THE PASSOVER PUZZLE
by Richard Burkard
(minor revisions made April 2020)
One day when I presented a sermonette in the old Worldwide Church of God, I had the congregation play a church version of "Match Game" - the old TV show with Gene Rayburn and fill-in-the blank questions about Dumb Dora and other characters. I invite you to play along now, with the question I asked then:
"In a few weeks we will gather with bread, wine and foot-washing to keep the ________ service."
(I actually had a worship song play on the P.A. as people wrote down their answers, just like the game show!)
How would YOU fill in that blank? Your answer probably depends on which church denomination you attend. Some would say the "Lord's Supper." Others would say "communion." A few might answer "eucharist." But in most spinoff groups of the W.C.G., the answer would be immediate and unquestioned: Passover -- and woe be unto you if you answer it some other way.
In the United Church of God group I attend, the pre-Passover preparation in 2003 included an audio tape from evangelist Leon Walker. We heard a doctrinal lecture he gave the Ambassador Bible Center students in Cincinnati on Passover. It was designed to dispel any questions about what to keep and how to keep it. Yet as someone who left WCG in 2000, it left me asking several questions as well -- and I later learned even long-time UCG members had questions about what they heard.
After reviewing my notes from the tape, I wound up with ten main areas of contention. This article will list them, along with a few points from the sermonette I gave in 2000 in "the old organization," as some in UCG like to call it.
1. DID JESUS "KEEP" PASSOVER? - Leon Walker turned to Matt. 26:18 and other verses, quoting Jesus's own instructions to the disciples: "My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house." (NIV unless noted) Mr. Walker pointed out the verb can mean "celebrate, keep, observe." (KJVand NASB have keep.)
The word "celebrate" probably seems quite odd, if you're in a spinoff group such as UCG - because the ceremony traditionally is anything but a celebration. "It's the most solemn service of the year," members are told. So it can have the air of a funeral, with people barely even saying hello to each other.
Before it essentially dispensed with the annual Passover service, WCG started turning it into more of a celebration - for instance, by adding several gospel and worship songs at the start, instead of a single hymn at the close. This seemed strange at first, since the service recalls the DEATH of Jesus. But if you believe the blood gives you life (in this case spiritual newness of life), it begins to make sense.
Note also the disciples DID talk to each other during this Passover meal. They didn't talk about the right thing in Lk. 22:24, but they talked. The disciples even made comments to Jesus as He spoke to them. (Jhn. 14:8, 22; 16:29-30)
2. KEEPING PASSOVER EARLY - This stems from Church of God groups keeping Passover on the Hebrew calendar night of Nisan 14, while the bulk of Judaism marks it on Nisan 15. If we assume the proper date for Passover is Nisan 15, could Jesus have kept it a day early knowing He was about to face the cross? Mr. Walker said no, because no Bible verse supports that viewpoint - and keeping Passover early "doesn't count."
Granted, there is no Bible verse specifically telling of anyone keeping Passover early. But several examples exist of people keeping it late. In fact, the "second Passover" is a long Church tradition - and considered a sign of how important the ceremony is to God. (Examples: Num. 9:10-12, II Chr. 30:15-21)
The question also arises of the times when festival seasons were extended seven days. In II Chronicles 30:23, it was tacked on the end in the second month, stretching Unleavened Bread practically to Pentecost. In II Chronicles 7:8-9 there was a "dedication of the altar" for seven days, followed by the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day. I Kings 8:65 lumps it all together as "the festival," suggesting it started early - and with no punishment from God for it.
3. THE TIME OF DAY - If the Passover lamb was killed around 3:00 p.m., Mr. Walker asked, why would Jesuskeep the Passover that night - hours after His symbolic death? If worshippers are to keep an exact timeline, he suggested, the Passover also should be taken around 4:00 a.m. to recall Christ's sufferings - and then at 3:00 p.m., the hour of His death.
This point seems to strain for an argument. The Gospels show Jesus took the New Testament Passover symbols in the evening. (Mt. 26:20) Apparently this came up because a few religious groups take communion at 12:00 noon or 3:00 p.m. on crucifixion day.
4. OUR UNCHANGEABLE GOD - "God, who does not lie...." Titus 1:2 says. Given that, Mr. Walker contended God "won't go contrary to His nature, His character and His law." Thus, Jesus did not move the Passover serviceup a day when He kept Nisan 14.
But this begs a big question. Why can Jesus change the Passover ceremony to add foot-washing, and add new symbols (bread and wine) - but He can't change the day? Would not any change violate the law stated inNumbers 9:2-3? "Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations."
