The store owner smiled as she spoke, “You need to get a Seder plate now, you understand why?” “No,” I replied. “You have four children. … It’s like Christmas when you bring out the decorations.” That made sense. Our holidays, if not defined by symbols, are marked by them. My wife trusted my ability to select a nice plate to continue our collection of Passover items. She and I had been celebrating Passover for over fifteen years and have seen a resurgence of it in Christian mainstream in the past half decade.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. – Colossians 2:16-17

The writer of Colossians wrote this well after Jesus died and rose again. Notice, however, that he states a future tense: “shadow of things to come”, not “shadow of Christ”. Most commentaries that allude to how Christians should not celebrate the feasts and holy days commanded by God misuse this verse to state that the laws, feasts and sabbaths were merely shadows of Christ. Although I agree with how each law, ordinance, rule and especially each festival outlined in the Torah reflect both the behavior of God and the fulfillment that comes through Jesus, they are not suddenly without merit because they reflect the Messiah who came and left. Since we anticipate the Messiah to reappear to save His people from destruction and to rule over the world, these festivals hold even more weight than ever because the substance of them has been revealed to us. Knowing Christ is the meaning behind these festivals makes them even more important to participate in.

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” – Luke 22:14-20

This was unlike other Seder dinners. It was performed the night before the day that Passover is generally prepared, the 14th day of Adar. During Passover, the first and the seventh day are sanctified as sabbaths (Exodus 12:15-16). So Jesus’ Last Supper and Communion happened on the 12th, He was scourged and killed on the 13th (the day the lambs were slaughtered for the feast – the day of preparation) which means the mention of the Mary’s coming to the tomb on the first day of the week so as to not profane the Sabbath (capital “S”) does not include the first Passover sabbath. Jesus was in the tomb for two sabbath days as well as the day he was buried (Matthew 27:57-66,28:1-6). That means it was Thursday, not Friday, that He was killed. Evidence that Christ was in the grave for three days and three nights aside, why would He have such a strong desire to eat the Passover with His disciples if He were only being held back from eating it for a few days unless the Passover hasn’t been fulfilled in the kingdom of God through His death alone? The secret of the Passover fulfillment lies in Communion.

This Seder dinner was a training Seder conducted by a teacher to students. Jesus didn’t drink any wine throughout this Seder, though He blessed it (Luke 22:18). The bread He broke is referred to as the Afikomen. The Afikomen is one of three special matzos that are set aside. Unlike the other two, it is broken in half and half of it is placed in a cloth and buried somewhere in the house for the children to find at the end of the Seder. The one who finds it gets a reward, then the Afikomen is divided amongst the partakers of the feast. Nobody seems to know how this ritual came about, but as Christians we see the symbolic significance. Jesus, one of the holy Trinity, was broken, shrouded and buried. All those who seek Him will find Him, and everyone who’s saved from death (that’s what the Passover dinner represents) partakes of Him. This is how Christ fulfills the feasts. Without Him, many of the symbols have reduced meaning. With Jesus, however, the symbols have even stronger importance. The cup after supper is the third cup, known as the “cup of redemption” or the “cup of blessing”. This third cup literally represents the blood of the lamb that redeemed them from death in Egypt. Jesus said “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20) So the blood no longer comes from the lamb that saved the Jews from death in the tenth plague, but from the Son of God personally.

When Jesus told His disciples to “do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19) He hadn’t yet been handed over for crucifixion. Passover lasts a whole week. For seven days we’re commanded to not eat any leavened product, but to eat matzo throughout its duration. We are to continually remember Jesus until His grand return on the LORD’s Day. It’s on that last day when all of God’s people are delivered from death and given the Land God promised Abraham that the Passover will be fulfilled. Jesus’ fervent desire is to savor a special moment with His disciples because He won’t be back for a while.

Now a question arises on whether or not those under the new covenant also partook of Passover and whether or not Christians should today. Consider that Paul was wise and addressed people in context of what they lived and understood. When addressing Jews he would talk about their heritage, and when addressing Gentiles he would mention customs that Jews wouldn’t have any connection to. Then why, in I Corinthians 5:4-8, would Paul write about the Passover to Gentiles? He even states “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Why would he say to Gentiles “our Passover” unless they were already celebrating it and understood the meaning? When Paul addresses believers in Romans, he calls the Jew (Rom 2:17) because they have both adapted God’s law into their hearts and have been grafted into Judaism through Christ.

There was one other bit of advice Chava shared with me before I left her store. “Don’t listen to anybody. But read. Read a lot.” Her point couldn’t be more clear as I read blog after forum after commentary on what makes a Jew, on how Jews aggressively attest against Christians, on why a Christian can never be a Jew… but in Scripture I see otherwise. I see God telling even the Christians that there’s benefit in celebrating His Holy days, on observing the Sabbaths, on recognizing the time that God created for us to share His love with each other.

Finally, consider this. If God doesn’t intend for us to keep his celebrations, why does he command it from the survivors, Gentile and Jew, after defeating the world at Armageddon? God is the same now as he was 3500 years ago. A new covenant, like a Persian law, can only supplement the laws already made. It never voids the foundations already set.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. – Zechariah 14:16-19

I find the justification of modern-day Christian leaders to sequester the fourth of the ten commandments invalid and obscene. If leaders taught obedience to the rules outlined in Acts 21:25 or the seven laws of Noah, which it strongly overlaps, then it would make sense to not follow the Sabbath. Most of the pastors who have led churches I attend state that since Jesus is our Sabbath, we can do whatever we like. Some of these same people claim that since Christ took our sins, everything we do is justified even if it goes against God’s word. As mentioned earlier, Paul never discredits obedience in the Law. When someone tells you that it’s okay to sin because we’re no longer bound by the Law they are lying. What does Christ’s sacrifice offer us, then?

