eddieq wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:03 pm
As a practicing (still not getting it right) Christian raised in my faith, I always enjoyed the times when we would do a special "Seder meal" for the Maundy Thursday services. It was unique and different and always was a lesson in the cultural significance to Jesus and His disciples. Adding the context to the "last supper" and some of the words from the scriptures always helped me understand a little better. We always heard about the Exodus and saw the Cecil B. DeMille movie all the time. We learned about the plagues in Sunday School and VBS but it was always pretty clean without a lot of background. Strictly speaking, Jesus was Jewish, so having some of the background to His traditions and practices helps me understand a little of what's going on when I read the stories and listen to the sermons around it.
Except that the point I was making here is that whatever Jesus was doing for his "Last Supper," it wasn't a Seder, so if you're doing a Maundy Thursday meal that is modeled on a Jewish Seder, you're actually NOT getting the culture or the context of Jesus. A Seder is by definition a post-Second Temple ritual, probably dating to the late Second or early Third Century CE, but certainly some significant time after the Jewish-Roman wars (which ended with the failure of the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE). Prior to the Exile/Diaspora, Jewish religious life was centered in the rites and sacrificial practices of the Temple and the priestly class, which was an altogether different sort of practice than the Judaism of even the Fourth Century CE, let alone that of the 12th, the 16th or the 21st. The paschal meal at the time of Jesus was the roasted meat of the
korban pesach (the Temple sacrifice) eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (almost certainly not the matzah we know today, more probably something like a lavash or tanoor bread). So basically a roast lamb and broccoli rabe wrap. Maybe a souvlaki platter, considering the substantial Greek influence of the time.
Aside from the anachronism of a Seder, the further problem of connecting Jesus and Passover to the celebration of Easter is that it makes Passover a bit player in the Jesus story. I cannot overstate the importance of the Exodus as the defining narrative of the Jewish people and its centrality to Jewish religion and culture. Presenting it as merely the backdrop for Easter, the defining narrative of Christianity, necessarily trivializes Passover or worse, suggests that it has been superseded -- which of course is its whole point.
So you want to understand historical context for your own beliefs and practices? Great! Learn the actual history! You want to celebrate similarities/differences beween cultures and religions? Also great! Compare, contrast -- but don't conflate! Seeing Passover through a Christian lens necessarily distorts its significance and its message and does not lead to understanding at all; it just takes someone else's sacred ritual and makes it a fancy decoration for yours.
