Did Jesus and his disciples celebrate Jewish Feasts and Festivals?

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Did Jesus and his followers celebrate Jewish feasts and festivals such as the Passover, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah etc? If so, should we also still celebrate some of these feasts as followers of Jesus?
 
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Jesus and the apostles celebrated the Jewish feasts & festivals. The Gospels
often refer to His “going up to Jerusalem” to celebrate a feast.
 
Jesus and His disciples celebrated Passover together three times, if I recall correctly. They also celebrated the Festival of Booths.
 
Jesus’ death and resurrection was the fulfillment of all the Jewish laws and customs, so we do not need to celebrate those, because they were a foreshadowing of the great sacraments we have now. We do not have the day of atonement, we have Cknfession. We do not need to celebrate Passover, we have the Mass.

Pax
 
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We do not identify ourselves as Jewish but through historical events our religion has derived from that faith. There were Jews at the time who respected Jesus whilst others clearly did not. Also why did God choose the Jews to reveal his only Son? Why not choose the muslims, Hindus or any other religion?
 
Krisdun said:
We do not identify ourselves as Jewish but through historical events our religion has derived from that faith. There were Jews at the time who respected Jesus whilst others clearly did not. Also why did God choose the Jews to reveal his only Son? Why not choose the muslims, Hindus or any other religion?
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Muslims did not exist before the 600’s.

Why the Jews? Why not the more civilized Romans, or the more intellectual Greeks? Why not the brilliant Chinese?

Well, why not the tough, faithful Jews? It should be sufficient to simply accept that God, as God, the all-knowing God, knew what he was doing. This was the order and economy he laid out. He picked a people by whom he would bring the Redeemer into the world. There is no “why”. He just did. He needs no reason or excuse to select one people for his purposes.

As for us celebrating Jewish feasts, St. Paul is clear that these were only shadows of the true realities. Why would we stick with shadows when we have the fulfillment? Do you want to live your life slaughtering animals every time you sin?
 
God could have chosen anytime to reveal our Saviour even 600 years later! My question relates to why would Jesus and his close followers practise at least some Jewish customs if they thought there was no truth in them? Why would they bother to celebrate passover, go to the temple etc…
 
Krisdun said:
God could have chosen anytime to reveal our Saviour even 600 years later! My question relates to why would Jesus and his close followers practise at least some Jewish customs if they thought there was no truth in them? Why would they bother to celebrate passover, go to the temple etc…
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Jesus and his followers did not practice some of them. They practiced ALL of them. Who says there was no truth in them? The Jewish religion was laid out by God himself, who is truth! They did not have the fullness of truth because that would not be fully revealed until the death of the last apostle. But it is quite the claim to say that there was no truth in Judaism! Their feasts and festivals, while valid for their time, were only foreshadowings of the full realities still to come. That time is now, and those festivals have no more meaning for Christians, outside of the fullfillments they prefigured.

Jesus, in his humility, subjected himself to the law. He allowed himself to be circumcised and be bound by the religion of his people until the time when he would usher in the new people of God, the Church.

You will not find a reason why God did what he did, why he chose Israel over any other people. He COULD have chosen another people, but he chose this one. Why? Because it was his own sovereign will that he would do so. He needed no reason or excuse. Basically, because he chose to do so. That is the only “reason” we need.
 
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I wonder what the reaction would be if a priest/bishop/cardinal/pope gave such a homily today?
 
“Their feasts and festivals, while valid for their time…”

I am trying to think why certain acts of worship to God were valid in the past (which Jesus, Mary and Joseph themselves practised) but should be considered obsolete now. Is it because God would change his mind on what forms of worship please him?

In another example some might think the TLM mass is obsolete now which I certainly don’t think is the case.
 
Krisdun said:
“Their feasts and festivals, while valid for their time…”

I am trying to think why certain acts of worship to God were valid in the past (which Jesus, Mary and Joseph themselves practised) but should be considered obsolete now. Is it because God would change his mind on what forms of worship please him?

In another example some might think the TLM mass is obsolete now which I certainly don’t think is the case.
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It’s because those old holy days weren’t the fulfillment of His plan for us. Passover marked a past event, the Jewish exodus from Egypt, but also pointed forward to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The Festival of Lights was memorialized for the rededication of the Temple and its purification as a place for the worship of God. When we confess our sins, we rededicate the temples of our bodies as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.

The “old ways” are incomplete since their fulfillment in Christ. This is why we no longer celebrate them.
 
Well let’s see.
The Jewish people still are waiting for their Messiah. Are we still waiting?

The Messiah is the Pascal Lamb. We receive Him in the Eucharist. The Eucharist has superseded the Passover meal. So why would we celebrate Passover which foreshadowed this, and not the Eucharist which is the culmination?
 
The Bible is pretty explicit in that they celebrated the Passover also, why is this in traditional Catholicism? I think this is Miscategorised.
 
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