The Messianic Jewish "Christ in the Passover" Lie

cmp.2010.03.09
ed.2010.03.10.50 (Public Draft I) (Brain is a bit fried, need a short break. Will edit more in an hour or so. Thanks!)

Organization
1. Introduction
2. Did Jesus Die Before or After the Passover Feast?
3. Did Jesus Celebrate A Rabbinically Jewish Passover?
4. Do Jews Celebrate A Biblical Passover?
5. Should Christians Imitate Rabbinic Jews?
6. Conclusion

1. Introduction
If some of the Jews for Jesus Missionaries, and some of the Messianic Jewish leaders are aware of what Christian Scripture actually says but continue to teach Christians about Rabbinical Jewish traditions and how they can be integrated into the Church, then it seems only reasonable to believe that they are deliberately deceiving others when they choose to misrepresent Christian Scripture. Hopefully, these false doctrines and deceptions can be exposed and corrected, specifically:

Although the parallel between Jesus' crucifixion and the Hebrew Passover is certainly a core component of the Christian faith, Christian Scripture is clear that:

1. Jesus died before the Passover feast, not after.


2. The Last Supper was not a Passover Feast. (It was not a "Passover Seder" but rather the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)


3. Christian Scripture is adamant that Jesus was certainly not a Rabbinically observant Jew.


4. Jesus explicitly commanded his disciples not to follow after Rabbinic Judaism because God could not be found in it.

2. Did Jesus Die Before or After the Passover Feast?
To be honest, Christians have been struggling with this problem for a very long time, even apart from Messianic Judaism. When did Jesus die? How did he stay in the grave three days and nights, if he died on Friday, and came back to life on Sunday morning?

For the Christian account to be consistent, Thursday night and Friday morning would have had to be the 14th of Nisan. This means that there were two Sabbath days, right next to each other. Thursday night to Friday night would have been considered a Shabbat because it was Passover. And Friday night to Saturday night would have been considered a Shabbat because it was the seventh day of the week. The only reasonable conclusion from Christian Scripture is that Jesus was tried and crucified, even before the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, (this means that the Last Supper was not even on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread).

The first part of figuring this out are understanding a few of the Biblical laws of Passover:

1. The fourteenth day of the month is considered a Shabbat where no work can be done. Even if that day happens to be a Thursday.
   Ex. 12:16
   On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.


2. The lamb was to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month, in the afternoon:
   Ex. 12:6
   'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight, (another translation for "twilight" is "between the evenings").


3. The sacrifice would be eaten after sunset, (in the night), after it was sacrificed:
   Ex. 12:8
   'They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.


4. Unleavened Bread was to be eaten for seven nights, including the night before the Passover feast:
   Ex. 12:15
   'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.'

The second part of the answer is that a Passover Seder is a time when you eat the sacrificial Passover lamb. In other words, if Jesus and his disciples were having a Seder meal, then the Passover lamb would have had already to have already been sacrificed.

Christian Scriptures point to the fact Jesus was tried and crucified on the "preparation" day, that is, a day before a "Shabbat". If he was crucified before a "Sabbath", and Passover is a Sabbath, then he was crucified before the sacrifices were made, and so could not have had a "Passover Feast".

Jesus Was Crucified Before The Passover Sacrifices

1. Luke 22:1: Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. (The Feast of Unleavened Bread was also called, “Passover”).


2. On occasion, in Jewish and Christian texts, it is unclear what is being referenced because the terms "Passover" and "Feast of Unleavened Bread" are used interchangeably. For Example, Mark 14:12: On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?"


3. Gen 1: Jewish culture considered a "day" as the time between sunset to sunset, (evening and morning). Admittedly, this is reasonably very confusing for anyone used to the idea that a day starts at midnight--but it is a necessity to know, in order to make sense of the Passover account in Christian Scripture.


4. The Passover lamb is sacrificed on the first day of unleavened bread, the fourteenth of the month, "between the evenings". But, the "Day" starts at night. So, the "fourteenth" day in Christian Scripture looks like this: The Feast of unleavened bread started in the evening, (when the Last Supper occured), then there was early morning when the sacrifices were prepared, (Jesus' trial), and then sacrifices were made, (Jesus' crucifixion). When the sun set, after the sacrifices, it was considered the fifteenth day, and the Passover Lamb was eaten as commanded, (Ex. 12:8).


