When Christ the Lord lived on earth twenty centuries ago, the Sadducees were in control of the Temple and the priesthood. There were so many, hundred of thousands, of pilgrims into Jerusalem that the Passover lambs had to be slain over 2 days. For Christ and his 12 disciples as out-of-towners from the Galilee, they celebrated the Passover the night beginning Nisan 14 at sunset. This was the correct night, as commanded in the Hebraic Scriptures. When was the original Passover night? It was Nisan 15, one day later. To this day, many celebrate both Passover and day 1 of the 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the same night. So what? The Messiah had to celebrate Passover on the correct night every year of his life. Or? If not, he would have sinned. But he never sinned, was unleavened by sins, was the Unleavened (Sinless) One! On the original Passover night, there were many deaths of the first born Egyptians, while death passed over the House of Israel people in Goshen with the protective covering of lamb's blood applied to the door posts and lintels of the front doors of their homes. One title for Messiah/Christ is THE DOOR! So there were to be 2 special nights at the beginning of the Spiritual Year, Passover night on Nisan 14 beginning at sunset and day 1 of the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning at sunset on Nisan 15.
 
   The CONTEXT of the Messiah Yahushua's (Yeshua's) last meal with his friends was a PASSOVER SEDER. The order of the Passover Seder called a Haggadah was a later expanded invention, during the Middle Ages.  Christ and his disciples would have experienced a much more simple ritual with wine, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, remembrance of the Exodus stories in The Book of Exodus, and the praying of the Hallel Psalms (Psalms of Praise, often sung.) As they left to go to Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives they prayed a Hallel Psalm, probably the last of them, Psalm 118. Do you remember the hauntingly beautiful words? "Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and praise the Lord."
 
   An annual Passover Seder is a beautiful, transformational, and unique experience with spiritual depth of layers of meanings, mystery, and wonder in abundance. The experience is in the here and now as well as the long ago in the times of Moses and Christ! You are there! Again! All the senses are engaged: the reading from the Haggadah and the beautiful graphics (pictures), the hearing of the words and the snapping sound with the breaking of the matzoh (matza), the tastes of the food and wine/grape juice, the smells of the bitter and the sweet foods, and the touching of the kiddush cups and the various textures of the foods.
 
   The Master COMMANDED his friends to "Do this in memory of me." Passover. He clearly intended the Passover ritual, that was the context. This was not any meal, any breaking of the bread. THE UNIQUE MEAL. We are to remember Him in these special emblems of unleavened bread and wine/grape juice. And to consume them. We are to REMEMBER Him the beginning of each Nisan 14, annually. We are to remember Him in His one time for all SACRIFICIAL DEATH. His sinless (UNLEAVENED) Life and precious Blood have the POWER to deliver from sins, forgive every trespass, and gift with the LIFE ETERNAL. There were many miracles of divine intervention in preserving the lives of many firstborn of the House of Israel in Goshen in the times of Moses and Aaron. Yet, for The Redeemer of Humankind, on Nisan 14, death did not pass over Christ. Death began for Christ at Gethsemane of the Mount of Olives. The Messiah began to symbolically drink from the Cup of Horrors, the Cup of the Dregs of Sins, the Cup of Judgment, the Cup of Abba Father's Wrath, Elijah's Cup. The Unleavened One, the All Righteous Sinless One, approached THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, the Dark Night of the Soul. Christ lived and died in perfect obedience to Abba Father and Torah commandments. WHY? A great reason was FOR LOVE OF EACH OF US, The Sin Leavened Many.
 
   Does any Communion Service nullify the Passover COMMAND? Or Is it a spiritually generic equivalent? What to believe, and what to decide? In all sincerity and humility. Some reflections. Which Roman Catholics consume wine and unleavened bread white circular wafers at masses? Only the priestly class consume both. The laity are given the bread, not the wine/grape juice. What do Protestants do? They will either drink wine/grape juice from a common cup or from plastic cups. Where is the UNLEAVENED BREAD? Leavened Bread is used. Did Christ COMMAND to be REMEMBERED in both Wine/Grape Juice and Unleavened Bread? Yes. Modern communion rituals, by Protestants and Roman Catholics alike, are partially obeying the COMMAND of Christ. Is there disobedience? For lack of understanding, can a follower in Christ be an unknowing worker of anomias, a worker of lawlessness, a worker of iniquity? Might it be someone who breaks commands of the kosher rabbi from the Galilee, with the answer since the Edicts of Constantine the Great during the 4th century? I do not do Jewish things. If something is a Christ COMMANDED thing to do, then what? What will I choose? What will I do or not do? How will I respond?
 
   Passover Night, as Nisan 14 begins at sunset, will be Thursday evening 4-2-2015. Who will join Christ within the unique meal and ritual of Passover that night? The few? This year, who will participate in the annual REMEMBER ME? The few? It will be one day before the 3rd of the Tetrad of the Blood Red Moons. THE REMEMBRANCE NIGHT OF THE YEAR is drawing near for followers of THE ETERNALLY UNLEAVENED ONE and THE CUP OF SALVATION! In our simple ways of belief and trust, may our Redeemer be remembered, extolled, and thanked on the anniversary of Christ's death, Nisan 14.
 
 
With Love and Shalom,
Jean