So, why is Easter so early this year, and how does the Christian church determine when Easter falls? Very simply, you can use this equation to figure out when Easter will fall:

((19*t+u-w-(u-(u+8) \25)+1)\3)+15)mod30) +(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+ u-w-(u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15) mod30)-z) mod7)- 7*(t+11* (19*t+u- w(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15) mod30)+22*(32+2*x+2*y- (19*t +u-w-(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3) +15)mod30)-g)mod7) +114)\31 = /`\ /`\

From this article:

This year will be the earliest anyone now alive will ever see Easter because it will not fall this early again for over 100 years – in 2160.

It is not the earliest Easter can be celebrated however – that is a day earlier on March 22 though the next time it will fall then will be in 2285.

The last time it was on March 22 was 1818.

The odds are considerably better for witnessing a late Easter.

Many people are still around from the last time Easter fell on April 25 in 1943 and a good many now living will likely still be around when Easter next falls on April 25 in 2038.

The more you know…

[HT: FARK]

Go and learn young Jedi.

Just as a refresher, here is where we have been thus far in this series:

Part I: Lamb Selection Day
Part II: Passover Preparation
Part III: Passover Banquet
Part IV: Passover Sacrifice

Recently, we’ve also discussed Jesus’ use of remez while on the cross

Today, in Part V, we will be examining the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Timing

“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. (Exodus 12:17-18)

” ‘These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’ “(Leviticus 23:4-8)

On the Jewish Calendar, the Passover Festival is often a combination of 3 Festival celebrations, spread over a 7-9 day period (depending on which day Passover falls). These three festivals are: Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, while it lasted a week in total, was celebrated in sacred assembly on the first Sabbath after Passover – whether it was the day after or seven days after Passover. Firstfruits was then celebrated, per Leviticus 23:15, the day after the Feast of Unleavened bread (and then the Feast of Weeks – Shavuot or Pentecost – seven weeks later).

So, in the year Jesus was crucified, Passover was on Friday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was on Saturday and Firstfruits was on Sunday – a sequence that only happened one out of every seven years.

Jesus’ Burial and Burial Customs

From the Gospel accounts, we know that Jesus was buried just before sunset on Friday.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. (John 19:31)

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Luke 23:50-56)

The women were preparing spices and perfumes for Jesus’ body, because it would be the Jewish custom for them, beginning the day after the Sabbath, to sit in the anteroom of Jesus’ tomb (see #6 on the diagram at the right of a First Century tomb which some believe to have belonged to Joseph of Aramathea). Here, in this anteroom, they would be greeted and comforted by other mourners for up to a week after the burial.However, with the placing of the guards by the tomb and the sealing on the stone may have created a problem, unless Pilate had granted permission to open the tomb (though, with great celebration, we never had to find this out!)

After the period of mourning, the tomb would have been sealed for a year, during which the flesh on the body would decay or dessicate and slough off. After a year, the bones of the deceased would then have been placed in an ossuary (a bone box) in the tomb, so that the tomb could be used by more family members. In the Hebrew Scriptures, this ’second burial’, interring the bones of the deceased in an ossuary, was referred to as ‘resting with their fathers’ or ‘buried with the fathers’. This is most likely what is being referred to by the potential disciple in Matthew 8:21 and Luke 9:59.

It is also an important detail that no bodies had yet been laid in this tomb, as anyone who went into this tomb would become unclean if anyone had been previously buried there. Thus, when Jesus was resurrected, he would have been ceremonially unclean (and unable to go into the Temple, among other things, without sinning). However, because there had been no other dead bodies there, when he was resurrected, the tomb would still have been ceremonially clean – a detail we Christians may not fully appreciate, but many Jews would.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

This feast commemorated the giving of manna, the bread from heaven, by God to the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert, and it was a thanks to God for providing rain and a harvest – for providing food from the earth.

