This year, the sunset on the evening of April 22 marks the beginning of Passover. Exodus 12 in the Bible tells the story of Passover from the life of Moses. Ten plagues were visited upon the Egyptian pharaoh (starring Yul Brenner, but he was much better in “The King and I”) to get his attention to release the Children of Israel from bondage. The final plague was the death of the first-born son. The Jews were to smear the blood of a lamb upon their door posts, so that the angel of death would “Passover” them unharmed. Pharaoh relented and released the Israelites.
In making their hasty exit, the Jews did not have time to let their bread rise, so in commemoration, they celebrate the Passover Seder (“order”) meal with unleavened bread (motzo), bitter herbs, and roast lamb to be eaten in traveling garb. The term is often used interchangeably with the term Feast of Unleavened Bread at least in St. Luke’s Gospel (Chapter 22:1) though the first century Pharisees marked its start on the day after Passover. Nevertheless, during the seven days following Passover, only unleavened bread was eaten.
This was a major holiday in the Jewish calendar when Jews from all over the world return to Jerusalem. During Passion Week, which was at Passover, the Jerusalem of Jesus’ time would have tripled from its population of about 50,000.
Could “The Last Supper” (made famous by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting now hanging in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazia in Milan) that Jesus had with his disciples in the Upper Room have been a Passover meal? It seems likely from the New Testament Gospels, and the Epistles make it explicit. It was at about the right time in the calendar. Some churches commemorate this meal by using unleavened bread for their Communion Eucharist.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian