Why don’t Christians celebrate Passover

   Passover is a wonderful festival of faith! The celebration includes great food, lots of company (invite everyone!), and a fantastic story. The evening spent commemorating the events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt are informative, entertaining and quite fulfilling. For the Jewish people this is an event that binds our families together. For Christians this is the background story of to the life of Jesus. (see more in my book Spring: Connecting With God).
   Often when I talk to Christians about the Passover I am met with a blank response. Most Christians know that Passover is a Jewish holiday, but they have no idea what it is (although sometimes they know it relates to the Exodus from Egypt). I am amazed at how many people I talk do not know the Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover meal. The vast majority of church members have never participated in a Passover Seder, and are therefore totally ignorant of this important foundation of their faith.
   The lack of information provided to most Christians by the church regarding the Passover is sad, because the story told at this Jewish celebration is at the heart of the entire Bible. In my book, Spring: Connecting With God, I relate with some detail how the gospels related Jesus’ participation in the Passover during every year of his life, including each of the three years of his ministry. It is clear from the New Testament that Jesus and his disciples wanted the church to include the Passover Seder, along with it’s Jewish and Christian symbols as part of the annual calendar.

   The early church developed a weekly meal, similar to the Passover Seder, which it called the Agape (or Love) Feast. This meal, which was often held before worship services included stories of faith and the Lord’s Supper (Communion, Eucharist). But the meal did not last, because Christians forgot a central commandment of their faith, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or in the words of the Apostle John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. ... Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4)
   Paul, Luke, Jude and Peter very early in the church’s history relate that there are problems in the Agape (or Love) feast. (1 Corinthians 11:17–34; 2 Peter 2:12-14; Jude 1:12) These problems were similar to those that divide people today. In Corinth the wealthy people did not like to associate with the poor. In Jerusalem, the people who lived in the land were prejudiced against those that came from surrounding Greek territories (Acts 6:1-7). In Antioch of Syria, racism became a major problem in the congregation. (Acts 11:19-27) Jewish believers were causing divisions against the Gentiles (Acts 15:1), and Gentile believers developed a resistance to the Jews.
    Ignatius, an early bishop who led the church at Antioch forbid Jewish practices, including the Passover, in Antioch and beyond. He wrote in his letters to the Philippians and to the Tarsians, “If any one celebrates the passover along with the Jews, or receives the emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles.” Ignatius did this to increase the power of the early Gentile church. Ignatius helped to build the political power structure within early Christianity. Other early church fathers followed in the practices of antisemitism in order to gain power, leaving behind fears and prejudicial beliefs toward Biblical Jewish practices that remain to this day.
   The Apostle Paul wrote, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor 5:7-8) Paul, who grew up in a Jewish home, always maintained the Jewish traditions, even visiting the Temple in Jerusalem. He understood and taught the Jewish - Christian connection.
   In our modern era, it is sad to loose the Jewish foundations of the Christian faith, because the loss makes the church shallower … and less like Jesus. We need to learn the lesson of the Wise Son, who desires to know everything about the Passover and his faith. We should ask questions, as the eldest child at the Passover Seder, in order to learn. We should learn the meanings of the food and how they relate to the Spring harvest, the Exodus from Egypt, and the life and ministry of Jesus. In a world of refugees, we need to hear these words, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Ex 22:21; Lev 19:33-34; Deut 10:19; Ps 146:9)

   Every Christian congregation should celebrate the Passover on a regular basis. There are many good leaders who can guide the church (contact me at KosherCopy@gmail.com if you live in the eastern US), or you can use my book “A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition” to put together your own Passover Seder.

Hanukkah, Is that in the Bible?

     I hear the title of this blog asked as a question again and again as I take out my dreydel to spin it, or as I say, “Happy Chanukah” as a holiday greeting to people I meet. There are some who do not know what Hanukah is, and I am glad to relate the meaning of the festival. There are some who are uncomfortable with anything that has religious connotation. For these I am sorry, because I am not trying to ‘convert’ them to Judaism, I am just sharing a festival that brings joy to many (a cultural note and a historic event). Then there are yet others who seem a bit perturbed that I would issue that greeting, because they are Christians and the Jewish holiday is not part of their chosen experience. There exists, among some, ‘if it isn’t in the New Testament, it doesn’t matter.’

Jerusalem from Mt. Scopus (North)

     And here is where these “New Testament Only” Christians are mistaken. Hanukkah does exist in the New Testament (and even though it is a Jewish holiday, there are no references to this festival in the Old Testament). Here it is, from the Gospel of John 10:22-23, “Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” Beyond the Apocrypha, the only Biblical reference to this Jewish festival is in the Gospels.

Jerusalem from Haas Promenade (South)

     John’s Gospel points out that Jesus knew of and celebrated the festival of Hannukah. This festival is the Feast of Dedication, a holiday to remember when the Hebrew army under the command of Judah Maccabee defeated the Hellenistic forces in Jerusalem to recapture the Temple. As a matter of faith, religion and victory, Judah, his brothers, and the people of Israel were very quick (maybe too quick) to pull together the people and items necessary to re-start Temple worship and the practices of their faith. They rededicated the house of God (therefore the New Testament title for the holiday) with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs.