The main prayer for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the same one as is spoken during the breaking of the afikomen during the Passover meal:

Baruch attah Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Haoolom, hamotzee lechem min ha-oretz.

“Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.”

So, imagine for yourself, somewhere between 500,000 and 3 million people (if we accept Josephus’ figures) in the Temple on Saturday calling out this prayer to God – Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.

During this time, who is buried in the earth? Jesus. Who is the Bread of Life? Jesus! Where was he born? Bethlehem (which means “House of Bread”!)

And so, whether they knew it or not, these people blessing God for bringing bread out of the earth would have their prayers answered in the most spectacular way ever. If you believe this is a coincidence, you must believe in a different God than I do – because my God is not a God of coincidence!

Jesus said:

I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. (John 6:48-50)

Grace and peace,

Chris

Read the Biblical account of Peter denying Jesus here

I have a lot of moments frozen in time in my life. Some of them are fond memories. The moment my daughters actually came into this world, different memories from my wedding day. Graduating from college. I also have some memories that aren’t so good. The day my dad called to tell me that my mom had passed, my “big” car wreck. I’ll spare you all the gory details of my more personal failures and the frozen moments spent hurting people close to me.

Have you ever wondered about Peter? Seriously, have you ever wondered what Good Friday was like for him five years after Christ’s death? Did he have the moment frozen in time where he betrayed Jesus? Did it play in his mind, over and over again? He was human, it had to.

As I age, I ponder the wisdom that comes with age and I realize the price that is often paid for it. I often find myself pondering the early church fathers, especially the disciples. We like to hit on Peter but the truth is they all denied Christ. When they would take part in communion how did the movie in their mind go about the last supper? When Peter would hear whatever invectives he used to deny Christ was he instantly transported back to that dark night? Could he smell the fires that were lit around the court yard? Could he feel the bile rise in the back of his throat? What about when he went to put the clothes that he wore that night back on was he transported back to that moment? Whatever personal regret and demons he may have wrestled with, it certainly didn’t stop him form sharing the gospel. They didn’t stop him from actively making the disciples of all men. At the end, his fervent belief in Jesus as Messiah cost him his life.

Maybe that is the ultimate message of Peter’s life. He was a living illustration of the fact that we don’t have to live in our “frozen moments.” Jesus died and rose again so you and I can live with a hope. We can live with forgiveness. We can live in a right relationship with Him. We don’t have to agonize over past failures because He paid the price. The debt is paid. Christ conquered death. That is the beauty of this weekend. Jesus died and rose from the dead. His tomb is empty.

Because of that, you and I can live the lives He has called us to live today. Whatever it is, that haunts you at night when no one else is around, whatever it is that you look back at with great regret, you can be free of it. Christ has paid for it. You’ll never be able to make up for it anyhow. Let it go. Jesus died to save all of you, He paid all of your debt. May you rest in that truth today as you celebrate Good Friday in your corner of the world.

In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, and in Part II, we examined the preparations for Passover. In Part III, we delved into the Passover Banquet, now called the Seder. Tonight, in Part IV, we will examine the passover sacrifice.

Origins

The origins of sacrifice in Hebraic tradition, and so, too, for us, goes back hundreds of years before Moses and the Exodus to the time of Abram. In Genesis 15, we read:

After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6)

So here, God has promised to protect Abram and to reward him. In Abram’s culture, the two most important things one could have were children and land – because these were the only things that could carry on as a legacy to future generations. Abram, when told by God, Himself, that He would reward him, immediately and boldly asked God about children, and had faith in God’s answer to him (which is a bit different response than most modern/Western Christians would expect in reaction to a Word from the Lord).

He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

Here, Abram has the chutzpah to ask the God of the universe for a sign by which he will know that God will give him land. And so God set up a Covenant with Abram.

So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. (Genesis 15:7-10)

Note that God did not have to tell Abram what to do with the animals, as this was a common means of creating a covenant between a greater party and a lesser party. This type of covenant, sometimes called a “bloodpath” is still practiced by the Bedouin of the Negev in modern Israel – particularly in arranged marriages.

