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April 3,2022 |
| Passover: What, When, and Why | ||
There are many interesting details to Passover and specifically Jesus' last Passover. Most Christians don't understand some of the things that happen. Many aren't even aware of them.
For example, most Christians are not aware that Jesus is observing Passover long before most other people did. They also don't understand why they only eat a cracker and some grape juice. That isn't what Jesus did.
This study describes the requirements for Passover and explains how all of it makes sense to Christians.
Passover is a meal. Christians can be forgiven for not understanding this because the name Passover is commonly also used for the week that follows Passover. The correct name for that week is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Passover is more than just a meal. It was a family meal. The intent was that the whole family would be together for this meal. It wasn't to be a come-and-go affair.
This is why the Apostle Paul levels one of his accusations against the church in Corinth. He accuses them of division within the body. One of the things people are doing is eating whenever they want.
For whenever you gather with the assembly, I have heard that there is division among you, and certain things I believe. 21 But one or another eats his supper beforehand by himself … (1 Corinthians 11:18, 21)
Someone started his meal early and ate by himself. That is completely outside the spirit of Passover. The Corinthian Church's Passover meal was probably a meal for the extended family of the church. Even so, it was to be together.
It is so much a family meal that, at modern Messianic and Jewish Passovers, the people eat at individual tables and a father and mother are designated for each table.
God did something with Passover that made it unique among the feast days. He specified particular foods that were to be eaten. He even went so far as to say how they should be eaten. There were messages behind all of these rules.
The Jewish people had not come to understand the messages behind these rules in Jesus' time and they do not accept those messages today.
| Lamb, sheep or goat | Jesus, his sacrifice | |
| selected 10 days before | Chosen to be their sacrifice, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as king | |
| unblemished male a year old | flawless life, male, in his prime | |
| Cooked over fire | The torture of the cross | |
| Do not break the bones | His legs would not be broken | |
| Matzah, unleavened bread | The sinless life that Jesus lived, the sacrifice of his body | |
| The life that we are to live in him | ||
| Wine | The sacrifice of his blood establishes the new covenant | |
| Bitter herbs | The bitterness shown to Jesus |
The bitter herbs symbolized the bitterness of the Egyptians toward the Israelites. Until the time of Jesus that was all that was understood from it. In fact, by Jesus time this had been turned into bitterness of the Jews towards the Egyptians. This appears to be what Paul is talking about when he talks about a new feast without the old bitterness.
Therefore let us make a feast, not with the old yeast, neither with the yeast which is in wickedness or of bitterness, but with the yeast of purity and of holiness. (1 Corinthians 5:8)
With the death of Jesus we understand the bitter herbs also symbolized the bitterness of the Jews toward Jesus. The bitter herbs that would have been part of his last Passover are not part of what he asks us to remember. He was not bitter toward the Jews. Quite the opposite - he forgave them.
Another requirement of the meal was that nothing would be left over until the morning. Anything that was leftover was to be burned up.
In the Bible God required a sacrificed lamb for Passover. This was true from the first Passover in Egypt to the last one in Jerusalem. So why don't Christians eat lamb at Passover?
We don't because we can't. The lamb needed to be sacrificed with the help of a priest at the place of where God caused is name to be. It wasn't that way for the first Passover, though. In that case, the head of each household slaughtered his own lamb. As the Israelites went into the promised land, God said that the lamb must be sacrificed at that place and according to the rules.
In Jesus' time that place was the temple in Jerusalem. 40 years after Jesus' death, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, soon after that the priesthood came to an end. Sacrificing a Passover lamb is a requirement that cannot be met in our time.
Also, even if the temple still stood and the priesthood still functioned, the Jews would not allow non-Jewish Christians to enter. To do so would risk your life. The Jews see the temple as a place for only the physically circumcised. God intended it for the spiritually circumcised.
