Passover

The following are excerpts from two different books.

Enns, Peter. (2000). Exodus: The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan
Wilson, Marvin R. (1989). Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith. Eerdmans.

Passover
Passover is an event of central importance to both Jews and Christians. For the Jew, the Exodus and the revelation at Mount Sinai are great historical focal points of redemption and covenant. The Last Supper in the Upper Room and the crucifixion at Calvary are of similar importance to the Christian recalling propitious historical occasions which also focus on the themes of redemption and covenant. (Wilson, 237)

Passover is the oldest of Jewish festivals; it originated over three thousand years ago. It appears originally to have combined two separate spring festivals. One rite involved unleavened bread, the other a sacrificial lamb. The Old Testament (Exod. 34:18, 25) distinguishes the festivals by using the terms “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and “Passover Feast.”

The New Testament (Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:1) refers to both of these festivals as “the Passover,” . . . These festivals were held in immediate sequence. Passover was celebrated at the twilight of the 14th day of the month (Exod. 12:6) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days following, namely, the 15th to the 21st. (Wilson, 239)

The Passover reenacted annually the greatest miracle the Lord performed out of grace for his chosen; it was to hold central importance in the history of world Jewry. . . freedom after more than four hundred years of Egyptian bondage. (Wilson, 240)

A key point of instruction in Israelite tradition came when the son asked his father the ceremonial question, mah nishtannah ha-laylah ha-zeh mikkol ha-leylot? “Why is this night different from all other nights?” (Pesahim 10:4). The father responded by giving an historical synopsis of God’s redemptive dealings with Israel that led to deliverance from Egypt. (Wilson, 245)

The purpose of these celebrations is clearly for the benefit of those generations who did not participate in the Exodus itself, a trajectory already hinted at in Exodus 10:2 (referring to the children and grandchildren of the Exodus generation – a point repeated throughout chapters 12-13). (Enns, 247)

The Israelites from now on are to remember this night, impress it on their collective consciousness, and pass it on to their children (12:26-27). It is a reminder not just of what God has done but of what he continues to do. In fact, it is more than simply remembering: Passover is a night of “watching,” as we read later in 12:42. Israelites are forevermore to “keep vigil to honor the Lord,” even as he “kept vigil that night” to deliver them from slavery. By celebrating the Passover and the Feast (of Unleavened Bread), God’s people in some mysterious sense participate in the Exodus themselves, a point that is still remembered in Passover celebrations to this day: “In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he cam for himself out of Egypt.” (Enns, 249)

They (the Israelites) are always to remember who they are – or better, whose they are. Israel’s identity is a function of what God has done for them. (Enns, 252)

The Israelites rejoiced at Passover, because their Liberator had miraculously redeemed them, freeing them from the bondage of Egypt. But they also rejoiced in anticipation of God’s ultimate redemption (cf. Isa. 65:17-18; Mic. 4:1-5), when God’s people would be redeemed from all remaining pharaohs and from that evil which dominates and disgraces this present world. (Wilson, 252)

Say therefore to the Israelites, "I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.' " Exodus 6:6-8

Passover & The Lord’s Supper

As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are celebrating our redemption through Christ and the glory that awaits us. But we should also remember that the Lord’s Supper is itself a fulfillment of that Israelite meal at an earlier stage of God’s redemptive work. By partaking in Communion, we are participating in the effects of God’s redemptive work that he began to execute in Israel’s day and that came to completion on Easter Sunday. It seems, then, that we, like the Israelites, in celebrating the Lord’s Supper, are not merely remembering what God has done. By partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we are, in some mysterious sense, participating in his death and resurrection.

Like successive generations of Jews called to think of themselves as participating in the Exodus, so, too, does the church participate in the work of Christ by virtue of her union with him. (Enns, 260)

. . . it is vital to a proper understanding of the Lord’s Supper to see it as a transformation of the Passover more than simply as a Christian reflection of Passover. Judaism and Christianity are, after all, two different religions despite their common heritage. Nothing is gained and everything is lost if we obliterate those aspects of the Lord’s Supper that make it distinctly Christian – that is, those things that it does not and cannot share with Judaism, namely, a celebration of redemption not only through the God who sent plagues to Egypt, but also through the God who raised Christ from the dead. Although the Lord’s Supper is not distinctly Christian in terms of its origins, it is quintessentially Christian in terms of its meaning.

Perhaps the greatest source of commonality between Passover and the Lord’s Supper lies in their future orientation: Neither meal is merely for the historical moment in which it was first instituted. These rituals are to be observed for successive generations. (Enns, 261)

Whatever chronology of the Last Supper one adopts, it seems clear that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper by associating it with the third cup of wine, which came after the Passover meal was eaten (cf. 1 Cor. 11:25). It was known as the “cup of redemption,” which in rabbinic tradition linked to the third of the fourfold promise of redemption in Exodus 6:6-7, “I will redeem you.” Jesus associated this cup of wine with his atoning death in saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20; cf. 1 Cor. 11:25). (Wilson, 246)

The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal (Passover) lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I Corinthians 5:7-8

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. I Peter 1:18-21