In this bloodpath ceremony, the lesser party provides an animal – or animals – to be sacrificed and the greater party provides the terms of the covenant. Then, the lesser party kills the animal(s), and drains the blood into a trough. The greater party then walks through the blood, stamping his feet in the liquid to say “If I do not provide what I promised, you may do this to me (i.e. you may kill me)”. The lesser party then walks through the blood to say “If I do not keep my end of the bargain, you may do this to me (i.e. you may kill me)”.

[Even today, in Bedouin culture, if a husband or wife is found to be unfaithful or lazy or somehow less than what was promised in the bloodpath ceremony, the father of the unacceptable spouse is very likely to end up at the bottom of a wadi with his throat slit and shoeprints spattering his blood. As you might imagine, then, there is a good deal of pressure for everyone in the family to help each other's marriages to work out!]

Back to the story in Genesis:

Abram had supplied the animals for sacrifice, but what terms was God bringing to the table? In return for God giving Abram children and land and being their God, Abram would need to walk blameless before God. If God did not keep his end of the bargain, Abram could ‘kill’ him (we Westerners scoff at this idea, but this is the Eastern picture being drawn for Abram, an Easterner). However, if Abram didn’t keep his end of the bargain, God could kill him.

At this point, Abram had to be wondering what he had just gotten himself into. How could he expect to walk blameless before God? We read:

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. (Genesis 15:12)

“A thick and dreadful darkness came over him” is a Hebrew colloquialism which essentially means, in modern English – “he was scared out of his wits”. However, here is what happened next:

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. (Genesis 15:17)

Throughout scripture, God is symbolized by two primary images – fire and smoke. And so it is that first, as the greater party, God walked through the blood. Then, rather than Abram walking through the blood – which would have been an almost instant death sentence – God, in the form of a blazing torch, walked through the blood as the lesser party, as well! In doing so, He was saying “Abram, if you do not walk blameless before me, I will pay the penalty for your sin”, and in doing so – at that moment – Jesus was sentenced to death.

Sacrificial System

Many Christians have a misconception that the Jewish belief was that their sins were forgiven by the sacrifice of animals. This cannot be farther from the truth. The reason for sacrifice was (at least) two-fold:

1. It had to cost something, and in being so, it had to be messy and vile – because that is what our sin is to God
2. It was a call to God to ‘remember’ his promise of mercy and grace – His covenant with Abraham. Not that God could “forget” and require “remembering” (as we think of the words), but that He would “remember” as He had throughout the Hebrew scriptures, by giving specific attention to the person.

After the fall of the Temple in 70 A.D., the Jewish people looked at verses like I Samuel 15:22

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

And so their Rabbis taught as our Rabbi Paul did:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

It is to be through obedience to God, not through sacrifice of animals, that they would worship the Lord – not to earn grace, but out of love for Him.

The Crucifixion

During the Second Temple period, each day there were two sacrifices made for all the people of Israel, one at 9 a.m. and one at 3 p.m. The evening sacrifice of passover (remembering that this would have been the evening BEFORE Passover in our Western measurement of day and night) was for each family unit’s lamb, which was then shared with the family in the Passover Banquet. The afternoon sacrifice, at 3 p.m. (also called “the ninth hour” of the day), was to be the Passover sacrifice for the entire nation of Israel.

And so it is that we read:

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (Matthew 27:46-50)

And so it was that, at the very time when the Passover lamb in the Temple was being slaughtered for the nation of Israel, the Lamb of God was being sacrificed for ALL the nations, for those who would be grafted into Israel. According to John, the only disciple we know was present at the crucifixion, we know that Jesus’ last words were “It is finished”. And so it was – all the blood, all the sacrifices, all of it! The promise made by God back in Genesis was made complete, and the sins of all who would accept His grace were fogiven and forgotten.

