protection for the poor animal's feelings - no longer does an
innocent animal need to suffer for the sake of some futile religious
symbol. The REAL act has been finally made. And so with the wine
too - no one else's blood needs to be shed. No one else's life needs
to be taken to procure salvation, and so the symbolism by which we
remember God's salvation is relegated to nonliving objects - the
bread and the wine - simply for the sake of remembering.