Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part Two
The legitimacy of the spring holy day season as Christian doctrine cannot be overlooked or discarded. Certainly, the observances of Christ’s memorial and the related days of the festival of unleavened bread are credibly within the practices and personal teachings of the apostles and Jesus. The Apostle Paul admonished the churches to “keep the feast,” while reminding them that they were “unleavened,” and that Jesus is “our Passover.” Such statements to the congregations doubtless reveal Paul’s unreserved support for the observance of these festivals and related days of eating unleavened bread. And the same would be true of Mark who highlighted a significant issue and moment in the life of Jesus when he referred to these same festivals and days of unleavened bread. In writing about the two spring festivals that took place in the final days of Jesus’ ministry, Mark states that: “after two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread” (Mk. 14:1). Then Mark recorded an important historical observation related to the day of the Passover sacrifice, and he stated that on the first day of unleavened bread “they killed [sacrificed] the Passover” (Mk. 14:12). (The “Passover” was strictly speaking an event that occurred on the 14th of Nissan, and the day was generalized as a festival because of the slaying of the lamb and the eating of a meal.) This of course was a striking claim to make by saying that the “first day of unleavened bread” occurred on the same day as the Passover sacrifice, which meant that Mark was not generalizing the Passover festival in the context of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Now Luke also wrote an account of Jesus’ life, and he verified his account by the eye-witnesses to Jesus’ miracles, which testified of Jesus being the son of God. These witnesses also confirmed the message of the gospel of the kingdom of God and the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:22, 32-36). This made Luke a biographer of Jesus’ life, and he also wrote about the final Passover that was kept by Jesus and his disciples, and Luke wrote that “the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover” (Lk. 22:1). This is a thought-provoking statement made by Luke. Luke is careful to make the point that the Festival of Unleavened Bread and related days of unleavened bread had come to be called the “Passover” in cultural usage and practice, which was founded in later traditions that had developed around the Passover. (The historian Josephus also recorded that the Feast of Matzot (Unleavened Bread) was “called Passover,” which shows how tradition had at least by that time begun to significantly cloud the issue of two distinct observances.) Typically, this would not be an issue for debate from a biblical perspective, but there are those who use the statements made by Mark and Luke as verification that the Passover sacrifice occurred in the afternoon on the 14th day of the month Nissan, with the “pass over” and Exodus falling on the 15th of Nissan. (One must be careful about relying on evolving interpretations created by tradition and historical guesswork that attempt to minimize the spring festivals and their origins.) However, Luke adds something in support of Mark’s historical observation regarding the first day of unleavened bread when he said: “then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed” (Lk. 22:7). This was not a statement about Jewish tradition, but rather a factual statement regarding a day of unleavened bread, which occurred on the same day the Passover was sacrificed. And we can conclude that both Mark and Luke were writing in an historical context describing specific events in Jesus’ life, which coincides with Paul’s verification that Jesus on “the same night in which he [Jesus] was betrayed took bread” (I Cor. 11:23). Therefore, the day in which Jesus was betrayed was also an actual day of unleavened bread, and it is the same day that Jesus’ memorialized when he introduced the symbols of the bread and wine, which he required his followers to observe year by year until his return. (Even though Christians do not slay a lamb on this day, as Jesus is “our Passover,” the memorialization of the day by the eating of unleavened bread was still sanctioned by the Apostle Paul, and it remained an observable reference for his ministry and the church (Jn. 1:29; Acts 12:3, 20:6; I Cor. 5:6-8; 11:18-34). Thus, the church does not observe the “Passover” (sacrifice), but rather the church observes the memorial to Jesus our Passover with the partaking of the bread and wine, in the context of also being a day of unleavened bread as observed by both Moses and Jesus (Ex. 12:1-28; Mt. 26:26-29; Jn. 6:47-60.) Now, some have concluded that Mark’s reference to a “day of unleavened bread” only holds true in respect to the Passover meal or service and not to the day in which the lambs were slain, but Mark and Luke were not making a cultural interpretation, as they were referring to what the day was in respect to the Passover sacrifice—a day of unleavened bread. Therefore, Jesus observed the Passover on a day of unleavened bread. Consequently, then, this would seem to give support to the belief that the days of unleavened bread began on the Passover, and therefore also on the 14th day of the month Nissan. However, by the same argument the claim could be made that the Passover meal fell on the same day as the Festival of Unleavened bread, which was on the 15th day of the month Nissan. Which view is correct? Let’s first examine how the Jews customarily observe these spring festivals? When we review the Jewish calendar we see that during the month of Nissan (March/April) there are nine consecutive dates in which the Festival of Passover is observed (called Pesach). This means the Eve of Pesach begins with the daylight portion of the 14th day of Nissan, making