How to view Passover

Sunset today marks the beginning of the Passover for Jews worldwide. It is of course one of the most important celebrations for Jewish families, marked by a number of ceremonies and traditions. It is a huge deal for Jews and I get the impression that it is true even for less observant families.

As Christians, how should we view the Passover?

First I think we need to recognize what the Passover is all about. It is a celebration of the sovereign work of God to free the Jews from captivity in Egypt. When the final plague struck, slaying the first born males in all of Egypt, the wrath of God passed over the homes with blood on the doorway. It was the blood that caused the wrath of God to pass over the homes of the Jews in Egypt:

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12: 12-13)

There are clear implications for the Passover in Christianity. Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper while celebrating the Passover with His disciples, a key event that appears in all four Gospels preceding the crucifixion (Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13). As importantly, at the cross Jesus shed His blood and that blood serves in a similar fashion for those covered by it through faith: it covers us from the judgment and wrath of God. Through His blood we have forgiveness of our sins and at the judgment it is that blood-bought forgiveness that will cause God’s wrath to pass over the elect. So the Passover is very important in Christian theology as well, although for a different reason.

It certainly seems that for the last two thousand year, post-Calvary, the celebration of the Jewish Passover has been an empty ceremony. The Passover as understood by Christians in light of the cross was a preparatory ceremony that prefigured the cross of Christ. We read that Christ has fulfilled the role of Passover lamb on our behalf:

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Cor 5:7)

So how should we view the Passover? I think it provides a great opportunity to recall Christ and Him crucified. It is a wonderful reminder of the promises of God to His people, fulfilled in Christ Jesus once and for all time. It is also a great opportunity to discuss Jesus with Jews. The celebration of the Passover is an obsolete ceremony and a reminder of an old covenant that has been fulfilled in a far greater way. For all of these centuries Jews have been celebrating the Passover while missing the great fulfillment of Christ. God can never be satisfied with the sacrifice of a literal lamb. He is only satisfied with the cross of His Son who became a perfect sacrifice provided by God for His people.

Religious holidays in a pagan state

A headline today in the Wall Street Journal reads: Muslims Press for School Holidays in New York City. My question: why shouldn’t they? I don’t buy into the notion that America is now or ever has been a “Christian nation” because by the very nature of Christianity that is impossible. Nations are not Christian. Organizations are not Christian. People are Christians. Even if America was 100% without exception regenerate Christians, this still wouldn’t be a “Christian nation”. Were many of the Founding Fathers Christians? Of course (although many weren’t). Is much our law and culture founded at least vaguely on “Judeo-Christian values” and acceptable exhibitions of public piety? Sure. That doesn’t make America a “Christian nation”.

From the editorial:

Muslims groups here are pressing city officials to close public schools on two of the faith's holiest days, just as schools do for major Jewish and Christian holidays. But the groups have yet to persuade the man in charge of New York City schools, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Muslim groups have asked the city to cancel classes on Eid Ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid Ul-Adha, which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

New York is one of many public-school systems now struggling with appropriate ways to recognize religious holidays for a diverse population. An estimated 100,000 Muslim children are enrolled in New York City schools, about 10% of the enrollment.

I was stunned to find out that 10% of school kids in New York City are Muslim. As of 2002, around 12% of all New York residents were Jewish so at the rate we are going Muslims will almost certainly pass Jews in the near future if they haven’t already. So if Jewish kids get school days off for their holidays, why not Muslims? Because the Jews were there first?

I really don’t care and don’t have a skin in the game. My kids are not in public school in New York or anywhere else. Given the general state of public schools and especially the schools in New York, I would say somewhat facetiously that the more these kids stay home the better!

I guess what I am questioning is the extent to which the church has wedded itself to the state. There is a lot of blurring between “church” organizations & functions and state functions. For example, there are tons of hospitals and foster homes that are closely affiliated with a faith group but are also heavily involved with the state. There are numerous tax exemptions granted by the government to clergy and churches as well as deductions for most charitable contributions given to religious groups. The state recognizes as legally binding wedding ceremonies performed by many religious groups or individuals. Under the Bush administration and continued quietly under Obama, the Federal government has created an office to facilitate church and state partnerships. There are rumblings already of using the tax exempt status of religious groups to silence them. When I was pastor of a church in Northern Michigan leading up to the elections I received several anonymous pieces of mail with thinly veiled threats toward our tax-exempt status if we dared utter any political speech. I am not sure how sacrificial their giving is for most people when they can claim a deduction on their taxes because of it. It is growing kind of hard to decide who were rendering unto in America.

Should Christianity be something viewable as a part of the culture? It is pretty easy for someone in America to say that they are a Christian based on membership in a church they visit a couple of times a year, a vague affirmation of the existence of God and small acts of piety. Woe to the one who questions the religious standing of such a person! Fundamentalist and judgmental are the least of the aspersions that will be cast. The truth of the matter is that Christianity, or what passes for Christianity, is entirely too comfortable in America. We get favorable tax treatment on our giving, on our buildings and for our paid clergy. I wonder what would happen to the giving in churches if the Federal government eliminated the deductibility of religious contributions? I am guessing it wouldn’t go up.

This is not about Islam. Again, Islam is a false religious system that denies Christ and leads people to hell. The same is true of modern Judaism. I am concerned that in the push for faith based initiatives, in expressions of civic religion, in the unhealthy yoking of the church with the state, in letting the state dictate to the church how it handles donations and ceremonies like weddings we have created an inseparable link (someday I want to do a post on the linkage between government, church weddings and infant baptism). I personally think that the best thing that could happen to the church would be to lose its tax-exempt status, not because I am in favor of people paying more in taxes but because I am not in favor of their being even a hint of self-serving behavior in our cheerful giving.

So I say let Muslim kids have their holidays off. I even say let’s replace religious holidays with secular holidays. Let the state recognize state holidays instead of the uncomfortable marriage that has led to the current state of affairs. The birth of Christ is not honored by getting a day off and He is not honored by a cheesy nativity scene on a public lot. God is not honored when the Ten Commandments are used as a political club. America is not a Christian nation and being an American, or even a member of a church in America, doesn’t make you a Christian. We are aliens in a pagan land, proclaiming Christ to the lost. It is high time we start acting like it.