Eucharist, Passover, and Chaburah

From time to time, and again recently, I am asked this question:
can you address the relationship between the Last Supper and the Passover meal?

"Hmmmm," I say, "Do you want the short answer? Or a more complete answer?"

"Ummm," they answer, nervously, "How about the the short answer?"

"There is no relationship."

"WHAT???"

"There is no relationship. That's the short answer."

They sigh. They groan. They say, "Ok (grumble, grumble), how about a more complete answer?"

Alrighty then.

The first thing to observe is that it is fairly common, almost even standard, for people to think there is a conflict between the Gospel of John and the synoptics about when the Last Supper took place. Most people recognize that John places the crucifixion of Jesus on the Day of Preparation, so that at the very moment that Jesus was hung on the cross, the priests in the temple were engaged in the massive ritual slaughter of lambs for the coming Passover feast that night after sundown. For example, examine these references in St John:

Jn 13.1: “Now before the feast of the Passover…”
Jn 18.28: “…But they themselves did not go into the Praetoruim, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.”
Jn 19.14: “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover…”
Jn 20.42: “because of the Jew’s Preparation Day…”

Thus, in St John, the Last Supper clearly takes place 24 hours prior to the Passover meal, the crucifixion precedes the Passover meal, and Jesus, rather than eating the Passover meal with his friends -- which he had both eagerly longed to do, and apparently expected to do until the events of that evening began to solidify -- instead and in fact becomes our Passover. As St Paul would write, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." (1 Cor 5.7)

Meanwhile, most Western Christians continue to assume that the synoptics equate the Last Supper with the Passover meal. They conclude this because in the synoptics, Jesus sends some disciples to prepare a room for the Passover, and Jesus says to his disciples during the meal itself that he had long desired to eat this Passover with them. It is very easy, even natural, to assume that he was referring to the very meal they were consuming at the moment as the Passover meal.

But...!

Aside from the fact that most of the essential elements of the Passover appear to be missing from the Last Supper -- and aside from the fact that it is impossible to imagine that the Sanhedrin would be engaged in capturing and trying Jesus on Passover itself -- the synoptics themselves, in complete agreement with St John, definitely place the Last Supper and crucifixion on the Day of Preparation -- prior to the Passover meal.

St. Matthew describes the crucifixion and burial of Jesus in Matthew 27. Then we read, "On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate..." (Matthew 27.62)

If the day after the crucifixion is the day which follows the Day of Preparation, then the crucifixion was on the Day of Preparation, and the Passover meal would follow, after sunset on the night following the death of Jesus, not preceding it. So St Matthew agrees with St John.

So what about Mark? On the day after the Last Supper, Pilate stands before the crowd and offers the choice: Jesus or Barabbas. One would be released at the feast; which would it be. But note: If one would be released at the feast, then obviously, the feast had not yet been eaten the night before; it was to follow. Thus, the Last Supper was clearly not the Passover feast, but some other meal eaten the day before the Passover. (Mark 15.6) Moreover, just as St John and St Matthew, St Mark also identifies the day of the crucifixion as the Day of Preparation for the Passover: "Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day..." (John 15.42)

So what about Luke? Luke describes the crucifixion and burial of Jesus in Luke 23. Then we read, "That was the Preparation..." (Luke 23.54) So St Luke agrees with St Matthew, St Mark, and St John as well.

Admittedly there are sentences in the synoptics that make the the gathering for the Last Supper appear to be the gathering for the Passover Meal. As a result, most readers believe that the synoptics disagree with the Gospel of John. In fact, some literalists have even argued that there must have been two Passover feasts for different groups of Jews, just as Eastern Orthodox and Western Christians have different dates for Christmas and Easter. But the problem is not that the synoptics have a different day for the Last Supper than does John. The problem is that these interpreters have not noticed that the synoptics, just like John, clearly believed that the crucifixion happened not on the afternoon following the Passover meal, but on the afternoon preceding the Passover meal: the Day of Preparation.

Which means, no matter which Gospel you're reading, the Last Supper was some other meal, preceding the Passover meal by 24 hours.

But what other meal could it have been, one might ask, if it weren't the Passover?

That's easy. It was the weekly Chaburah.

The weekly Chaburah was the weekly fellowship meal of a community. It was normally simple fare, bread and wine. In Greek, rather than Hebrew, the fellowship meal would have been called not Chaburah, but Koinonia. Or in English, Communion. Anytime I've prayed in a synagogue on Friday evening, I've seen the continuation of the weekly fellowship meal practiced by the Jews of today, just as it has been for thousands of years. At the end of the liturgy, they share bread and wine together. And when I've prayed in a Christian church on Sunday morning, I've seen the continuation of the weekly fellowship meal practiced by the Christians of today, just as it has been for two thousand years. At the end of the liturgy, they share bread and wine together.

The weekly offering of bread and wine today came from the weekly offering of bread and wine back then, not from the annual feast of roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread. This is why, in our congregation, we would never use unleavened bread for communion, and why the Eastern Orthodox accused the Roman Catholics of heresy when the Romans began eventually to use unleavened bread at the Eucharist.

To confuse the weekly Eucharist with the Passover does violence to both feasts. They have different meanings. Both celebrate different ideas in the life of the community and the history of God among us. To worship God fully requires understanding the nuances of all that we do.

So...

can you address the relationship between the Last Supper and the Passover meal?

"Hmmmm," I say, "Do you want the short answer? Or a more complete answer?"

"Ummm," they answer, nervously, "How about the the short answer?"

"There is no relationship. They're two entirely different things. They both bring Glory to God and blessing to people... but please, don't confuse them as one!

One other piece to remember as you piece all of this together: Don't forget that the Scriptures assume a Jewish calendar. The day begins at sunset, not midnight, as in our secular calendar. In our secular calendar, the Last Supper took place on Thursday night. But in the Jewish calendar that was already the next day. Thus the Last Supper and the crucifixion take place on the same day, the Day of Preparation, which ends at sundown following the crucifixion. That's the first day of Jesus' death. The second day of Jesus' death, theday after/following the Day of Preparation, that is, the Passover feast, begins in the Jewish calendar at sundown Friday night, continuing until sundown Saturday night. The third day begin at sundown Saturday night. Jesus will rise sometime on that third day -- what we now call, the Lord's Day. We don't know when on the third day he arose, except that it was sometime after sundown and before sunrise. We know that only because the women arive at sunrise with the spices... and they discover to their shock and dismay that his body is gone.

"He is not here... he is risen, just as he said!"

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia!