Mishpachah, This is a beautiful element of the Pesach Seder Meal. This element is the element which isn’t called by a Hebrew word, but rather known by a Greek word. It is the Afiqomen. It is the broken middle Matzah that is hidden and searched for after the meal.
The middle Matzah is taken out of the Matzah Tosh bag. There are three layers in the bag to hold the top, middle and bottom matzah’s. The middle Matzah which is nestled between and the top and bottom Matzah’s is taken out and broken. One of the broken portions is put back and the other is wrapped in a linen napkin and hidden until later in the Seder meal. The children go and look for the hidden Matzah and when they find the Afiqomen they bring it back to the head of the Seder meal and are rewarded.
This so beautiful part of the Passover Meal represents the foundation of our salvation through Messiah our Lord. For He too was hidden as his parents obediently followed the direction given to them in dreams to hide their child from the one seeking to kill him.
And then at the Appointed Time, the Moedim of Pesach, he was broken for us, for our transgressions. He was beaten with stripes, His side pierced with a spear, His heart broken; so also is the Afiqomen, the broken Matzah which bears stripes and piercings. (Bereshiyt 53)
Through the ages we have known the Savior through a Greek lense, through a Greek mindset; so also we have known the broken hidden Matzah by the way of a Greek term.
We have known the Messiah as Savior, Jesus the Christ.
The children look for the Afiqomen and when they find it they excitedly bring it to the head of the meal and are rewarded. So, too, we as children seek for the Messiah and when we have found Him we excitedly proclaim Him and are rewarded.
The Scripture says and a child shall lead them. In this significant part of the meal we see the children leading us to the Messiah, to the One who bore our sins, who was beaten beyond recognition for each of us, that when the time came we would search for Him with all our hearts and find Him and know His reward, the reward of Salvation!
He was hidden just as Joseph was hidden before his brothers eyes!
But now He is being revealed! The context of His coming is being made known! His love for His Father’s ways are displaying their supreme authority over the seasons and times!
Our Father’s Holy Days are what matters; the essence of His Words as lovingly interpreted in the Scriptures of Old are our beacon of light!
All of mans ways will dissolve and be meaningless!
But, we see how that from the Beginning, from the very onset of Creation, the Father set His Feast Days to govern time! We continue to see His Calendar throughout our generations to even the present day and beyond into the future before us.
May we not neglect such magnificent revelation from our caring Creator!