As we pause to learn more about the Consecration of the Mass, we look at how the Jewish Passover influenced the early Church and its celebration of the Eucharist, instituted at the last Supper. This subject of the Passover will also be further examined in this series next week when we look at how the Mass proclaims and re-presents the Paschal Mystery for the life of each Catholic and the Church.
At present we can note that the Eucharist is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as "a Paschal banquet," (#1323 HERE) i.e. a Passover banquet, Paschal being the adjective of Passover. The Eucharist is described as the "sacrament of Christ’s passover" (Catechism #1517 HERE) and its "memorial." As Catechism #1365 teaches us:
"Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: ‘This is my body which is given for you’ and ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood.’ In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he ‘poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’"
It is Christ's Passover
We should note that the Catechism continuously speaks about "Christ’s Passover" or "his Passover." The Jewish Passover was influential in the life of Christ and for the early Jewish Christians, but from the time of the New Testament the Christian Passover was distinguished form the Jewsish feast. Many of the ancient themes of the Jewish Passover were fulfilled by Christ who gave us a New Passover in the New Covenant. Just as the Jewish Sabbath has been superceded and fulfilled by Sunday, the Lord's Day for Christians, so the jewish passover has been superceded and fulfilled by Christ's Passover.
Meaning of the Jewish Passover
What does the Jewish Passover celebrate and what is its meaning still today for the Jewish People? It begins with the Covenant that God made with the Patriarch Abraham (see Genesis 17:3-9 HERE). God promised that Abraham and his future descendents would be given a land (the "Promised Land") and they would be chosen to bless all the nations.
After many generations the descendents of Abraham would become enslaved in Egypt and cruelly oppressed. God heard the cry of his People and saw their suffering and so raised up a leader who could take them back to the Promised Land.
First, however, Moses had to persuade Pharoah to let God’s People go free. Pharoah’s heart was hardedned againt the Hebrews. God sent plagues upon Egypt and finally the death of all the first-born sons of Egypt to persuade Pharoah. The Hebrew families were told each to slaughter a lamb and eat it in a religious meal, also marking the doors of their homes with the blood of the Paschal lamb so that the angel of death would "pass over" the Hebrews and spare their first-born sons.
So the People of God were finally freed. They passed through the Red Sea as on dry land and entered the desert for 40 years. They came to Mt. Sinai where God made a Covenant and promised the Hebrews to be their God and they would be his People, and they would keep this Covenant through observing the Sabbath and the commandments of the Lord. Eventually, the People were led into the Promised Land (currently modern day Israel).
Themes of the Jewish Passover
The Jewish Passover celebrates a number of salvation themes: being saving from death; the freedom from the slavery of Egypt; the overcoming of darkness by light; the Covenant whereby the Israelites became a Chosen People; and their mission to the rest of the world to proclaim God’s mighty works to save. The Passover Meal celebrates all this with the recounting of the events of the Exodus while having a covenant meal together.
Examples of Paschal Themes in the New Testament
The New Testament (= New Covenant) describes the salvation god gives us in Christ in many of these same "Paschal images": "For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light." (Ephesians 5:8); “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1); "Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15); "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9; compare to Exodus 19:5-6 HERE)
Certainly the early Church certainly interpreted Jesus death and Resurrection in Passover terms and we see parallels in the New Testament with the themes of the Jewish Passover at the time. For example one source notes:
"The Passover is an important foreshadowing in God’s plan of salvation. There are many parallels between the Passover and Christ’s saving work...In both cases God raises up a savior to lead [God’s people] to freedom: Moses and Jesus Christ. In both cases the people are given a new code of life: the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. In both cases they are saved by the shedding of innocent blood: the Paschal Lamb’s and Christ’s. In both cases the savior leads the people from one state to another: from being slaves in Egypt to being free in the Promised Land and from being slaves to sin to being free from sin [in Christ]." (Form "Passover" © 2010 by Saint Mary’s Press in the Living in Christ Series.
The Last Supper (and thus the Eucharist) has a "Paschal Character"
It was with this background of the Passover, that Jesus celebrated a "farewell meal" with his disciples, the Last Supper. There is much debate about whether the Last Supper was a Passover meal or not. Part of the problem is that the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke can be interpreted as saying the Last Supper was a Passover meal; but the Gospel of John has Jesus dying on the Cross at the precise moment that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple (the "ninth hour" or 3pm). That would mean according to John’s chronology that it was impossible for Jesus and the disciples to have shared a Passover meal, since the Passover meal would have started the night of Good Friday (the lambs had to be sacrificed first in the Temple and then taken home by each family for the evening Passover).
To me a great deal of confusion can be avoided if we remember that Jesus was celebrating his Passover in the Last Supper meal, a meal that would be somewhat similar to the Jewish Passover meal but also different since it was the beginning of the Eucharist for all time. It was and is the Lord’s Supper, his Passover in the New Covenant. (If interested to read a scholaly discussion of the "problems" of whether the Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, see the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI HERE).
In fact St. Paul writes to the Corinthian church: "For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; Therefore, let us celebrate the feast." (1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a) Listen attentively for how the Passover is referenced in the upcoming Palm Sunday liturgy and the Triduun for next week.
Next Week: The Paschal Mystery of Christ Proclaimed in the Triduum and in the Mass.