Israel understood this to mean, "everything just as the Lord commanded Moses." (9:5) There are detailed instructions in Exodus 12, about everything from which lamb to choose to where to mark the house with blood. Are these not part of the law -- especially if they're in the "Books of the Law?" If not, why not? This will become an issue in a later point as well.
It must be noted here that Mr. Walker's lecture never brought up one significant Old Testament passage about the Passover season. Ezekiel 45:21 in the KJV says, "In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten."
A UCG Pastor told me this should be understood in the context of other verses, which show the seven-day feast really begins as the 14th becomes the 15th. He even said there's a distinction between being in a day and on a day -- that you're on the 15th just before sunset, but in it after dark. Trouble is, this is a matter of translation more than Hebrew text.
Strong's Concordance has no number for either preposition in these disputed verses. And its "Directions and Explanations" page shows that means "the word in question is not there the rendering of any particular term in the original, having either been supplied by the translators.... or being the representative merely of some inflectional form...." (1890 ed.) We also would note Num. 9:3, 5 in the KJV, where "in" and "on" are used interchangeably to describe when the Passover was taken.
5. JESUS VERSUS THE JEWS - "If Jesus is keeping the Passover on one day and the Jews are keeping it on another, who should you believe?" Mr. Walker asked. A question like this seems to forget something - Jesus was a Jew, who regularly went to synagogue!
Some Church of God ministers say there was a dispute in Judaism at this time over which date was the proper one to sacrifice the Passover lamb, and whether it should be done at the temple or privately at home. It begs the question of which day Jesus kept throughout His earthly life - and it's a detail the Gospels do not address. But we found this interesting detail in a commentary:
"The Mishna, like Josephus, treated all the observances as parts of a single integrated Feast. [Unleavened Bread; this is how some explain Ezekiel 45:21] This had not always been so.... basically the Passover referred to the eve of the first day, the 14th day of the month, when the sacrifice of the Passover lamb took place, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread applied to the seven days following." (Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, vol. 3, pg. 654)
6. THE "LORD'S SUPPER" - "When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat...." (I Cor. 11:20) Mr.Walker says in light of 5:7, Paul was instructing the Corinthians here NOT to keep the meal Jesus ate the night before His crucifixion. In other words, don't eat the Old Testament Passover meal of Moses's time anymore.
This is the only verse in the Bible where the phrase "Lord's Supper" appears -- and from the verses that follow, it's reasonable to conclude Paul is discussing Passover observance here. But the explanation of this verse by Mr. Walker is quite different than what Church of God members probably have heard over the years. The general claim has been that I Corinthians 11:20 was a warning against taking the Passover more than once a year.
The debate raises several questions - such as what is a Lord's Supper, anyway. Herbert Armstrong wrote a booklet in 1952 called, "How Often Should We Partake of the 'Lord's Supper?'" (My copy had the phrase in quotes.) While we don't have it directly at hand, as we recall the phrase was used to describe Jesus's symbols - not the meal of Moses's day. Yet based on I Corinthians 11:21-22, one can understand Mr. Walker's point. After all, how could a small portion of bread and wine make people drunk, anyway?
(The Moffatt translation of verses 20-21 tends to agree with him: "But this makes it impossible for you to eat the 'Lord's' supper when you hold your gatherings. As you eat, everyone takes his own supper....")
The bigger issue here is that Church of God groups tend to avoid using the "Lord's Supper" phrase, perhaps because it sounds too much like what other churches do. WCG in recent years has gone the other way, calling it Lord's Supper or "communion" at the expense of the word "Passover." But either way creates unnecessary division - since the Bible uses all those words to describe the ceremony, or aspects of it.
A WCG online study paper on this topic points out in an end note: "Into the middle 1930s Mr. Armstrong still referred to Communion both as the Lord's Supper and as Passover." (The Name of the Lord's Supper, 1993, www.wcg.org ) "Communion" is found in I Corinthians 10:16 in the KJV. It can be translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "fellowship, communicate, participate, contribution...." (New Bible Dictionary, pg. 245) And the Hastings Dictionary of the Bible notes the earliest title for this sacrament was "eucharist," from the Greek word for "to be grateful, to express gratitude." (1963, pg. 273)
7. WHEN TO KEEP PASSOVER - As mentioned above, there's been a long debate in the Church over whether to mark the service on Nisan 14 or Nisan 15, under the Hebrew calendar. You may have seen articles about the "quartodeciman controversy." (Of course, some of us have joked you need more than a quart of wine in some big congregations - but we digress.)
