IS IT LAST SUPPER OR LAST PASS OVER?
Since I became a witness, the only celebration I don’t joke with, have never missed and look up to is what they called ‘memorial’. Even if circumstances and storms of life carries me away from even attending meetings, I must in one way or the other know that ‘memorial’ is at hand and start preparing for it. I later discovered while studying the bible what I am actually celebrating and how it should be celebrated. My research into Jewish culture in connection with how they celebrated same, makes it clearer. That is the Passover which Yeshua had on Nissan 15 with his disciples. Though it is wrongly referred to as Nissan 14 but it is actually Nissan 15, the start of Jewish Passover which last for about 8 days. This is because Jew starts their days from dusk to dusk. So this celebration is what Yeshua assembled his disciples to celebrate in line with Jewish custom. How did it actually happen? How do the Jews celebrate Passover? What actually is Passover? How can I celebrate it in line with Jewish custom just like Yeshua today? Ultimately, is last supper, memorial, holy eucharist,etc the same as Passover? This article will help with all these questions.
WHAT IS PASSOVER
Simply feast of unleavened bread which Jews use to commerate their deliverance from Egypt. Pesach= to Passover. According to Luke chapter 22:7. It is the day of unleavened bread on which the Passover must be sacrificed. Emphasis on “must”. Yeshua knows the importance and that is why he sent Peter and Yochanan (John) to go and prepare the Passover for them to eat.( Luke 22:. Like I use to say, our problem is thinking more than God or do I say being more clever than God. The bible is very clear on Passover. It must be celebrated. Yeshua who knows the importance prepares for it and celebrated it, then people who claim to be following his footsteps now watered it down by calling it mere last supper. Some call it memorial focusing on one of the cups which he lifted to now signify his blood and one of the unleavened bread he raised as his body forgetting that the bible mentioned lifting of many cups. Had such people been patient enough to know more about the Jews and their celebration of Passover, at least they will know why Luke mentioned more than one cup and other important things about the Passover. But being in a hurry to build their Babel towers, they call it whatever they like and celebrate it the way they feel. Did he abolish Passover? Did he establish anything to replace it? No. Did he prepare and celebrate it? Yes and even made it stronger by linking the ultimate deliverance to it. So the question is how do we also remember that if we don’t know the origin, the importance and how it is celebrated. Confusion can never cease until people acknowledge and knows what need to be known and done and not what satisfies their quest and yearnings. In a bid to do away with a tradition or a people and push ahead our own ways, we should also remember that if we don’t know where we are coming from, it will be almost impossible to know where we are going.
Can you cut a palm tree, carry the trunk to your house and expect it to be producing the same sweet palm wine? The answer is no. Yeshua made the Passover stronger by recognizing and celebrating it as well as linking it with the ultimate sacrifice and told us to keep doing this (Passover) in his remembrance. Anyone who admires and wants to follow the footsteps of his father must learn how the father lived and not how others want him to see his father.
So as a follower of the footsteps of Yeshua, the Passover is also a must and in line with Jewish tradition. We have to prepare it the way it is done and eat for what it stands for which is deliverance from bondage and also know that it has been made stronger when Yeshua refers to one of the wine and bread as signifying his blood and body which brought total deliverance to us and urge us to keep this in mind any time we celebrate Passover so as to remember him. Even if we fall short in all items required for the Passover celebration, we no longer have to worry since the ultimate sacrifice has covered it. The most important thing is that we know exactly what we are celebrating, how it is being celebrated and why it is being celebrated.
Passover, celebration of freedom is a seven day holiday of the feast of unleavened bread with the first and last days observed as holidays. During those days, observant Jews don’t go to work or school. Holiday candles are lit at night and kidush and sumptous holiday meals are enjoyed. Unleavened type of bread called Matzo is eaten. No leavened bread is eaten throughout the duration. Tradition had it that the Jews fled Egypt in such a hurry that they didn’t wait for their bread to rise.
All leavened food products must be removed from home (chamtez) during the period and not consumed. This is done during weeks of preparation before the Passover.
Here are some terms and required items for Passover explained in detail. It will however be noted that the purpose is to educate us about what Yeshua actually celebrated and what we should have in mind as we are celebrating. It is not necessary that all the items must be there since the ultimate sacrifice has covered it all. But anyone who can afford it is at liberty to celebrate in full. In my own celebration, I make sure the bread and cups of wine are there and I plan to designate 1 cup and bread as blood and body of Christ in my future celebration and keep it as symbols. I did not also joke with the sitting position which is supposed to be relaxed mood. I made sure I and my family are in a relaxed position as we devour the bread and wine while reading and meditating on the Israelites travails, freedom and rest as well as Yeshua’s travails that brings the final freedom and linking it to freedom from all false man made doctrines we are relaxedly enjoying now, applying the bible exactly as it should and not to massage anyone’s ego. What a celebration to look forward to. I noticed a great turn around in my life immediately after this celebration. Elohim is all knowing and wants us to enter his rest but we just don’t want to because of stubbornness. This celebration is done in family and friend’s circles and not the overload we gave ourselves in building big organizations for God that didn’t instruct you to do so and in the process attracting other organizations some of which are now like pain in our necks. The way you admire early Christians in Antioch, gave them names and later start building organizations in their name is the same way others will imitate you and start building theirs and the more the deviation, the more deadly these organizations, even more deadly ones are on their way springing up. The earlier people realize that worshipping God is personal and a way of life and not about building organizations, the better for mankind. The God you all are fighting for has since deserted you all the moment man goes into building organizations to worship him just like in the tower of babel saga. All he is seeing is a bunch of confused people and I know you can guess the person behind all these, Satan. Each of us is supposed to be ‘the rock’ because Yeshua implores Peter to strengthen his brothers when he stand firm haven told him that he is the rock and that he will build his church upon the rock thereby making peter the church that will help build other churches. This is not surprising because he has also talked about pulling down the temple and building it in three days which the Jews mistook for physical temple not knowing he is talking about himself. The same mistake people make today by not realizing they are supposed to be temples or churches. Instead of becoming temples, they are erecting gigantic temples at supposedly peter’s burial place (even as all evidence is pointing he was not actually buried there) and claiming that church is now the rock. God have reasons for everything even in almsgiving. There is a way you give alms or charity and you miss it. That is the reason why some Jews tie whatever they want to give and throw it over their back in a way the beggar will not even know who the giver is. Yeshua also strengthened it by telling us that our left hand ought not to know what the right hand is giving. Contrast it with what is happening today in almsgiving and charity department and see where showy display of one’s means of livelihood and other societal cancers emanate from. So let he who does not have work find one and stop deceiving people in the name of religion. Worshiping God should begin with you, your family, circle of friends and the impact in your life is what the larger society will notice and not how big your organization is. This is exactly what people noticed at Antioch before the hijack and brainwashing. Before I digress further, this is just to emphasize on the importance of knowing that following Yeshua is about a way of life and not about building big organizations and that the way of God is entirely different from the way of man and that man cannot go contrary to it and still expect peace. So let’s see the Terms and required items for Passover:
Passover Seder: Celebrated with friends and family. Story of deliverance from Egypt is recounted, lights, special foods eaten, songs. This happens the first day after nightfall.
