Passover and Easter

By Peter Espeut

THE EASTER season lasts 50 days (until Pentecost) and so it is timely to wish my readers a Happy Easter! We will bask in the glow of this great feast for another six weeks as we explore its mysteries.

On Easter Sunday last, my colleague Ian Boyne wrote his annual polemic against the Christian commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (Time to drop Easter, 31 March 2013); and I, hereby, write my annual reply. Every year he comes with a new fresh approach, which is good, because it allows the debate each year to get deeper into the subject.

Ian begins his argument with the claim that "the Easter tradition has pagan roots. This is undeniable". Therefore, we should go back to our Jewish roots and celebrate Passover instead of Easter, and the Feast of Tabernacles instead of Christmas.

But Ian, you claim to be well read: doesn't Judaism - including the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles - also have pagan roots?

Passover (or Pesach) has its origins as a nomadic shepherding springtime festival, in pagan spring fertility festivals associated with the birth of the first lambs and new grain. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) has its origins in pagan harvest rites, occurring at the time of the fruit harvest of grapes and olives. The Jewish Feast of Pentecost is taken from the pagan celebration of the wheat harvest. What Judaism did was to "reach into the bowels of paganism to fashion" new reinterpreted Jewish feasts. This is how culture evolves: new meaning is given to old symbols and celebrations.

And this is how Christianity evolved. It gave new meaning to Jewish feasts like Passover, and completely supplanted pagan feasts like the Saturnalia. Bishop Boyne described the former transition quite well in his column last Sunday: "Many elements of the Jewish Passover are reinterpreted and Christianised. Jesus is called our Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7-8). He was crucified the very day the Passover lambs were sacrificed. Not a bone in His body was broken, as was commanded with the Passover lamb. What is called Lord's Supper, or Communion, is rooted in the Passover symbolism." I quite agree, Ian: the Christian "breaking of bread" has Jewish roots. Why are you not convinced by your own arguments?

THE BIG MISTAKE

Here, though, is where Ian makes his big mistake: "In 1 Cor 11, Paul recounts a tradition of what took place 'on the night on which Christ was betrayed'. Jesus said, 'Do this in remembrance of me' - in remembrance of His death. The Lord's Supper was intended to be a memorial, an anniversary of His death, to be taken once a year." Yet Acts 2:46, describing the days before Christianity split off from Judaism, says "Each day, with one heart, they regularly went to the temple but met in their houses for the breaking of bread." From the earliest days, Christians celebrated "the Lord's Supper" frequently, not once each year as Bishop Boyne claims.

Under the Old Covenant, Passover was to be celebrated annually as a memorial of how Yahweh saved the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, and from the Angel of Death by the blood of the Lamb: "For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival for ever" (Exodus 12:14). Under the New Covenant, Christians are now to do this often, but for a new reason: "And in the same way, with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me" (1 Cor 11:25). The New Covenant is not in the blood of lambs or bullocks, but in HIS blood. And from now on, the meaning of this meal has been changed; it is no longer in memorial of the Passover in Egypt, but is now in memorial of how HE saved the people of the world by HIS blood.

Christianity had to split off from Judaism, for their claims were irreconcilable. This is not to be anti-semitic, as Ian seems to think. "It was cultural bigotry and prejudice which played a major part in the Gentile Christians adopting Easter and rejecting Passover." The fact is that the Christian celebration of the 'Lord's Supper' or 'Breaking of Bread' has become far more than the Jewish Passover ever was. Old Covenant Christians - Judaisers - like Bishop Ian want "Christianity with a Jewish face".

New wine needs new wineskins, Ian. You want us to put the new wine in old wineskins.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com