Its time for another episode of the Justice and Mercy Podcast, in this episode we interview Steve Reeves who is Senior Pastor of Connection Pointe Christian Church of Brownsburg (Indiana). Download the podcast here, or listen to it below.

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In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, and in Part II, we examined the preparations for Passover.

In Part III, we will examine the banquet traditions of Passover as practiced in the first century – in very similar manner as is done today – with the intention of examining some significant details relevant to Christianity. It is not my intention to give an all-encompassing look into what is now referred to by faithful Jews as the Seder (which is most likely not the name used for this meal in the first century). If you want to see all of the parts of the service, there are a number of Christian and Jewish websites which document this.

The Banquet

Unlike the traditional Christian “Lord’s Supper”, this meal was a four-course banquet, each with a specific cup of wine to symbolize it. While we are certain that this was practiced in the First Century, we do not know whether Jesus and his disciples each had four cups or if only Jesus had the four cups (there is evidence of both, though the synoptic accounts seems to indicate that Jesus shared from one cup for at least the third cup), which also signified where they were in the meal. We do know, though, that the tradition of the cups of wine began some 200 years before Jesus and his disciples met in the Upper Room.

These four cups, according to Jewish tradition, are given their meaning from Exodus 6:6-7

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will deliver you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

The four cups are (sometimes the English translations for the names differ, but the meaning is consistent):

1. The Cup of Blessing/Thanksgiving (I will deliver you)
2. The Cup of Judgement (I will free you)
3. The Cup of Redemption (I will redeem you with an outstretched arm)
4. The Cup of Praise (I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God)

Each of these four cups symbolized one of God’s promises, and it is believed, from numerous early Jewish sources, that wine was representative of life/blood, and that God was promising on His own life that He will keep His promises (more on this tomorrow, if it seems a little “odd” to you).

Read the rest of this entry »

A weapon is not something to be trifled with or taken lightly. It is to be handled carefully and used purposefully. Certainly, if one is in a battle or similar situation, the weapon might be used quite often. But regardless, at all times, the weapon is to be taken seriously and recognized for its potential. It is not uncommon to hear in training for use of a weapon that one should “respect” it.

I would imagine that those sentences conjure images of some type of fire-arm in most people’s 21st-century minds. However, in the first century, there were no fire-arms, so when citing a weapon, Scripture writers never referenced an AK-47.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us:

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now granted, the applications of this metaphor* go beyond the fact that the sword is a weapon. But nonetheless, it cannot be denied that this is one of its characteristics. It is not to be taken lightly or used haphazardly.

I ran across this rather disturbing image the other day:

…………………………………………………………………………

This is a pretty good example of what I’m talking about. For the uninitiated, that’s Rob Bell’s mug superimposed with a Scripture passage. Were this slide used by Bell himself, his critics would be up in arms — and rightfully so — at the arrogance of using one’s own image right beside Scripture. Were this slide used by a Bell devotee, the critics would be up in arms — and rightfully so — decrying the speaker for improper elevation of a man.

But neither is the case. Here’s the image without its title blurred out.

…………………………………………………………………………

Just in case that doesn’t clear it up enough, this image is from a video of someone critiquing one of Bell’s Nooma videos. This slide was put together by one of Bell’s critics. Suddenly, since it’s being used to criticize Bell, the juxtaposition is now a Good Thing ™ and the video is praised on at least one the ODMs (three guesses as to which one).

Excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth a little.

* Or dare I say “contextualization”?

Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine about how it irks me the way people debate over theological issues. The debate doesn’t bother me. If you can find people who don’t take the debate personal, then you can have a great conversation. Too often people get too fired up when they are discussing things. Just last week I had to call a guy and say, “I’m sorry.” And just to get this out of the way, this post has nothing to do with the person I called. I hate it when people say something like, “Well, I believe this because the Bible says it” or “I believe this way because it is the most Biblical way to view the issue.” The implied message is that if you don’t believe what it is they’re saying that somehow you–the heretic–don’t really love God on the same level that they do. You–the moron–don’t really know how to properly read your Bible.