There are 613 commandments outlined in the Torah. We’re often just told about the main ten, and more often assume that only those ten were written on the stones God gave Moses. Each law we break is a mark against us. Jesus painfully takes those marks on Himself.

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14

The risk any person has by attempting to live out the laws is pride, or as the writer of Colossians puts it, “false humility.” What is the benefit of following any of the Judaic law?

Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. – Colossians 2:16-17

The first benefit is that we don’t have to accept the judgment of anyone other than Christ. The next one is that God provides for the “Head”. Something I’d like to point out before moving forward is that the book of Colossians has controversy as to who actually wrote it. Nevertheless, whether it was dictated directly by Paul or was written by one of his disciples under his authority is not really the issue, but that this group of churches was struggling with legalism and asceticism. Legalism is when the letter of the law is more important than the law’s intent. It makes any law burdensome. In the case of God’s law, legalism puts focus on the law itself rather than on God. Christ put down legalism several times, pointing out that more often than not the person pointing at the letter of the law justified not following it himself. Lawyers were called vipers for a reason. Asceticism is the philosophy that through living a terribly restricted and debased lifestyle one could attain a higher order of spirituality. Jesus confronted this matter, too, when he talked about making a big deal when we’re fasting. There is something spiritual that occurs during a fast, but that spiritual experience doesn’t give anyone a larger bandwidth to God. It’s not a gateway into mysticism. So when it’s later written”

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world , do you subject yourselves to regulations – ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using – according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

Notice that the commandments and doctrines that are being addressed are not the ones from God, but those from other men. Which means, as Colossians 2:16 states, when other men, Jew or Gentile, start getting uptight and judgmental because one decides to take a day of rest or doesn’t execute one of the feasts in just a certain way, one can accept the freedom that Christ offers and disregard the legalism of man’s influence on the law in favor of loving the Creator who ordained the law.

If all the Prophets and the Law hang on the commands to Love God with all our heart, mind and soul… and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40) then Jesus doesn’t void the Prophets or the Law. In fulfilling the Prophets and the Law, Jesus does two things: 1. Attests to the deity of God on behalf of the Prophets and 2. Pays the atonement on behalf of the Law. Doing so doesn’t discredit the Prophets or the Law, but reinforces them. Why, then, would a leader of Christ play God in deciding what is and what isn’t pertinent today? God is the same today as he was when giving the Law to Moses. The new covenant justifies the old one; it doesn’t nullify it.

My anthropologist professor informed the class that every amassing ritual has a fail-break to stop it. Her example was the point in the wedding ceremony where the congregation is asked that if anyone knows of a reason why the couple shouldn’t wed to “Speak now or forever hold your peace.” Other times rituals fail because they weren’t properly executed and require, if possible, a redo. Being reborn is more ritualistic than natural in that sense. There’s a moment when one, realizing who God is, can reject God and even turn away from the foundational truths he admitted to. But there also appears to be a moment when, after accepting God, an uneasiness settles in. Just like a newborn crying in hunger or coldness or the desire to be held firm, those of us who go through rebirth are just as full of discomfort as we are dazzled by the spiritual world that we’re exposed to.

This apologetic is not about turning a hand up against Christ, but about the merits of incorporating the Jewish lifestyle with all its blessings and curses as a Christian. It’s a journey of a man towards the God that accepts and loves despite our grievous nature, but also about a God of Law and justice that lays out the rules in life and the consequences of disobedience.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10

Most pastors stop before talking about why we were created. That’s where my journey begins: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Workmanship is the quality of integrity applying to the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture, people, or artisan. We could apply that definition directly here. Those whom God has called are to demonstrate love and righteousness to the the world as evidence of the fruit of the spirit that God provides. In short, we are defined as the goodness of the hand of God on the Earth. It’s important, though, to recognize the pretext because it humbles us and defines our relationship with God.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. – James 2:20-26

What happens to Ephesians 2 if faith is dead? This is not intended to open a debate between Calvinism and Armenianism, but invariably does so anyway. Instead I’m just going to point out three fundamentals presented in these two texts.

• It’s grace through faith that saves us.
  • Faith without works is dead.
• We are created for good works that God has already prepared for us to do.

What I see is an obvious statement. Those who have the faith for God’s grace to save, are also compelled to do good works. But “good” in the human psyche is relative. Fortunately, Christ recognized this when presenting a profound statement to a young (unmarried), wealthy merchant.

Now as Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. – Mark 10:17-22

Only God is good. That sets a very high standard. That means for us to do good, we must be as righteous as God. Although this is an impossible achievement from man alone, we have righteousness in faith provided it is demonstrated by our works.

This is how living faithfully is like a ritual. There are moments when after fall short of expectations we’re given the chance to try again (and God is a teacher who tests us). Each successive attempt only emphasizes the righteousness accounted to faith because we have faith that God continues to be our teacher. Righteousness is defined throughout all of God’s word, including the Laws of Moses (2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Deuteronomy 6:25). As we act righteously, denying ourselves for our Creator, we further establish that faith.