Jerusalem from Pater Noster (East)

     There can be little doubt that Jesus would have lit a menorah for Chanukah. The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) relates that Hillel and Shammai argued about lighting the candles. Hillel believed that a light should be added for each night so the glow would grow throughout the festivities. Shammai believed eight candles should be lighted the first night, and then one less each night in order to remember the offering of bulls during the Feast of Tabernacles. The menorah was placed by the doorpost (as the Mezuzah was placed on the doorpost) in order to declare faith in the God who redeemed Israel.

Jerusalem from the Tower of David (West)

     The festival of Chanukah contains a story that people of faith can stand behind. It is the recitation of how the household of Mattathias, even when faced with punishment and death, did not neglect the practice of their faith. At the heart of the story is the command by a Hellenistic soldier for Mattathias and his village to bow down to an idol. The village priest and his family refuse to deny their faith.

A book worth reading!

     I have related some stories of the Maccabee rebellion in the book Advent Journeys, available as a book, as a Kindle e-book, and readable through Amazon Prime). If you want to become more personally involved with the Christmas … and the Chanukah story (week 6 of the book), I would encourage taking time to read Advent Journeys, as a book, on Kindle, or through Amazon Prime.

Learning to Love God

I am a Christian Educator. My life’s work was to help people learn and live the words of the Bible. I prepared lessons and trained teachers to lead classes for all ages, from the youngest babies to the most elderly adults. Along the way I substituted, taught and worked alongside the teachers in each age group. Through my life’s work I fell in love with people and the end result of Bible lessons being incorporated into their lives.

Leading a Passover Seder at Fairview Baptist Church, Statesville

From a very young age I learned to listen to the words of scripture and love it’s stories. This did not happen in a church, for I did not go to church, I was raised in a Jewish home. My most memorable times of Bible learning occurred in the home. When I was young my mother would read to me from a book of Bible stories. Our family also celebrated the Jewish holidays and learned the traditions that go with each event.

Dressed up for our Purim Celebration

This month we will celebrate the festival called Purim. When I was young, my family would go to the Synagogue, where we would hear stories from the Megillah, the book of Esther. We dressed in costumes, played carnival type games, ate food (including hamantaschen), and heard a presentation from the book of Esther every half hour. These recitations could be story reading, puppet plays or dramas. Each telling was “child friendly,” and enabled me to remember the reason for the event.

My Passover Family

Next month we will celebrate Passover (or Pesach), the Jewish feast which remembers how God enabled my people to escape slavery in Egypt. During this festival we would go to Uncle Stuart and Aunt Betty’s home, for Uncle Stuart was the eldest son in the family. I would see my grandmother and spend the afternoon playing with my cousins. We were family.

Passover at Salem Baptist Church in Apex, NC

At the appointed time on Passover eve, we would all sit down at the long table to enjoy a feast. But before we ate, we participated in and heard the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The memorable words repeated year after year from the Haggadah for the American Family. My Uncle Stuart would lead and each of us would read our parts, as broken out in the book. After much more than a decade of following this tradition, some of the lines we read are etched on my memory from simple repetition.

Breaking Matzoh at Central Methodist Church, Mooresville, NC

During the evening we would spend at least an hour saying the blessings, reading the scripture, tasting the foods (like karpas, matzoh, morror and charosis), singing the songs, and reciting the story. A huge feast would come near the end of the book, once the story was told and the plagues of Egypt recited.

A Passover lesson at Lighthouse Church, Mooresville, NC 

My Uncle had a fantastic sense of humor, and made our visits to his home fun. Many stories could be told about what happened at our Passover table, but to recite them would get us off topic. The point is, my religious training was a family event, supported by the Synagogue. My family did a good job, and when my children were born I continued the tradition of sharing the story of the Bible through fun festivals and events so they could learn to love my God and my faith.

Buying a goat in Israel for two zuzim

Today, even as my children are grown, I continue to share the Jewish festivals with Christians across the country. I have taken time to study the holidays to see how they were celebrated during the first century in Israel. Jesus, himself, with his parents, participated in all of the Jewish holidays. There are many references to him going to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles and Chanukah. To miss the connection is to erase a portion of the New Testament.

My book celebrating Passover as a Relationship with God

To miss sharing the faith with our children in the same manner as Jesus’ parents shared the Jewish traditions with their children is to ignore the teachings of the Bible handed down since the days of Moses.

A Passover Haggadah with complete explanations and leader hints

My daughters and I have written several books (Spring: Connecting with God, A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition, two Kindle Haggadahs, and Advent Journeys) to help Christians understand the Jewish and early Christian traditions of Passover. We lead these services in churches to help people understand these traditions within their context, hoping the next generation will grow up with the same love of God I have enjoyed through life. I guide church Seder services for any who desire to know more. For more information, contact me through my e-mail address.