5. Jesus told the disciples that he desired to eat the Passover with them before his suffering, but then said that he would by no means eat it until the Passover was fulfilled in the Kingdom of God, (Luke 22:15-16). But Jesus said this after they he had already eaten the "Last Supper" and was about to start the Communion tradition. (The "Communion" service took place after dinner, Luke 22:20.)


6. John 13:1-5: Before the feast of the Passover, while supper was taking place, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. (Again, the Last Supper occured before the Passover Feast.)


7. They did not enter the Praetorium, (while Jesus was being questioned, after the Last Supper), so that they could eat the passover, (John 18:28).


8. There was a custom that Pilate would release someone during the Passover, (John 18:39). The trial and execution of Jesus was during Passover, (as the sacrifices were being performed), in this case as the Passover feast was still to occur).


9. Jesus was crucified on the preparation day--before--the Sabbath: John 19:31
   Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.


10. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bury Jesus in a new tomb that is near where he was crucified because it was the preparation day for the Sabbath, (i.e., the day before the Passover since Passover is a Sabbath day). (John 19:41, Luke 23:54).


11. It was not yet Sabbath, (not yet Passover), when Jesus was buried and the women from Galilee returned to prepare spices and ointments, but when the Sabbath came, they rested, (Luke 23:56).

One of the responses I often hear about this is, "But there are two days for Passover, one that is observed on the 14th, and another on the 15th." First of all, this is a "tradition", not a Biblical precept. Second, this tradition is observed by Jews outside of Israel, and would not have applied to Jesus or his disciples.

If a self-proclaimed "Christian" is trying to convince anyone that the "Last Supper" that Jesus had with his disciples was a a Passover Seder, (let alone a Rabbinically Jewish one), they are either: 1. Completely ignorant of the accounts of Jesus' Crucifixion in Christian texts; 2, Unaware of the theological significance of "Jesus" in the first place in relation to Jewish prophecy; or 3, intentionally lying to you. Either way, it would seem wise to be more than cautiously skeptical when they preach to Christians how to be more "Rabbinically Jewish".

3. Did Jesus Celebrate A Rabbinically Jewish Passover?
The "traditional" Jewish Passover isn't exactly, "traditional". It is quite easy to find information on the history of "Passover Haggadah" on the Internet--look for articles on its history and writers. The Passover Haggadah is essentially an "order of service": who does what when, what is ate when, how many glasses of wine there are, that people should use a lamb bone, and many other details.

There are two points of interest that should catch your attention right away: 1, the Passover Seder wasn't put together until 200-500 CE--roughly 200 years after Jesus was crucified; and 2, the Jewish Passover Haggadah is "antichrist" according to the "Christian" definition of what antichrist is:

1 John 4:3
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

How could a Rabbinical Passover service have instilled within it, by its authors and compilers, insights into the "Christian" Messiah to justify trying to convert Christians today to be more Rabbinically Jewish? How could Rabbinical Tradition give further revelation to Christians about who Jesus is if the Rabbinical Passover Haggadah was compiled after Jesus died--by self-proclaimed "antichrists"? How can a service be said to point to Jesus if it deliberately refutes the idea of John the Baptist as "Elijah to Come", and denies the Messiahship of Jesus?

We know, for a fact, that it is impossible, ridiculous even, to consider the idea that Jesus celebrated Passover in any way that resembles what Jews do today--the fact that the temple was destroyed after Jesus is enough to prove that Jews during the time of Jesus celebrated Passover differently, (there were actual lambs that were sacrificed).

It is completely irrational to point to rabbinic tradition and try to convince Christians that Jesus and his disciples celebrated Passover in any way that is similar to what Jewish tradition is today, (other than the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, that is).

4. Do Jews Celebrate A Biblical Passover?
Jesus, (for the lack of a better word), loathed, the self-proclaimed religious. He constantly criticized them for their hypocrisy, for appearing to look Godly, but in reality claiming that they were "whitened tombs filled with the bones of dead men."