Haggadah: Special text used as checklist for the meal.
Seder plate: At center, contains six symbolic foods (each has a special significance to the story of Passover). It contains :
1. Kampas- A green vegetable most often parsley. It represents the initial flourishing of the Israelites. It is dipped in salt water or vinegar to taste both hope of new birth and tears of the Israelites. It also symbolizes new spring.
2. Haroset- Sweet fruit paste symbolizing mortar. It is gotten from mixture of fruit, wine, honey and nuts. It symbolizes the mortar that the Israelite slaves use to construct buildings for Pharaoh. It generally includes apples, dates and figs. It comes from Hebrew word chere or clay
3. Maror- Bitter herb. Often horse radish. This serves as tasting the bitterness of slavery. Bitter lettuce. E.g. romaine or root as Chicory. Like life in Egypt, they taste sweet when we first bite into them but bitter afterwards. Maror is dipped into Haroset to associate the bitterness of slavery with the work that caused so much of this bitterness.
4. Hazeret (second bitter herb, often romaine lettuce)
5. Zeroa (Shank bone) Roasted lamb shank bone that symbolizes the lamb that Jews sacrificed as the special Passover offering when the temple stood in Jerusalem. Not active, just visual reminder. Vegetarians often substitute with a roasted beet.
6. Beitzah (egg)- Roasted or hard boiled, symbolizes the hagigah sacrifice.
Roundness of the egg represents the circle of life. Even in the most painful of time there is always hope for a new beginning.
Matzoh: Unleavened bread. Three pieces.
Four cups of wine: Consumed at various stages in the narrative and matzo is eaten 3 times.
Conclusion : This is on the 7th day, full holiday (mimonna) special prayer services and festive meal. Commemorates Moses parting of the red sea.
Arrangement in a seder plate:
Maror is placed in the middle. Hazaret in six o clock position, followed by moving clock wise, kampas, 7 o clock, beitzah 11 o clock position, Zeroa, 1 o clock position, and haroset, 5 o clock position.
Also on Seder plate are 3 pieces of Matzoh covered in a cloth and a container of salt water or vinegar in which to dip the kampas. Without going through all this, one will not understand why Yeshua have to send some disciples to prepare the place first and why more than one cup of wine was mentioned. In all, having seen what Passover means and how it is celebrated. I think the celebration depends on one’s ability. In other words, the significance is what matters now, which is total deliverance for all which comes to a climax with Yeshua’s sacrifice which eclipses and made insignificant any other sacrifice and for which reason I can choose to make my celebration as simple as I wish.
Every Nissan 15, I hope to commemorate the Passover with 4 cups of wine and 3 matzo (unleavened bread) which I will eat with friends and family after prayers and thanksgiving, bible reading and meditations on the two deliverances (intermittently). Songs and other meals may follow after. Extending it beyond Nissan 15 and other preparations for me is not necessary, however anyone who can keep all did not go astray. It is now clear to me why more than one up was mentioned for indeed there are 4 cups of wine. It is also clear why he has to designate 2 disciples to go and prepare bearing in mind the necessary things needed for a successful Passover feast which has unleavened bread, and 4 cups of wine as components. It is also noteworthy that he want us to be celebrating the Passover and in so doing the bread and wine will be reminding us of his shed blood and body which provides the ultimate, deliverance for us and which makes it possible for me not to be bothered if the other items for Passover are not exactly complete or the actual lamb sacrifice is carried out since he has done it once and for all and the commandment is for us to keep doing this in remembrance of his sacrifice. For this, one of the cups will be kept as symbol for his blood while one of the bread will be kept as symbol for his body. I wish to call it Yeshua’s last Passover because I will not trivialize it with “last supper”or any other name just like some. While still enjoying the blessings of this year’s Passover, we are hoping to celebrate a much better one next year as Elohim keeps making the way brighter. I now know why the bible says it is a must from the protection and blessings I am now enjoying. Please the quotation covered with emoji by attackers above is Luke 22:8. This is a tiny voice like that of John the baptist meant only for the discerning.People should not bring wrath on themselves by attacking it. Thanks.