Passover is one of God's feast days. When Christians consider observing the feast days we use a rule for problems like this. If a requirement cannot be met, we understand that only that requirement is null. In our modern legal terms this is called Severability. It means that, if any clause in a contract becomes invalid, the rest of the contract remains valid. Only the invalid clause becomes ineffective.
Therefore, for Passover, because the requirement for a sacrificed lamb cannot be met, we understand that the requirement is null. Therefore we can eat whatever we want or nothing. Even Jews do this now when they celebrate Passover.
Paul looks at it a little differently and says "Our Passover lamb has already been sacrificed". His point is that there is no need for a sacrificed lamb because Jesus was sacrificed as the Passover lamb. Therefore we can eat whatever we want for Passover. Both view points are valid.
Jesus was eating Passover earlier that most other people, about 22 hours earlier. Some people wonder that he was actually doing something different from Passover, maybe even creating a replacement for Passover. When we read the Bible, though, we see that Jesus believed he was keeping Passover.
The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived in which it was the custom for the Passover lamb to be slain. 8 And Yeshua sent Yohannan and Kaypha and he said to them, "Go prepare for us to eat the Passover." 9 But they said to him, "Where do you want us to prepare it?" 10 He said to them, "Behold, when you enter the city, you shall meet a man who bears a jug of water; go after him. 11 And wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, "Our Rabbi says, 'Is there a place of dwelling where I may eat Passover with my disciples?' 12 And behold, he shall show you a great furnished upper room; prepare there." 13 And they went and found as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 And when it was time, Yeshua came and reclined and the twelve Apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, "I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. (Luke 22:7-15)
The name "Passover" appears 5 times in these 8 verses, 3 times from Jesus' mouth. Therefore he believed he was eating the Passover.
Notice that no one "bats an eye" at this early Passover. The disciples say nothing. They would have eaten Passover every year from the time they would have been able to digest lamb. The saying "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" is true, but, if they felt this early Passover was against what God commanded, we would expect them to ask about it and for that to be recorded in at least one of the Gospels.
The owners of the room serve the Passover at this early time without hesitation. If they felt they would be in trouble with the Sanhedrin for doing this, they would not have done it.
In fact many people observed this early Passover. Because all Jews were required to make their best effort to be in Jerusalem for this feast, Jerusalem became very crowded. Many people camped outside the city in tents because all the rooms were taken. There weren't always enough places to eat at the usual time.
To understand how Jesus and other Jews could be eating the Passover so early, we need to look at what the Bible says about when Passover was to be eaten?
The Bible says Passover (the meal) is to begin on Nisan 14, at twilight (as the light from the sun fades). Remember now that God's day ends at sunset and another one begins. That sunset comes in the middle of twilight. The light from the sun fades before sunset and continues to fade after sunset.
Therefore, there are two fading light twilight periods in every day, one after sunset (at the beginning of a day), and the other before sunset (at the end of the day). Don't confuse this with sunrise. God's day was not based on sunrise.
Jesus chose the beginning twilight to eat Passover. This was necessary for him because he was going to be the Passover at the ending twilight.
We know Jesus waited for sunset to begin Nisan 14 because Luke says so:
And when it was time, Yeshua came and reclined and the twelve Apostles with him. (Luke 22:14)
Church of God (7th day) also chooses the beginning twilight for their service.
Now that we understand when Jesus' Passover took place, we can put it into the sequence of events for that day.
Paul describes the Corinthian Passover as a meal. We do not see a reference to the meat they were eating. Even though the temple is still functioning, the Corinthian church contains many non-Jews who would not have had access to a sacrificed lamb. Therefore we see the meal taking place in Corinth, a straight line distance away from Jerusalem of 800 miles.
They should be as united as a family for it but Paul criticizes them for the divisions among them (doing things in different ways).
| But one or another eats his supper beforehand by himself and | one started the meal early and ate and drank by himself |
| One has been hungry and | one brought a big appetite (taking advantage of the food) |
| One has been drunk. (1 Corinthians 11:21) | one drank enough wine there to be drunk |
The Corinthians were doing what they had done at the Pagan feasts they knew before they were Christians.
