Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: billg@bony1.bony.com (Bill Gripp) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Passover for Christians Message-ID: Date: 4 Apr 91 06:01:15 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bank of New York Lines: 55 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article tom@dvnspc1.dev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) writes: >In article !fetherbay@ddtisvr.uucp (Kathy Fetherbay) writes: >>In article emory!dragon!cms@gatech.edu writes: > >I'm curious as to why Christians, especially gentile Christians, would >institute this sort of tradition in their churches? It seems to me that >both the Biblical and historical evidence points to the passing away of the >Old Covenant (as symbolized by the Jewish Passover) in favor of the New >Covenant (represented by the Eucharist). The Passover was a type of the > >Tom Albrecht In the church I attend (Church of the Nazarene), we have had passover Seders, administered by "Messianic Jews" who were members of our congregation. The point is not to celebrate a Seder as a requirement of the Law, but rather: 1) To remember the great work that God did in freeing the children of Israel. The feasts/hoidays of the OT have been/will be fullfilled in Messiah. Why should one not celebrate BOTH the OT and NT "versions"? Do not BOTH show us the glory and power of God, that He alone is true to his Holy Word? That He keeps his promises? 2) To recognize how these events are a "type" of Christ (as the Children of Israel were freed, so shall all men be freed by Messiah). 3) To remmember that God made promises to Israel regarding the fate of the Jewish people. Just because the Jews have rejected Jesus as the Messiah does not mean that God will turn from them. God's promises were unconditional and are still in force. Remmember, Paul said that the gentile believers are as a wild olive branch grafted into a tame olive tree - Israel. Christians do not superceed Jews, we SHARE in the promises. The attitude that we have replaced the Jewish people has caused unmesurable animosity between Christians and Jews for almost 2000 years. "To the Jew _first_ and the gentile also." 4) The Matzoh can be seen as a type of Christ. I don't recall all the details (one of our Messianic breatheren enumerated them at one of our "seders" several years ago): a) The Matzoh is singed (burnt) just as Jesus was scourged. b) The Matzoh is pierced with holes just as Jesus was pierced with a spear. c) The Matzoh is broken just as Jesus's body was broken. If I can get the details from Gary I'll post the list (if there is interest). For these very same reasons, my church uses Matzoh at our communion services. After all, the Last Supper was a Passover Seder among 13 Jews, do you really think they used a loaf of white bread??? It was more likely Matzoh than anything else. Shalom Yeshua Bill Gripp