From any point of view, (Jewish, Christian, Atheist), Jesus could be commended for exposing the "hypocrites" as being more concerned with looking like they were holy in order to be commended by other people, rather than actually seeking "justice, mercy, and faithfulness", (as commanded by God):

1. Matthew 15:3
   And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?


2. Mark 7:9
   He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

Would Jesus set aside the commandment of God in order to keep a tradition? Would he have rather had a "traditionally Jewish" Passover Seder in order to be compliant with Rabbinic Tradition? For example, would Jesus ignore the Passover command to eat in haste, but rather eat it slowly and ostentatiously like Jews do today?

Exodus 12:11
'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste--it is the LORD'S Passover.

Deuteronomy 16:3
"You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.
The Passover Seder celebrated by Jews today is incredibly elaborate and full of tradition compared to any Biblical or historical precedent prior to Jesus.

Christianity goes to an extreme to point out the necessity to remember the component of "humility" and "readiness", (haste) in their doctrine of "final judgment". Over and over again, parallels are made between that final day of judgment, to the "pattern" illustrated by the Exodus and judgment on Egypt. Again and again, Jesus says to "watch", that the day would come like a "thief in the night", to "be ready".

There are simply no precedents in Jewish or Christian Scripture that could be used to go from, "slaves in a foreign land eating a humble meal in haste because they are going to have to run for their lives", to the modern: "Let's have an incredibly rich feast, spend a long time eating it, go through a massive liturgy, and pretend like we are going to hurry into a new life, (leaving behind the old), as we start following God as soon as possible."

5. Should Christians Imitate Rabbinic Jews?
If anyone could be said to "know" Jesus, what he said, or what he stood for, this statement would grate against their spine for one very large reason: Jesus wasn't "Jewish", he was Hebrew, and was observant to the Mosaic commandments. Christian Scripture is very critical of the Rabbinical Jewish faith and distinguishes that clearly from the Hebrew race.

Often times, we hear that learning to walk in Jewish tradition will, "it bring a person closer to the Lord and gives that person a better understanding of what Christ did on the cross for us." It is hard to believe that following in Jewish tradition can bring a person closer to Jesus when Jesus himself confirmed what Isaiah said, "their heart is far from me." So how exactly could imitating Judaism get you closer to Jesus? Who has the authority to claim this, since it directly contradicts Christian Scripture?

In fact, Christian Scripture goes to an extreme that Jesus was not "Rabbinically Jewish", and it certainly clear that his followers, (racially Jewish or not), shouldn't be either.

1. Matthew 6:5
   "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.


2. Matthew 15:3
   And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?


3. Matthew 15:6-9
   he is not to honor his father or his mother .' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
   "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
   'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
   BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
   'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
   TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"


4. Matthew 23:27
   " Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.


5. Mark 7:8
   "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."


6. Mark 7:9
   He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.


7. Colossians 2:8
   See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.


8. Revelation 2:9
   'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.


9. Revelation 3:9
   'Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.

6. Conclusion
After confronting "Messianic" Christians for years about this topic, I always find myself asking, "Why?" Why do Christians want to imitate modern Judaism?

One of the answers that I get when I ask people why they try to imitate Jewish tradition, is that "Jewish tradition is beautiful." And, it certainly is--the silver, the gold, the white, the embroidery, the intellectual conversations, the sense of religiosity--all very extravagant.

How is it that neither Jews or Christians remember the point of Passover, the Exodus from Egypt to wander in the desert? Why would God command Israel, or why would Jesus command his disciples to remember, if it was not for the reason to remember the despair of oppression and the power of God? What was more important to remember than the freedom given to run after God, humbly and in obedience--to remember the whole duty of man is to fear God and obey his commandments?

1. Exodus 13:3
   Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place And nothing leavened shall be eaten.


2. Duet 8:2-3
   You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
   
   He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.


3. Duet. 5:15
   You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
   
   Is. 58:13-14
   "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
   From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
   And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,
   And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
   From seeking your own pleasure
   And speaking your own word,
   Then you will take delight in the LORD,
   And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
   And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
   For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."