The Baptists use this argument to prove that their way is right. Most of the time they’re even willing to use this method to denounce other Baptists, which is why you have “free will baptists” and “southern Baptists” and “independent baptists” and “regular baptists” and “American baptists.” Someone once told me that there are 138 different baptist flavors. All 138 of them are holding a line, they are opening their Bible and slamming their finger down on a verse and saying, “See, it says it right here! I am right!”

My friend seemed to want to have sympathy for me. He was also sympathetic to the view I was decrying. That is one of the things I appreciate about our conversations. We disagree and most of the time he doesn’t walk away questioning my character because we disagree. He said something to the effect of well, that’s the normal argument for that position. I told him I knew that but I get tired of the Bible being used as the final shock and awe weapon to win the battle. I just don’t believe that when God wrote this love letter He intended for us to use it as a battering ram to win arguments. Anybody can claim that what they believe is backed by the Bible. Anybody can say their way is the most Biblical way. They are the one’s defending the truth. Heck, there is an even a Blog where some one has decided to call themselves the “Keepers of Christ’s Truth.” They tell us, Right now, Truth is under attack, and much is at stake.

So I just want to get this strait: The same God who created the entire universe, who has kept the Bible preserved through countless attacks. The same God who reconciled all men to Himself through the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of His Son needs some guy with a BLOG to defend the Truth? That’s retarded. That goes beyond any sane, reasonable train of thought. It bugs me to no end. What does this have to do with my opening?

Recently after reading a certain author I googled his name. I found this quote by a “critic” on one of the pages.

“Michael, I’m what’s called a Biblical Universalist [sic] “I didn’t just decide universalism was a nice concept (emotionalism as it is frequently described. I found it to be the truth of the Bible. My study started with trying to prove that Annihilation (the doctrine that God puts out of existence all those who reject Him) was true and Eternal Torment was false – I was more than a little surprised to discover they were both false.

Please don’t miss what he said because you disagree with what he said. He said that he believes what he believes because it is found in the Bible. He’s convinced he’s right and he has Bible verses to back him up. You’re wrong he’s right. It’s that simple. He’s just using the Bible. Now, most of the regular readers here are already thinking of verses and comebacks to prove that he’s wrong. There are some hate mongers who, if this guy’s first name was Doug and his last name rhymed with Racket or if he shared Robert Redford’s first name and the Liberty Bell’s last name, would be putting together hate posts where they would cross link to each other like West Virginia cousins in love and decry him a heretic. Why? He just believes what he believes based on the Bible?

So what? Can we not believe anything? Is everything up for grab? No, I don’t believe so, but I do have a fairly simple litmus test that I will put you through before I choose to listen to your words. That litmus test is simple really. I want to know do you have any of the following in your life?

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Self Control.

Why aren’t these things listed as the litmus test of our faith. If what you are trying to tell me is of the Spirit it should have these qualities to it. If it doesn’t then it is suspect. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR DOCTRINE if you do not have these in your life. Your doctrine is as relevant to my life as the NBA.

Feel free to fight for the faith, feel free to write hit pieces about Godly men. I hope it makes you feel better. Feel free to anonymously protest me speaking at your camp and hide behind your authority. Feel free to threaten people below you. Feel free to continue not looking like Christ. It’s Ok, you don’t have to earn God’s love. He forgives you for the mistakes you made in that first marriage. You won’t cause God to love you more by being hateful. He doesn’t need you defending His truth. He did just fine before you and I were ever even a hormone inside our parents, He’ll keep doing fine long after our bodies are nothing more than dust in the bottom of a wood box encased in a cement box with six feet of dirt on our heads. Take all that energy and try to live these things out. Love the gay person who wants the legal right to get married. I dare you. Be kind to the Lesbian who wants to adopt. Be patient with all the liberals. I know, “I’m just spewing social gospel now.” But I’m telling you, you’re not going to impact me all that much without these things in your life. You won’t impact anyone. God won’t be impressed.

