Why don't Christians celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

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In the sense of spiritual, and not necessarily physical, rest?
In the sense that He fulfilled the type of the Sabbath. He also fulfilled it in the literal physical. He fulfilled it in the Spiritual for those in Him. He showed Lordship over it, and how it serves man. Hence the teaching of the Sabbath still stands on each level, but is subsumed in Him, freeing those in Him from a legal “keeping” of it, since it has been fulfilled. Christians still take and apply those lessons from the Sabbath without there being condemnation for laboring on the seventh day. Because of what happened on the Lord’s Day, it has become that one day in seven we focus on Him, for we are new creations, while remembering God’s sabbath, which is now the rest in God Himself.

Hebrews is one book of the NT that underscores the idea of the literal Sabbath as being a foreshadowing of it’s fulfillment in Christ. And we remember both the literal Sabbath as a good and holy teaching, a good and holy day, and we remember Christ who is Good and Holy and provides rest. And, one more level up, there’s the end point of our literal works that comes from resting in Him, which is the Kingdom. To enter into the ultimate rest, we must enter into Him, Who both established the Sabbath day, and fulfilled it.
 
Did Jesus really believe that he was going to be ending the Feast of Unleavened Bread? …So don’t forget, a 2-parter – Sabbath and Feast of Unleavened Bread? Why is it acceptable to ignore “The Law”? I mean… if ever there were two laws I wouldn’t want to ignore, these might be them.
The Last Supper was at Passover. The sacrifice of the Mass, which was instituted in remembrance of Christ, is said worldwide every day of the year. If anything, Christ made the sacrifice of the Mass a daily remembrance, making the sacrifice of the Mass universal for Christians worldwide. Passover and the daily sacrifice of the Mass are inextricably linked.

The earliest Christians who were Jews would have kept the traditional Sabbath, and then came together for the earliest gatherings of what we now call the Mass, said on Sundays. It was later formally instituted by Constantine that the Christian Sabbath would be on Sunday – Sunday being in honor of the day of Christ’s resurrection.

Today, we have Hebrew Catholics that still keep many of the Jewish cultural and religious traditions of Judaism, but also recognize Christ as the Messiah. Most of the Hebrew Catholics live in Israel. Messianic Jews are similar in this regard, but not typically affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

I am guessing your friend who is not Jewish may be ascribing to the Hebrew Roots movement, which is a fast-growing decentralized religious movement that emphasizes returning to Mosaic Law to “live as Christ lived”. They keep the Jewish Sabbath, and many other Jewish practices, while still proclaiming to be Christians. It’s a rather popular (and controversial) religious movement right now.
 
My thoughts, as a Jew…Further, what does it mean to say that Jesus “fulfilled” the Sabbath? How is a sabbath fulfilled?
As you know the Torah prescribes that a lamb was to be sacrificed and eaten every Passover as a memorial of the first Passover lambs. The lambs were sacrificed at Passover and as part of a daily ritual in the temple as a sin offering (Lev. 5:5-7). God was very clear regarding the fact that none of the sacrifices were sufficient to take away sin (Isaiah 1:11). Israel, at the time of Jesus, was aware of Isaiah’s prophecy likening the Messiah to “a lamb that is led to slaughter” (Isa. 53:7). However, they sought a Messiah who would be a prophet, king, and conqueror, Nevertheless, God sent them the only Lamb that was worthy, which is why Paul tells us the following: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

During the Jewish Passover feast a lamb (sacrificial animal) was required but never sufficient to take away sin. Jesus, as the Passover Lamb, is of course sufficient if in fact he is the Son of God, aka God. In other words, he put an end to the sacrifices that were mere shadows of things to come, namely Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That is how the sabbath was fulfilled by Jesus, as per Christian belief. :)Save
 
Or celebrate the Sabbath on the Sabbath?? Everybody knows that the Sabbath is Saturday, right? So why on Sunday?

