| This is a topic that I've wanted to write about for awhile. Passover is possibly one of the most under-appreciated (and un-celebrated) holidays in modern Christianity. While I know that it is still a few months away, I wanted to get a head start this year and encourage anyone who calls themselves a Christian to take another look at Passover and why we should celebrate it.
First off, a little background information. In 325 AD, the Council of Nicea was assembled by Constantine, the Holy Roman Emperor. This was one of the first major councils of the early Roman Catholic Church. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss issues concerning their version of Christianity, which Constantine had recently adopted and was zealously propogating throughout the empire. During the meeting, the topic of Passover and Easter was one of the main talking points, and Constantine himself had this to say:
"[...]It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. … Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way. (Life of Constantine, 3:18)."
Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't recall Christ ever teaching a "different way" from Passover, nor do I recall Him endorsing anti-Semitism from His Church, nor did He ever adopt a pagan fertility festival (Easter) and call it His own. All of these modern traditions are from Constantine and his cohorts, not our Savior.
Which brings us to my second point; Christ Himself celebrated Passover. That alone should be reason enough to stop arguing about it and just do it, but apparently the words of Constantine are more to be believed these days than those of our Messiah. Let me turn your attention to the book of Luke, chapter 22:
"14And when the hour had come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him. 15And He said unto them, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." 17And He took the cup, and gave thanks and said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves; 18for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come." 19And He took bread, and gave thanks and broke it and gave it unto them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me." " Now, common Christian doctrine teaches that Jesus was somehow "doing away with" Passover here, and replacing it with crackers and grape juice on random Sunday mornings. I submit to you that such a doctrine is not borne out by the context of the events surrounding what Christ said. Seeing as how the disciples were all Jews, don't you think it would have been a massive shock to them if their Rabbi suddenly stood up and said "Hey guys, this whole Passover thing that My Father told you to do, He didn't really mean it, so you can stop now. Here, have some juice and crackers in remembrance of Me instead."??
It is most assuredly true that the twelve did not understand the full implications of what Jesus was saying to them until later, but I can assure you that abolishing Passover completely was not one of them. That would have been a gross heresy, and telling His disciples to violate Yahweh's commandments would have invalidated the entire concept of Jesus of Nazereth being the Messiah. Neither Jesus nor any of the apostles ever taught anyone to not celebrate Passover, and that includes the Gentile converts.
What Jesus was actually doing was re-defining what Passover was all about. Before, it was a symbolic representation of the exodus from Egypt; now, Christ was making it about His sacrifice for all humanity. When He said "Do this in remembrance of Me", the pronoun "this" is referring to Passover and the specific act of breaking bread during the meal, not juice and crackers! I do want to clarify a point here. I am in no way against the modern incarnation of the Lord's Supper. I think that setting aside time for a "mini-Passover" to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ is a fine idea, and it seems that the apostle Paul did as well. However, this should not be at the expense of one of the most powerful, poingant holy days that God gave to us.
This brings us to my last point, which is really more of a personal testimony. I grew up in Baptist-esque churches my entire life. Went to a Passover seder once, which was good, but it was presented as more of a curiousity than anything else. I've been steeped in the "well, that's the Old Testament" line for a very long time, and I used to actually believe that lie from Satan. However, two years ago, I was invited to a Passover celebration at the house of a good friend, and the presentation of this holy day that they gave forever changed my perspective. The entire Exodus story came alive for me, and was brought into a whole new light when compared to it's new meaning given by Jesus. Prophetic meanings attached to various elements that pointed to the Messiah were shown to me, and my eyes were truly opened. Up until this point, I had been sympathetic to Passover, but this particular evening brought it home in a whole new way.
My final conclusion? Passover is definitely for us today, and those who teach otherwise are either decieved, clinging to their man-made traditions, or just plain lying. I beseech those who are truly sincere about obeying God and following the example of Christ to take the step, find a group near you that celebrates Passover, and join them this year. You will not be sorry, that I promise you. As always, give all the glory to Yahweh.
~Josh
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