I guarantee you I can find someone who disagrees with most of your faith and does so because they believe they have the Bible to stand on. They’ll be willing to say that you just aren’t reading it right, or you’re interpretation is skewed. Sometimes, it cracks me up two opposing sides will be using the same verse. At the end of the day the only thing that really matters is what kind of fruit your doctrine and theology produces and everyone’s Bible says this list is fruit born of the Spirit. So I say Grace and Peace to all the Haters. Haters are on both sides of issues. I say to you, Love. Love your neighbors, love your enemies, love those more conservative than you. Love those more liberal than you. Love Barrack, and Hillary. Love McCain. Love Ken Silva and Ingrid Schluetter. Love God and Love the World. Please just don’t expect me to come running to your view because you have the Bible on your side. Please don’t expect me to give you credence because you believe your way is the most Biblical. Especially, if you’re focusing more on someone looking like you than you are on your trying to look more like this list.

Grace and Peace

In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, which we Christians celebrate as Palm Sunday (though technically, since the selection happens on Sunday evening, it is actually on Monday in the Jewish calendar).

In this, Part II, we will examine some more of the traditions of Passover as practiced in the first century – in very similar manner as is done today – with the intention of examining some significant details relevant to Christianity.

Removing the Leaven

For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread (Exodus 12:19-20)

In Hebrew practice and tradition, on the seventh day before Passover, all families would search their houses for yeast (in some Jewish families, a paternal figure would hide bits of bread for the children to search out and find – which may have been borrowed later by Christians in ‘Easter Egg Hunts’. We do not have evidence, though, that this particular tradition was practiced in the first century). All yeast found in the houses would be brought to a central place and burned.

While the elimination of yeast was a rememberance of the Children of Israel leaving Egypt so quickly that there was not time to make bread with yeast, this elimination is also symbolic of systematic removal of all traces of sin in one’s life. Yeast is used throughout the scriptures – both the Old and New Testaments – as a symbol for sin. While it is important to always keep sin out of our lives, it is this purposeful searching that it done at Passover that seeks ALL the sources by which it may have crept into our lives. Both King Josiah (II Kings 23:1-25) and King Hezekiah (II Chronicles 29-30) took care to cleanse their entire kingdoms of the sin of idolatry as a way of preparation for Passover.

The Apostle Paul also reminds us of this need to remove the yeast from our lives at the time of Passover:

Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. (I Corinthians 5:6-8)

The Setting of the “Last Supper”

In the gospels, we read of the supper had by Jesus and his disciples in the Upper Room. This room, most likely in the Essene Quarter of the Upper City (and possibly called an “upper room” because of its location, rather than it being on the second floor of a dwelling place), would have looked nothing like DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper. For at least 200 years prior to the Last Supper, it was customary to eat the Passover meal while reclining, and archaeological evidence supports the tradition that in the first century, this meal would have been shared around a tricilinium, a short 3-sided table arrangement with the fourth side open to allow food to be served. (This, in itself sheds a great deal of context to the Last Supper that we won’t have time for in this article.)

After going to the Temple at the end of the day to sacrifice the family lamb selected four days previously, Jesus and his disciples would have returned to the Upper Room to prepare the meal. In that year, this would have been Thursday evening. Josephus claims that 500,000 lambs were slaughtered in the Temple at Passover, though some scholars believe it have been sacrifices for 500,000 people comprising a fewer number of family units. Still a large number of lambs, nonetheless!

It is this family Passover meal that Jesus and his disciples would have celebrated on that Thursday/Friday night 2,000 years ago. Then, less than 24 hours later, Jesus would become the Passover Lamb for all of Israel (into which we Christians have been grafted, per Paul’s writing in Romans 11).