Anyway… The Feast of Unleavened Bread is in Leviticus 23. It’s celebrated up there with the Passover.

At what point does the Church get to say what Feasts are or are not celebrated in the Old Testament or the New? My buddy from work brings this all up and uses the quote that “Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, He came to fulfill it.” From Matthew 5:17.

I think this guy has some type of Jewish leaning, but he was definitely not born Jewish. He does refer to Jesus as the Messiah, but he does not believe He is the Son of God, at least not anymore than you or me. I definitely believe that we are all Children of God, which I know that Jesus says in numerous ways… even in the First two words of the Our Father!

Did Jesus really believe that he was going to be ending the Feast of Unleavened Bread? I mean… from a health standpoint, it makes great sense to rid the body of yeast for a week. Kinda makes me sad that I hadn’t heard about this Feast sooner. 🤷

So don’t forget, a 2-parter – Sabbath and Feast of Unleavened Bread? Why is it acceptable to ignore “The Law”? I mean… if ever there were two laws I wouldn’t want to ignore, these might be them.
This site is pretty helpful: hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Unleavened_Bread/unleavened_bread.html

As everyone knows, this feast is a remembrance of Israel leaving Egypt: “For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.” Exodus 12

Pretty harsh for just eating anything with yeast in it…unless…

The first indication that leaven was associated with corruption in the Bible was when Lot baked unleavened bread for the angels: “But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without leaven, and they ate” Gen. 19.3. Lot did not give leavened bread to the angels because he did not want to offer them anything containing impurities.

During the fist Passover God did not want any Egyptian leaven. The old leaven was to be purged from their homes. Similar sentiments occur in later sections of the Bible when the Lord demands that leaven should not be offered in sacrifices to him: “Do not offer bread made with leaven when you sacrifice an animal to me. Do not keep until morning any part of an animal killed at the Passover festival” Ex. 34.25. Leaven was excluded from any sacrifice because it was thought of as a contaminant that did not reflect sinlessness.

Jesus used leaven figuratively in the same way as it is used in the Old Testament to denote corruption. For instance, Jesus compares the doctrines of the Pharisees with leaven: “Be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, I mean their hypocrisy” Lk. 12.1.

Do we all agree that leaven is symbolic of sin and the Old Testament Passover was a memorial to God’s delivering them from slavery in Egypt, as well as a time of repentance and the putting away of sin? The same applies in the New Testament (e.g. Galatians 5:9 - “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Leaven, when placed in a lump of four with begin to grow and spread until it permeates the whole lump. The idea: diligently searching for, and removing sin even the smallest sin in one’s life. Even as a little leaven (sin) will spoils the whole of the lump, therefore any and all sin is to be confessed and put out of one’s life.

That said, Jesus did not end it, but rather fulfilled the Feast of unleavened bread. As you know, unleavened bread speaks of sanctification. In a nutshell, Jesus - as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world - was set apart; i.e. His body would not decay in the grave. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover and buried. However, unlike all others the Body of Jesus would not decay in the grave; there would be no decomposition of His Body. God the Father would not "allow thine Holy One (His Son Jesus) to see corruption (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27). The Feast of Unleavened Bread, fulfilled by Jesus, proclaims that Jesus’ physical body would not experience the ravages of death while in the grave; for He was sanctified (set apart) by God the Father.
 
This site is pretty helpful: hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Unleavened_Bread/unleavened_bread.html

As everyone knows, this feast is a remembrance of Israel leaving Egypt: “For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.” Exodus 12

Pretty harsh for just eating anything with yeast in it…unless…

The first indication that leaven was associated with corruption in the Bible was when Lot baked unleavened bread for the angels: “But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without leaven, and they ate” Gen. 19.3. Lot did not give leavened bread to the angels because he did not want to offer them anything containing impurities.

During the fist Passover God did not want any Egyptian leaven. The old leaven was to be purged from their homes. Similar sentiments occur in later sections of the Bible when the Lord demands that leaven should not be offered in sacrifices to him: “Do not offer bread made with leaven when you sacrifice an animal to me. Do not keep until morning any part of an animal killed at the Passover festival” Ex. 34.25. Leaven was excluded from any sacrifice because it was thought of as a contaminant that did not reflect sinlessness.

Jesus used leaven figuratively in the same way as it is used in the Old Testament to denote corruption. For instance, Jesus compares the doctrines of the Pharisees with leaven: “Be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, I mean their hypocrisy” Lk. 12.1.

Do we all agree that leaven is symbolic of sin and the Old Testament Passover was a memorial to God’s delivering them from slavery in Egypt, as well as a time of repentance and the putting away of sin? The same applies in the New Testament (e.g. Galatians 5:9 - “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Leaven, when placed in a lump of four with begin to grow and spread until it permeates the whole lump. The idea: diligently searching for, and removing sin even the smallest sin in one’s life. Even as a little leaven (sin) will spoils the whole of the lump, therefore any and all sin is to be confessed and put out of one’s life.

That said, Jesus did not end it, but rather fulfilled the Feast of unleavened bread. As you know, unleavened bread speaks of sanctification. In a nutshell, Jesus - as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world - was set apart; i.e. His body would not decay in the grave. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover and buried. However, unlike all others the Body of Jesus would not decay in the grave; there would be no decomposition of His Body. God the Father would not "allow thine Holy One (His Son Jesus) to see corruption (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27). The Feast of Unleavened Bread, fulfilled by Jesus, proclaims that Jesus’ physical body would not experience the ravages of death while in the grave; for He was sanctified (set apart) by God the Father.
My understanding is that most victims of crucifixion were left hanging on the cross subject to animals and birds eating at the dead flesh. The provision of burial in a cool tomb also kept Jesus’ body from seeing corruption while in the tomb from Friday evening to Sunday morning. I am not minimizing God’s control, just marveling how He uses natural means and moves men to accomplish His purposes.
 
Wannano. You mentioned (here) . . .
The provision of burial in a cool tomb also kept Jesus’ body from seeing corruption while in the tomb from Friday evening to Sunday morning. . . . marveling how He uses natural means . . .
But “natural means” isn’t how Jesus’ body was kept from corruption.

Jesus is God.

2000 years ago Jesus took flesh upon Himself. Flesh of the Virgin Mary. (It was reality but it was ALSO a symbolic undoing of Adam and Eve with their sin—Remember, Eve obtained her flesh from Adam).

Jesus is also true man.

Jesus has a Divine nature AND a human nature.

Mankind is made up of not so much body and soul but better stated body-soul composites.

The CCC puts it this way . . . . .

CCC 365 **The unity of soul and body is so profound **that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body:234 i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

Jesus was like us in all ways but sin, the book of Hebrews tells us.

When we die, our body and soul get torn asunder. Our body and soul get separated due to sin.

Our bodies begin to rot virtually immediately and rigor mortis sets in.

When God (the Son) died on the Cross, His body and soul were separated too (due to our sin).

But remember, Jesus ALSO has a DIVINE nature to go with His human nature.

Jesus’ Divine nature REMAINED with His body . . . . AND REMAINED with His soul too.

So although His body and soul were really separated from each other, His Divine nature remained with both His body and His soul.

With His Divine nature remaining with His body, His body CANNOT undergo corruption. Jesus had no “rigor mortis”, no rotting of the flesh, etc.

The CCC explains it this way . . . .

CCC 630 During Christ’s period in the tomb, his divine person continued to assume both his soul and his body, although they were separated from each other by death. For this reason the dead Christ’s body “saw no corruption” (Acts 13:37).

In summary:

The refrigeration effect (or other natural means) of a tomb has nothing to do with Jesus’ body failing to undergo corruption.

Also an interesting aside. . . .

