Passover/Easter
I awoke just a few minutes ago to moonlight streaming through my window. Clear skies with a nearly full waning moon. It is so beautiful. The full moon was Thursday, the first night of Passover. This is early Saturday morning, the day before Easter. This is one of those years when Passover corresponds to the events in the original Easter story. Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover where everything went wrong resulting in his death at the hands of the Romans. The Gospels of Mark, Mathew, and Luke have what Christians call the Last Supper take place on the first night of Passover. This would make it a Seder. The writer of the Gospel of John had bought into St. Paul’s Savior Theology. He wanted to present Jesus as the sacrificial lamb so it was necessary for him to have Jesus crucified on The Day of Preparation when the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover meal that is served after sundown, the beginning the new day. This is all very confusing to us raised with the idea that the day begins at dawn. In the first three gospels, the Last Supper is a Seder. In John’s Gospel, it’s the night before. In the first three Gospels, the Crucifixion happens on the first day of Passover. In John’s Gospel, it happens on the Day of Preparation. Do we know for sure what happened? No way, these events were 2000 years ago. The Gospels were written two generations after the fact. The stories were told and re-told hundreds of times before the sacred texts were written down. The writers would pick and choose the versions that fit their take on the story. If you read sacred texts looking for literal truth, your barking up a tree that doesn’t exist. I don’t ask “Is it true.” I ask “What does it mean.” For me Passover is the great story of liberation. Easter is the great story that out of death comes re-birth and renewal. Happy Spring Time, everyone….
