Instructions For Commemorating The Passover

Exodus 12:14-19

God had instructed Israel what they were to do in order to escape the Judgment on Egypt and be prepared to leave when they were allowed to go. When Israel came into Egypt, they had gone as a small family unit. In Egypt, they had just been a minor ethnic group, serving the Egyptians. The day they are set free will be their Independence Day, the day they became a free nation. Politically, celebrating Passover is very much like celebrating the Fourth of July in the United States, Boxing Day in Canada or Cinco de Mayo in Mexico. It reminds them of how their nation was formed.

Because Israel’s freedom was accomplished through a series of actions by God with no real action by Israel itself beyond simply following God’s instructions, Passover is a tribute to God’s power and love. Religiously, it is about the equivalent of Christians celebrating the resurrection on Easter or Christ’s birth at Christmas.

Frequently in the United States, our Fourth of July celebrations have focused entirely on the day off and the fireworks displays, with little attention given to what they meant. Christmas is so focused on Santa Claus and giving presents that the reason for Christ’s birth is forgotten and hunting Easter eggs is more important than the Resurrection. To prevent losing it’s meaning, God gave specific instructions as to how Passover was to be celebrated.

“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” (Exodus 12:14)

That very night Israel would be delivered from the power of Egypt. They would never return to Egypt again. They were to celebrate Passover as a reminder of deliverance that would never be needed again. Though sin would lead to their becoming slaves in the future, they would never lose their national identity. They were to never stop celebrating God’s deliverance.

The night before he was executed, under the Jewish method of keeping time, on Passover day, Christ celebrated Passover with his disciples. While partaking the Passover, He instituted the Lord’s Supper as described in Luke 22:15-19. “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”

I Corinthians 5:7 tells us that Christ is our Passover, and he has commanded us to celebrate the Communion service in remembrance of him just as the Jews celebrated the Passover. Just as specific guidelines were laid down here for celebrating the Passover, to prevent it losing its meaning, specific guidelines were laid out for the celebration of communion in I Corinthians 11. We will look at those guidelines as we go.

“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. ” (Exodus 12:15-16)

In the future celebrations of Passover, Israel was to eliminate any leavening agent for a period of seven days, Any one who ate leavened food during that period was to be cut off from Israel, to be disfellowshipped. For the seven days after the Passover thre was to be no leavening found in any of their homes or food. Both the first day and the seventh Day were to an holy convocation or special religious assembly.

“And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” (Exodus 12:17-18)

The feast of unleavened Bread was to start with the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of Nissan and continue through the twenty first day of Nissan. Since a three hundred sixty five day year does not divide evenly into seven day weeks, The fourteenth day of Nissan does not always fall on a certain day of the week. One of the ways we know that the Gregorian calendar, the modern system of dating is in error as to when Christ was crucified is that the record of the Passover in the New Testament and the Jewish calendar do not coincide with the Gregorian calendar for that year. In fact it must be at least three years later or four years earlier. It complicates giving exact dates for many of these events.

“Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:19-20)

The importance of the use of unleavened bread was repeated, stressing that leavened bread during the feast would require separation whether by a resident or by a non resident.

In I Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul was addressing the issue of those who claimed to be Christians and refused to stop their sin. He said it was the church’s responsibility to separate from those who refused, using this prohibition of leavened bread as the basis. “…Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

In I Corinthians 11:27-32, Paul gives a specific warning to those who would partake of the Lord’s supper. “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”

In taking Communion, we are commemorating that Christ has forgiven us and taken away our sins. A person who partakes of the Communion with unrepented and unforgiven sin makes a mockery of what Christ has done. As Paul points out, it is not a matter to take lightly. Prior to taking the Communion there should be a time of self examination to see if we are qualified to partake and to put away any sin that might prevent us partaking. I John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Paul introduces his teaching on Communion in I Corinthians 11:23-26. “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." It must never become just a ritual or custom we follow.

Israel was commanded to keep the Passover annually. Christ did not specify that Christians were to keep the communion just once a year although the fact that it was instituted during his celebration of the Passover would seem to imply such was his intent. Over the years I have known a number of people who refused to partake because of sin in their lives. He commanded us, “… this do in remembrance of me.” Refusal to do so implies they are not willing to put the sin out of their lives and they do not appreciate what Christ has done for them. Matthew 18:15-17 describes the steps to be taken with people who refuse to quit sin, and is the basis for Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians 5.