Occasionally God gives a share of that incorruptibility of His, to some of His Holy Saints too (to a certain extent anyway . . . some have miraculously SLOW corruption others remain incorruptible).

Below is a book you may be interested in. There are incorruptible Saints in many places in the world and you can go and see them today.
The Incorruptibles
By Joan Carroll Cruz
Description:
Continuously popular since it first appeared in 1977, The Incorruptibles remains the acknowledged classic on the bodies of saints that did not undergo decomposition after death, many remaining fresh and flexible for years, or even centuries. After explaining both natural and artificial mummification, the author shows that the incorruption of the saints’ bodies fits into neither category but constitutes a much greater phenomenon unexplained by modern science, even to this day.
Mrs. Cruz presents a chapter on each of 102 canonized saints, beati and venerables, covering their lives, the discovery of their incorruption, investigations by Church and medical authorities, photos where available, and many other remarkable facts associated with their incorrupt bodies. These include heavenly fragrances, the exuding of holy oil and the flow of fresh blood several years after death.
Also included here are the stories of saints whose bodies were found in damp graves, or whose caskets or clothing had deteriorated around their incorrupt bodies, or whose bodies were even buried in lime to hasten decomposition. Among the most famous saints considered here are St. Cecilia, St. Agatha, St. Albert the Great, St. Margaret of Cortona, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Clare, Bl. Margaret of Castello, St. Frances of Rome, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Rita of Cascia, “San Diego.” St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Angela Merici, St. Francis Xavier, St. Louis Bertrand, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Charles Borromeo, St. John of the Cross, St. Pascal Baylon, St. Philip Neri, St. Rose of Lima, St. Frances de Sales, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, St. Andrew Bobola, St. Vincent de Paul, Bl. Anna Maria Taigi, The Cure of Ars, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Bernadette Soubirous and St. Charbel Makhouf. Though the bodies of many other holy persons have also been found incorrupt, the author has confined her study to the bodies of canonized saints and beati, plus venerables.
The incorruptibles are a consoling sign of Christ’s victory over death, a confirmation of the dogma of the Resurrection of the Body, a sign that the saints are still with us in the Mystical Body of Christ, as well as a proof of the truth of the Catholc Faith – for only in the Catholic Church do we find this phenomenon. Thus The Incorruptibles has to be one of the most significant Catholic books of the last 100 years, and a book whos popularity will only increase through time.
Imprimatur: Most Rev. Phillip Hannan, Archbishop of New Orleans, November 19, 1974
catholiccompany.com/incorruptibles-i656/?sku=1002030&utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&aid=3317&adpos=1o1&creative=95892081758&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CNGcx6253tMCFVBhfgodPOUL6g
 
My understanding is that most victims of crucifixion were left hanging on the cross subject to animals and birds eating at the dead flesh. The provision of burial in a cool tomb also kept Jesus’ body from seeing corruption while in the tomb from Friday evening to Sunday morning. I am not minimizing God’s control, just marveling how He uses natural means and moves men to accomplish His purposes.
Hey Wannano. 🙂 It is cool how God works…I understand that you are not minimizing…Not sure how cool the tomb would have been…Heck, even if you leave a dead body in an air conditioned room for 3 days it will begin to decompose on some level, especially on the inside, even within the first 36 hours?

Rigor mortis only takes hours to set in. That is a form of decomposition; the beginning stages. No one, baring a miracle, comes back from that stage of decomposition. This will last for a day or two, depending on the climate, as you mentioned, and the final stages of decomposition follows. Of course the fact that he came back to life is the crux of our beliefs. No doubt, no matter how long Jesus would have been in the tomb, corruption would not have occurred.
 
Hey Wannano. 🙂 It is cool how God works…I understand that you are not minimizing…Not sure how cool the tomb would have been…Heck, even if you leave a dead body in an air conditioned room for 3 days it will begin to decompose on some level, especially on the inside, even within the first 36 hours?

