I n the spring following the eleventh birthday of Jesus, came the Feast of Passover. Since the days of Hezekiah, each year the Feast is held in Jerusalem where the Temple is the center of activity and the site of the ritual slaughter of the paschal lamb. Every male from the age of twelve and older was expected to attend Passover in Jerusalem. From all over Israel, hundreds of thousands of men with their families descend upon the city of David. The vast Temple grounds could accommodate in excess of 200,000 worshipers. Filled with the mayhem of celebration, children galloping hither and yon, fathers praying and attending sacrifice, mothers gossiping and tending their babes, the great edifice of Herod swarmed with celebrants.

Excitement crackled through the family like small rivulets of lightning. Jesus would attend his first Passover this year. The family assembled the things they would need for the trip and set out with many others who also made the week-long pilgrimage to the City of David. The highways leading from the region of Galilee south to Jerusalem, crowded with people and animals. Clouds of dust rose over roads and the city itself appeared enveloped in brown mist. This is the High Holy Day recalling the most important day of Jewish history, the day in which they were delivered by the hand of God from the oppression of the Egyptians more than one thousand four hundred years ago, a day that had been celebrated each year since then.

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