Respect for Tradition

There has been a bit of a furor over the past few years over whether Christians, in solidarity with their Jewish brethren, should hold "Christian Seders". The bishop of my diocese, a couple of years ago, put it succinctly that the process is "theologically retrograde." It is a good and true statement.

There is no question that the two festivals of Passover and Easter are related. As a matter of fact, the word for the Christian festival among most populations is a variant of Pascha, a word derived from Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Perhaps it is better to speak of Jewish Passover and Christian Passover to denote the separate development of the two faith traditions since the first century of the Common Era. Each tradition has a rite specific to its festival. Among the Jews for Pesach, they celebrate the Seder. Among Christians, for Pascha, properly, the rite is the Divine Liturgy, in whatever form it takes for the denomination.

This distinction is important. For the Jewish tradition, they are celebrating only the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, when the LORD delivered them in one final plague upon Egypt. For the Christian tradition, they celebrate the expansion of that deliverance, with the redemption of all humanity from Sin and Death in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, Whom Christians hold to be the ultimate Messiah, the successor of the House of David, and the God of Abraham Incarnate, Who did so to redeem not just His chosen people, but also all the nations.

Is it appropriate for Christians to mark the first Passover? Certainly, but in context, for if we celebrate our Passover properly, then we honour the first one as matter of course. For our lamb is the Lamb upon the Cross. We consume the Lamb's Body and Blood within the Holy Sacrament. Our bitter herbs is the repentence of our sins. For Christians to decide to hold a Seder is not only appropriative and dismissive of our Jewish brethren, but ignorant of our own tradition. For,

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Let us therefore keep the feast, not with the old leaven, but the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5.7-8)

May the deliverance of the Risen Lord be upon you all today.