Rigor mortis only takes hours to set in. That is a form of decomposition; the beginning stages. No one, baring a miracle, comes back from that stage of decomposition. This will last for a day or two, depending on the climate, as you mentioned, and the final stages of decomposition follows. Of course the fact that he came back to life is the crux of our beliefs. No doubt, no matter how long Jesus would have been in the tomb, corruption would not have occurred.
I don’t doubt at all that His body may not have decomposed. I think just as important is to see how God moved Nicodemus to gather His body and lay it in the tomb thus keeping it from animals and birds that may have corrupted it. He uses mere men to accomplish His purposes. That is exciting for me to think about…that I may be doing something special in the routine of my job.
 
Wannano:
I think just as important is to see how God moved Nicodemus to gather His body and lay it in the tomb thus keeping it from animals and birds that may have corrupted it. He uses mere men to accomplish His purposes. That is exciting for me to think about…that I may be doing something special in the routine of my job.
Yes it is amazing how God also providentially uses natural means to fulfill His plans too!
 
I said in post 52 . .
Our Jewish friends make a big deal about how they personally PARTICIPATE in the Passover in Egypt and how that even transcends time.
I have no doubt they are correct.
Well today I came across one of those quotes concerning just this topic again.

Here it is in case anyone here saves these types of quotes.

**A Participation in the First Passover **

The third important difference between the original Passover and later Jewish tradition is the ancient rabbis saw each annual celebration of the Passover as a way of participating in the first exodus. At the time of Jesus, the Passover was not just a sacrifice; it was also a “memorial” or “remembrance” (Exodus 12:14) by which the Jewish people would both remember and make present the deliverance that had been won for their ancestors in the exodus from Egypt.

As the centuries passed, this double element of both remembering the past and making it present came to be expressed by various rituals recorded in ancient Jewish tradition. For example, according to the Mishnah, in the midst of the Passover meal, the son would ask the father, "Why is this night different from other nights? " and the father would answer by retelling the story of Abraham and the exodus (Mishnah, *Pesahim *10:4). The father would also remember the exodus by explaining the meaning of the various parts of the Passover meal. He would tell how the “Passover” was a reminder of how God “passed over” the Israelites’ houses, how the unleavened bread was a reminder of the redemption from Egypt, and how the bitter herbs were a memorial of the suffering of the enslaved people (Mishnah, *Pesahim *10:5). All these together not only looked back to the original experience of deliverance but somehow made it present:

*In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it is written . . . “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” *(Exod 13:8). Therefore we are bound to give thanks . . . and to bless him who wrought all these wonders for our fathers and for us. He brought us out from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a Festival-day, and from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption; so let us say before him the Hallelujah. (MISHNAH, *PESAHIM *10:5)

With these words, we see quite clearly that for ancient Jews, the Passover feast was not just a remembrance of what God had done for their ancestors. In some mysterious way, they saw each Passover, “in every generation,” as a way of sharing in the original act of redemption. Although living centuries after the first exodus, the father would speak of the event as if it were something he himself had experienced.

In other words, ancient Jewish celebrants did not just remember the exodus; they actively *participated *in it. From their perspective, no matter how much time had passed since the days of Moses, the salvation won in the exodus was not just for “our fathers” but “for us”. And the chief way both of remembering and of participating in the original act of redemption was, of course, by keeping the Passover itself.​

From Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Dr. Brant Pitre p.64-66
 
Hey Wannano. 🙂 It is cool how God works…I understand that you are not minimizing…Not sure how cool the tomb would have been…Heck, even if you leave a dead body in an air conditioned room for 3 days it will begin to decompose on some level, especially on the inside, even within the first 36 hours?

Rigor mortis only takes hours to set in. That is a form of decomposition; the beginning stages. No one, baring a miracle, comes back from that stage of decomposition. This will last for a day or two, depending on the climate, as you mentioned, and the final stages of decomposition follows. Of course the fact that he came back to life is the crux of our beliefs.
 
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