Mr. Walker dared to say during his lecture: "You can't keep the 2nd of January on the 20th of March...." To which we would answer: WHY NOT? A number of UCG congregations hold Thanksgiving dinners every fall - and they do it on the Sabbath before or after the Thursday holiday. On rare occasions when Pentecost falls on U.S. Father's Day, such as June 15, some Churches of God either have postponed Father's Day one week or perhaps held it one day early on Sabbath.
(Besides, God allows the keeping of a "second Passover" one month later in special situations -- see point 2 above.)
8. JEWS MAKE MISTAKES - "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!" (Mk. 7:9) Mr. Walker used this statement of Jesus telling off the Pharisees and teachers toargue the Passover date was an example of such incorrect traditions. For instance, in Jesus's day the Sadducees counted to 50 days for Pentecost, while the Pharisees always kept it on the ancient calendar date of Sivan 6. Could they have been in error, he asked, about the Passover as well?
This is a presumptive question, with two very obvious answers. First, Jesus never specifically corrected anyone for their Holy Day dates in the Gospels! If they were so vitally important, would He not have spoken up in such a way that it's recorded in the Bible?
Secondly -- yes, Jews are human. They can err. Just as the Church of God has done often over the years in areas such as a Monday Pentecost, Jesus returning in 1975, the U.S. having "won its last war" around 1985, etc. Finger-pointing can run both ways.
9. "DON'T BASE DOCTRINES ON ASSUMPTIONS" - So Mr. Walker stated at one point late in his lecture, urging students to use the Bible as a base. The statement amazingly overlooks the fact that some of his points are based on assumptions -- such as point 2 about early observance not counting, and the point 6 explanation of the "Lord's Supper" verse. If two wrongs don't make a right, do two assumptions make a truth?
10. THE PASSOVER BREAD - Some apparently have asked why unleavened bread is taken at the Passover service. Mr. Walker made clear the "days of unleavened bread" last only seven days, not eight. But he noted the Passover service is a "sacrifice," and Old Testament sacrifices typically were made without leaven (see Ex. 12:27and 34:25).
Mr. Walker's first point is correct. (See, I'm not bashing him completely.) But in saying this, he stomped all over a comment I heard a UCG minister make to his congregation one year before - that they should have all their leaven out before the Passover service. The Pastor admitted after the lecture tape played that's his "personal choice." But he presented it in such a way during the service that it left the impression his choice should be what everyone does, or at least tries.
The second point by Mr. Walker is not quite as valid. For one thing, it mixes "Old Testament sacrifices" with a distinctively New Testament service and approach. But it also overlooks a surprising discovery in the Greek text - that there are two words for "bread" in the New Testament.
Matthew 26 makes the difference clear: "On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus...." (26:17) Strong's Concordance shows no reference for "bread" here - but "unleavened" is azymos,specifically meaning unleavened or uncorrupted. BUT a few verses later we find: "While they were eating, Jesustook bread, gave thanks and brake it...." (26:26) Bread here is artos - "bread (as raised) or a loaf." (It's also the Greek word used for a "loaf" of bread.)
The Greek NEVER crosses over these words in the New Testament! And if you examine the Gospel accounts carefully, every "bread" reference at the Passover is artos.-- as in raised bread. To say otherwise would suggest Jesus only ate unleavened bread throughout His time on Earth - including when He fed the 5,000. "I am that bread of life". Jesus said about Himself, is leavened also (Jhn. 6:48).
I can see the symbolism in using matzos at the Passover service, since Jesus was without the "leaven of sin"which can corrupt. But to insist only flat bread must be eaten at this service is - well - flat wrong.
SUMMARY: The New Testament Passover service in the Churches of God is every bit as important and symbolic as ever, recalling the death of Jesus Christ for our sins. But we've shown it does not have to be as formal and stuffy as the old WCG and some current spinoff groups have made it. You need not be grim and stiff in your actions, since Jesus used this service to show His flexibility with the Old Testament rules. You even can be flexible with what you call this service, and what sort of bread you use.
I believe I landed on a Local Elder's "watch list" after my first Passover in UCG. During the after-service cleanup, I shared with him a little Passover song I developed, to the tune of "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover":
I'm looking forward to next Passover, like none that I've had before.
Taking the symbols, the bread and the wine,
Thinking of Christ's sacrifice one more time.
Hope I'm not sploshin' when I'm foot-washing.
I'll spill water on the floor.
I'm looking forward to next Passover, like none that I've had before.
The next year I was not on the cleanup list - and the Local Elder told everyone not on that list to leave quietly out the back door as soon as the closing hymn was over. I did as he said, and didn't make a scene. But to borrow aphrase from some African-American churches, I didn't let him take away my joy. May your Passover/Lord'sSupper/communion service have deep joy as well.
For more on this topic, see Your Question, Please
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