Throughout almost all churches today, we don't see Passover being observed. Instead we see something completely different being observed. How did we get there? A good description of that is available here
Many people have trouble understanding what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 5 when he says "Our Passover is the Messiah".
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast ferments the whole lump? 7 Purge out the old yeast from you that you would be a new lump, just as you are unleavened bread. Our Passover is the Messiah, who was slain for our sake. 8 Therefore let us make a feast, not with the old yeast, neither with the yeast which is in wickedness or of bitterness, but with the yeast of purity and of holiness. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)
In context, his point is about boasting. Prior to these verses Paul gives more detail about what they had done wrong by their boasting.
In the verse above, Paul uses the symbology of Passover to instruct them in the dangers of boasting, what they should be instead, and why. We can know that is true when he says, "you are unleavened bread," That can only be true in a metaphorical understanding. The paraphrase below is easier to understand.
Boasting is like a yeast that will spread in you. Purge out that yeast so you will be a new lump of dough, becoming the unleavened bread of the Passover, as our Messiah was the pattern, when he was crucified. Therefore, let us make a feast of ourselves, not eating the yeast of your old lives, neither that of bitterness or wickedness, but with purity and holiness.
It needs to be understood that the Passover was a meal, not a day on the calendar. When Paul says "Our Passover is the Messiah" he is referring to eating the Messiah, in the same way that Jesus meant when he said, this is my body, eat, and this is my blood, drink. So, he is saying they should eat the Messiah, who has no yeast, to rid themselves of the bad yeast.
Note also that Paul refers to bitterness. This is a reference to the bitter herbs that were a required part of the Passover meal. Those greens were not meant to be an enjoyable part of the meal. They were meant to teach us that bitterness needs to be identified and avoided. The pattern again is Jesus, who was not made bitter by the unjust and cruel way he was treated.
An interesting change occurs with Passover. Everyone remembers the blood on the doorposts and lintels of the homes. That is mentioned in Exodus 12, but it is never mentioned again. The Hebrew word for lintel is used three times in that chapter and never used again. There are many other mentions of the Passover, but that is not part of them.
There is no place that says this part of Passover is discontinued. There is also no rational for it, other than there is no angel of death coming in any future Passover. It is given as a commandment though, along with other commandments that are mentioned again and are obviously still in effect.
This leaves Jews mystified about whether they should be putting blood on the door posts.
Another change also happens; wine becomes an essential part of Passover. There is no Biblical basis for this change. Wine isn't mentioned for Passover. It became integral so long ago that no one remembers when. No one has any idea when it happened or how.
The consequence of this is that wine will be available at the Last Supper for Jesus to use to say, "This is my blood".
Also notice that the blood on the doorposts and lintel has the same symbolic meaning as the wine. They both represent the blood of Jesus.
Seeing all of this, one would be expected to wonder if God has had his hand in the affairs of men. If that is true though, why do it this way? Why not just say that wine is a required part of the meal in Exodus 12?
We can't know the mind of God, of course, but perhaps we can make some reasonable guesses.
Is this God's way of allowing people to choose but, maybe with a preference for wine? Jesus says something oddly at the Last Supper that seems to support this. Jesus doesn't say "wine". He only says "fruit of the vine". He also doesn't say how much must be drunk. Is he intentionally leaving the door open to grape juice and de-alcoholized wine?
In Jesus' time, refrigeration was still almost 2,000 years away. Therefore grapes were only safe to eat for a few days after they were picked. Grape juice was only safe to eat for a few hours after it was pressed. So, those forms were only available near harvest time and, thus, the term "fruit of the vine" usually meant wine.
