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Did Jesus Celebrate the Passover?

Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by bound, Jan 29, 2010.

  1. bound

    bound New Member

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    I was in a discussion with some Orthodox Christians and they argued that Jesus wasn't celebrating the Passover on the Last Supper...

    Does anyone here question that?
     
  2. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    Yes. He was celebrating Passover. Jesus was a devout Jew, and would have participated in passover every year. It would have been unusual enough of noting in the scriptures if he did not.

    I suspect the reason they think it wasn't passover was because the custom of a Passover Seder has the first cup of wine consumed before the eating of unleavened bread, but here it occurs after. But that assumes the events were occuring during the meal. The Synoptic Gospels state the events occurred after supper had ended.
     
    #2 Johnv, Jan 29, 2010
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  3. Thinkingstuff

    Thinkingstuff Active Member

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    I think Agnus Dei might have something to say about it.
     
  4. bound

    bound New Member

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    Hi Johnv,

    Thanks for your comments... could you point me to a passage that states that?

    Thanks again. :thumbs:
     
  5. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    Excerpts from Luke 22:
    "Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.' ... They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.' ... In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying..."
     
    #5 Johnv, Jan 29, 2010
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  6. bound

    bound New Member

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    Oh, I was right there and I completely overlooked it. Thanks sooo much for the help!

    So, it was 'after' the Sedar that He instituted the Last Supper... perhaps even pouring another cup of wine, right?
     
  7. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    That's my guess. Yep. It appears he dined with his close friends in celebration of the Pesach, and then, at or towards the end of that, he went on to perform what we now call the Lord's Supper. The reason the gospel writers don't give more detail about the Passover meal itself was probably because, to the Jews of the day, everyone knew what a Passover meal consisted of.
     
  8. Thinkingstuff

    Thinkingstuff Active Member

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    Note for the Orthodox it can't be the passover sader because the bread they use for the eucharist has yeast.
     
  9. bound

    bound New Member

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    Do you think Jews had bread with yeast available after the Sader? I thought it lasted for like 7 days or something and 'all' yeast was removed from the houses?
     
  10. Agnus_Dei

    Agnus_Dei New Member

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    I found the following from a Russian Orthodox Church website...But I do have an email in to one of my priests asking for clarification...

    Was the Last Supper the Passover meal or not? As Orthodox Christians, the answer is "NO!" The time our Lord was crucified, Jews were to celebrate Passover on a Saturday (actually the Jewish way of reckoning time was from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday). Therefore at the meal called the Last Supper, Jesus gave the Apostles leavened bread to eat.

    Passover is also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread and again, Jews during the time of our Lord's death would have been eating unleavened bread (no yeast), starting that Friday evening with the setting of the sun. The result of the above is that as Orthodox Christians we use leaven bread for Holy Communion, while Western Christians use unleavened (wafers). To further defend our point of when Passover started that year, we go to John 18:28: where Jesus is being taken from Caiaphas, the high priest, to Pilate, the governor. The chief priest and elder only took Christ to the entrance of Pilate's courtyard (Praetorium) for, "But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled (become unclean) and not eat of the Passover meal." Thus, Passover had not yet started.

    Just an added note: If the chief priests, elders and scribes would have done all that is recorded in the scriptures on the day of Passover, the seizing and arrest of Christ, his trial, the mob that led Jesus to the place of the Skull, as well as the Crucifixion of Jesus and two others, would have been political suicide to some, public embarrassment and humility to others and a huge loss of respect from the people.

    Source

    I'll Follow up later...

    In XC
    -
     
  11. bound

    bound New Member

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    My problem with this is that it seems to surround the pretext that Jesus 'had' to be eating 'leavened' bread. In fact, everything I read from an Orthodox point of view seems to be preoccupied with proving this point... eventhough it contradicts St. Luke's Gospel.

    It's kinda weird.
     
  12. RAdam

    RAdam New Member

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    I'm curious as to where they ascertained that Christ gave them leavened bread rather than unleavened bread. Also, the Jews celebrated the Passover on a Saturday rather than the 14th of Nisan?
     
  13. bound

    bound New Member

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    pious bias from my study. Because they used leavened bread they pretext it into their interpretation... so far it's all that I can figure out.
     
  14. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

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    It certainly would appear that it was the Passover where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper. The bread (“This is my body . . .”) and the cup (“This is my blood of the covenant . . .”) were integral parts of the Passover seder. The cup of blessing (1 Corinthians 10:16) is actually the third cup of the meal. In the order of the seder, the cup of blessing is followed by the great Hallel (singing of psalms)(Matthew 26:30). After that is the fourth cup, which seems to have been omitted at the occasion of the Last Supper. Some commentators have suggested that the fourth cup was the sour wine taken on the cross. Thus the prayer of Jesus, "Let this cup pass from me."
     
  15. Agnus_Dei

    Agnus_Dei New Member

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    the Roman Catholic apologist Scott Hann, has an article (the Fourth Cup) about this...i remember reading it when i was in RCIA...

    In XC
    -
     
  16. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Jesus was both celebrating Passover AND adding meaning to the service by pointing to the fulfillment in his death.

    "As oft as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death - until He comes."

    Thus in 1Cor 5 Paul can say "Christ our Passover has been slain".

    in Christ,

    Bob
     
  17. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

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    Good insight, Bob.
     
  18. Gerhard Ebersoehn

    Gerhard Ebersoehn Active Member
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    Yes!
    So have I been arguing most of my life the Last Supper was not the passover meal, not realising I argued the Lord's Supper WAS the Passover of Yahweh. I came to realise this only recently. Jesus 'ate' the Passover BEING the Passover of Yahweh AT THE TABLE ALREADY: FROM the beginning of the fourteenth day of the First Month "the evening" of it, Mk14:12,17/Mt26:17,20/Lk22:7,14/Jn13:1, its 'night' 1Cor11:23. DYING the death of death Jesus ATE and DRANK the Passover of Yahweh. Dying He "TRIUMPHED IN IT" AND THEREFORE WAS ENTITLED TO DECLARE HE --- SUFFERING --- ENTERED INTO HIS FATHER'S KINGDOM.

    Jesus ATE The Passover with his disciples having BEEN "Our Passover" and "Lamb of God" every second of the God given and therefore eschatological imperative WHOLENESS of the "three days and three night"-"three days" of passover. He himself ate no crumb of bread or drank a drop of wine - HE WAS IT. He commanded his disciples to eat and drink of HIM who IS the Passover of God. The night BEFORE Christ was crucified and died, HE DIED DEATH in spirit; He died the death of death; He died that we may have LIFE; his death, was Life Eternal.
     
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