This Feast of the Paschal Lamb is designed with three elements.
First, it is designed to remember our fallen brethren, those brothers of our beloved Scottish Rite who have left this world for a higher and more glorious world. "Virtus junxit mors nonseparabit" ... "Whom virtue unites; death cannot separate."
Second, it reminds us of the Passover of Israel; when the children of Israel were passed over from God's wrath and set free from Egyptian bondage, to begin their trek to the promised land. we see this represented in the Passover meal displayed here before you.
Third, for us as Knights Rose Croix, we are again presented with that divine question ...

What think you of Jesus?
Consider the 22nd psalm ...
1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4. Our Fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8. He trusted on the lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19. But be not thou far from me, 0 lord: 0 my strength, haste thee to help me.
20. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog.
21. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will i praise thee.
23. Ye that fear the lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: i will pay my vows before them fear him.
26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28. For the kingdom is the lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
29. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the lord for a generation.
31. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

King David, the writer of that psalm; the father of Solomon, whose temple to God is the centerpiece of our freemasonry; whose prescience and vision foresaw the death of his descendant, Jesus, the Messiah, as the glorious conclusion of God's plan of salvation.
Easter is… Jesus as the sacrifice for all mankind… for the great truth of all scripture, both old testament and new, is that the death of Jesus Christ is the salvation…

The substitutionary atonement that provides sinners the opportunity to avoid the penalty of hell. Now in God's plan of salvation, He had conditions for this substitutionary atonement.
• The substitute had to be another human being... deity alone would not suffice. animal sacrifice, such as the Hebrews had practiced for centuries as the atonement for sin, alone would not suffice. God required that the substitute be of a comparable nature, that is, he be another human being. (Heb. 10:1-4)
• The substitute had to be sinless... an unblemished lamb is what the ancient Hebrews sacrificed for atonement. Christ is often referred to as an unblemished lamb because he was a completely sinless savior.
• The substitute also had to be deity ... being human alone would not suffice. Deity guarantees that our salvation will last forever. the substitute had to count for all humanity... the incarnate Jesus’ deity insured that our salvation would be eternal.
• There had to be intensity of suffering... comparable to our eternity in hell. The suffering Christ experienced at calvary was God's wrath against sinners. In prophecy, Isaiah described the messiah as being "stricken," "pierced," "crushed," "chastened," and "scourged." The source of this punishment was God himself, for as Isaiah explains, the Messiah would be "smitten of God and afflicted." This affliction was the act of a righteous judge distributing justice to one who presented himself as ready to accept the punishment for man's iniquities and transgressions. It is in this context that "the lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief."

The idea of using a substitute was not something man devised and then persuaded God to accept. Both the plan and its execution were wholly derived from the grace of God, from before the world was created.
And Jesus, who is sometimes called our mediator; went far beyond what mediators are called to do. mediators mediate and then they go home. They have no skin in the game. Christ put his own skin in the game, for he willingly offered to present himself as the sacrifice.
God's plan... Jesus died that we might live!!

But... Christ did not stay put in the grave; for God raised him up! he triumphed over the grave and death; and gives us hope for our own immortality! he lives! … is the glorious conclusion of Easter!!!
If you would only believe.

What think you of Jesus?