Passover is nowhere near harvest time for grapes. Therefore, there would have been no grape juice available then. If Jesus was saying "fruit of the vine" instead of "wine" to allow a choice, he would have been doing it for people who would be performing the Eucharist with grape juice when that option was available and for a far future people performing Passover who had refrigeration.
Along the same lines as the previous section, there is another case where we would wonder if God has had his hands in the affairs of men in relation to the Passover.
Use your spiritual eyes and ears as you read this. From long ago, there has been an order to the Passover meal - what things are said and done and when. Before the meal starts, 3 sheets of Matzah are placed in the pockets of an echad (meaning "one") or in the pockets of 1 folded napkin. This unifies them side by side - I'm sure you aren't missing the numbers here.
During the meal, the middle sheet of Matzah is removed and held up for everyone to see. Then it is broken in half. One half is placed back in the echad / napkin. The other half is wrapped in linen and hidden. The children search for it and the child that finds it is rewarded. Then one piece of that half sheet of Matzah is given to everyone to eat.
This seems to be the clear telling of a story about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with the son leaving that unity to be revealed and then broken (die) and for his spirit to return to the unity and his body to become food.
What is this doing in a Jewish Passover? Long ago, the Jews believed in a Triune God but that wasn't true in Jesus' time and isn't in our time. Currently the Jews have no idea why this is part of the Passover order. They have two theories but neither is convincing.
Is this what Jesus was doing at the Last Supper when he says, "This is my body"? We can't know for sure but if so, he is making a powerful statement - I am the middle Matzah. I came from God and will return to the unity I had. In John's account of that meal, Jesus says that explicitly.
What if there was no meal between the bread and wine? We've already established that a sacrificed lamb was not possible after the temple was destroyed. Without the meal, you would have the simplified ceremony we commonly observe as the Lord's Supper, or Communion. Is this a Biblical idea?
I believe it is. What is left are the elements of bread and wine, about which Jesus said, remember me. So the simplified Passover is just a remembrance of what Jesus did for us.
It's easy to see from his words that the schedule for these remembrances was not limited to Nisan 14.
So after they had dined, he also gave the cup, and he said, "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. You shall be so doing every time that you drink for my memorial." (1 Corinthians 11:25)
This indicates that we can memorialize (remember) him whenever we choose. We do see that being done in the Bible by the very first church.
And they were continuing in the teaching of the Apostles, and they became partakers in prayer and in breaking of the Eucharist. (Acts 2:42)
We see it being done in the church of Troas.
In the first day the week, when we assembled to break the Eucharist, Paulus was speaking with them, because the next day he was going to go out by himself and he prolonged speaking until midnight. (Acts 20:7)
Nisan 14 cannot land on a Sunday (1st day of the week) therefore we know this is not Passover being celebrated.
We also see it being done by the best of the early church fathers such as Polycarp.
However Polycarp's fight (and later Polycrates') was about the date for Passover, not the breaking of the Eucharist. In fact, when Polycarp meets with Anicetus, the Bishop of Rome, he complains about the date change for Passover and then they break the Eucharist together. So both observances were kept.
Therefore we see they were thought of as being different things and had different schedules. Passover was Nisan 14; the remembrance could be anytime. It wouldn't make sense to do the remembrance on Nisan 14, though. Why not do the Passover, which includes the remembrance? That Passover meal is what Paul describes in the Corinthian church - the meal with remembrance.
The remembrance quickly replaces Passover. The Roman church changes the date for Passover and renames it to Good Friday. With that, Passover dies in the churches based on Rome. The remembrance is all that continues on. In most churches now, the remembrance happens periodically throughout the year, which it should, but it is always part of Easter.
A few churches only do the remembrance once a year, usually on Easter but a few on Nisan 14. In their thinking they are re-enacting the Passover by doing the remembrance.
Only the Messianic churches are eating Passover on Nisan 14.
There is a common understanding in our time that Jesus was replacing Passover when he said "Remember me". History shows that isn't correct. The Apostles, their disciples, and a few generations after that continued to keep Passover.