The New Passover

An elaboration of the Seder Meal in light of Jesus' Institution of the Eucharist

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. (Jn 13:1)

Throughout the Gospel of John, we find Jesus using “I AM” statements to reveal to his disciples, to the Jews, and ultimately the whole world that he is the Son of Man, God’s Son, and the Messiah sent by God to save us from our sins. He uses several “I AM” statements, but the particular one focused on in this exposition is his reference to his body as the bread of life. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51) Saint John presents these monologues in a fashion that moves from the food of the Old Testament (manna in the desert), through the prophetic foreshadowing of his body as covenant (body and blood as life), and culminating at Passover with the Institution of the Eucharist and the Constitution of the Line of Priests. A further understanding of the Passover of the Old Testament will help us understand the new Passover, in which Christ gave us his body and blood to sustain us until his second coming.

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the LORD’s Passover. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever.” (Ex. 12:1-14)

At this point in the lives of the Israelites, they are being set free from the bondage of slavery to Egypt. The Angel of Death would pass through Egypt and kill every first born who was not marked with the blood of the lamb. From the time of Moses to the time of Jesus and even today, the Jews practice this Passover meal as a remembrance of God’s covenant with them. This meal is performed in a series of steps with certain ceremonial activities which encourage those participating to be actively engaged and aware of the importance of the Passover (or Seder) meal.

“During the course of the evening you will have: Four cups of wine; veggies dipped in saltwater; flat, dry cracker-like bread called matzah; bitter herbs, often horseradish (without additives) and romaine lettuce, dipped into charoset (a paste of nuts, apples, pears and wine); and a festive dinner that may contain time-honored favorites, like chicken soup and gefilte fish. Each item has its place in a 15-step choreographed combination of tastes, sounds, sensations and smells that have been with the Jewish people for millennia.”[1] These fifteen, choreographed steps are found in a specific manual called “The Haggadah” which “contains ancient texts dating back to Biblical times, as well as the Talmudic era, all of which come together to recreate the story of Passover and share its meaning to the modern Jew.”[2]

            When one begins the Passover meal, they begin with the Kadesh, or the Benediction. This benediction is called the kiddush and is the “blessing recited over a cup of wine expressing the sanctity of the Sabbath or of a festival.”[3] During the meal there will be four cups of wine representing different aspects of either the Jew’s captivity or redemption. The most transitive of these representations is God’s promise of deliverance taken from Exodus 6:6-8: a) "I shall take you out..." b) "I shall rescue you..." c) "I shall redeem you..." d) "I shall bring you..."

            Following the Kadesh there is the Urchatz, or the hand-washing, which is just a normal (hygienic) pre-cursor to eating a meal. The eating then commences with the salted appetizers (Karpas) and represents the back-breaking work the Jews endured in Egypt. Next is the Yachatz. This is the breaking in half of the matzah bread to signify the “bread of poverty” and is set aside as the story of Exodus is told.

“At this point [Maggid], the poor are invited to join the Seder. The Seder tray is moved aside, a second cup of wine is poured, and the child, who by now is bursting with curiosity, asks the time-honored question: “Mah nishtanah ha-lailah hazeh mikol ha-leilot? Why is this night different from all other nights?” Why only matzah? Why the dipping? Why the bitter herbs? Why are we relaxing and reclining as if we were kings? The child’s questioning triggers one of the most significant elements of Passover, which is the highlight of the Seder ceremony: reading the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt.”[4]

It is now time for Rachtzah – the washing before the meal. This is the customary washing that occurs with a blessing before eating the Motzi Matzah - three pieces of matzah bread that are eaten with a specific rite. The rite includes the broken matzah from the Yachatz, but it is not yet consumed. Then the bitter herbs come out – Maror. While all other parts of the meal are taken while reclining, this one is not. It is followed by the Korech where the matzah and maror are combined into a sandwich and this is eaten while reclining.

            Finally, the Shulchan Orech (Passover Feast) is eaten. During the time of Jesus, this is when the lamb would have been consumed. However, in modern Seders, a hard-boiled egg is dipped into saltwater as a reminder that the meal lacks the sacrificial lamb. The Yachatz bread “comes out of hiding” (Tzafun) and is eaten to symbolize the Passover lamb which their ancestors ate. This will be the last thing to be consumed except for the final two cups of wine. There will be the Beirach (Blessing After the Meal) where the third cup of wine will be drunk, and the fourth cup will be filled - called the cup of Elijah. A door will then be opened, and a passage will be recited which invites the Prophet Elijah, harbinger of the Messiah. The songs of praise are then sung (Hallel) and the fourth cup is blessed; and while reclining, the wine is consumed. The fifteenth step is called the Nirtzah, where having completed a proper Seder, it is accepted by God.

            Now that the Passover Meal has been understood, let us remember that during the Passover with Jesus, Jesus breaks the bread (Tzafun) and proclaims, “Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Mt 26:26) Immediately after he takes the third cup (Beirach) he proclaims, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27-28) Then he says, “I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mt 26:29-30) The fourth cup was never finished. There was no ushering in of the Messiah vis-à-vis Elijah because Jesus was and is the Messiah.

            In conclusion, we can recognize that as Jesus was dying upon the cross and said, “I thirst” and was given a wine-soaked sponge (Mt 27:48), this was the moment that he completed the new covenant and instituted the new Passover in which we are to consume the body and blood of Christ the Messiah in the ritual established by Christ and handed on to the Apostles. “By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.” (CCC, 1340)

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[1] Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, “What Is a Seder (Passover Meal),” at Chabad.org, at https://www.chabad.org.

[2]  Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, “The Haggadah,” at Chabad.org, at https://www.chabad.org

[3] Chabad, “Seder,” at https://www.chabad.org.

[4] Ibid.

[5] (Last Supper, by Dagnan-Bouveret, 1896)