Last night, today, and tonight (Sunday & Monday) represent a nearly forgotten historical bond between Jews and Christians taking us back to 30 CE, the year Jesus was executed. Last night was the beginning of the 14th of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. Tonight Jews all over the world sit down to the Passover Seder as the 14th ends at dusk and the 15th of Nisan begins. I am convinced that the basic chronology for the “last days of Jesus” as given in the gospel of John is our best historical window on Passover week in the year 30 CE. I discuss this in my book, The Jesus Dynasty, in some detail on pp. 198-207.

According to John’s gospel Jesus ate a last supper with his closest disciples on the evening of the beginning of the 14th of Nisan–which would be equivalent to last night in this year 2007. Paul does not call it the “Passover,” but rather “on the night in which he was betrayed.” They broke bread, ordinary bread, not unleavened bread or matzos, and they drank wine and whatever else was served that night at supper. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples as a lesson in service and humility. He spoke to them about his impending arrest and the ordeal that he anticipated the following day. He told them that one of them would “hand him over.”

Late that night, following the meal, they retreated to an olive grove garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the Mt. of Olives. Jesus was arrested, and went through a series of appearances before the high priest, a makeship group of Sanhedrin leaders, and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. These procedures stretched into the wee morning hours. He was condemned to die by crucifixion, scourged, and was put on the cross by 9am on the morning of the 14th. He was dead before dusk.

That night, the night of the Seder, as the Passover meal began on the 15th of Nisan, Jesus was lying dead in a temporary rock hewn tomb. It is possible his followers gathered in the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, in Bethany, where they had been staying the previous week. It must have been the saddest meals of their lives, despite the traditional celebration of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian slavery on that night. The group must have also been in shock, finding it hard to believe that their beloved leader was dead. We can imagine they were also quite terrified that others would be arrested as well, particularly Jesus’ brothers, who potentially might succeede him as Davidic claimants to kingship.

For more than a century before the Good Friday/Easter Sunday tradition had fully prevailed in the Church, thousands of Christians all over the Roman world used to observe what they called the “Pasch,” on the 14th of Nisan. They used the Hebrew calendar to determine the proper season. On this day they would remember both the “night he was betrayed,” as well as the death of Jesus on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. They were called by their enemies “Quarterdeciman,” or “Fourteenists.” Their enemies, those who favored Easter as a substitute for Passover, and wanted nothing to do with the Jews, or Jewish observances of Passover, labeled them as “Judaizers” and sought to have them excommunicated. At the 1st Christian council, at Nicea in 325 CE, the bishops, led by the emperor Constantine, forbid Christians to celebrate their “Pasch” on Nisan 14th, declaring that Christians should have nothing in common with “the detestable Jewish crowd.” The Bishop of Rome in particular insisted that “the entire world” should unite behind a single “Christian Passover” celebration on Easter weekend.

It is unfortunate that this “liturgical” link between Jews and Christians was severed. As time went on it became hard to imagine Jesus and his early followers as Jews who would have considered the Passover observance as a central component of their lives. In our own time some of this is changing. Thousands of Christians have begun to learn about the Passover, both in study and direct celebration. Although I do not think the “last supper” of Jesus was a Passover meal per se, it was surely tied to the Jewish Passover, and it could only be a good sign that Christians are learning about this and thereby recovering a bit of lost heritage as they seek to understand more about Jesus their Jewish messiah.
Tonight I wish everyone who finds meaning in these days, whether Jewish, Christian, or otherwise, an insightful and meaningful time with family and friends.

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