Lent 2021, Day 37: Please don’t cosplay a seder.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg wrote an informative piece at The Washington Post in 2018 about Passover myths that she just shared again. It’s really good facts to know, especially for Christians. For example, Myth 3:

Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover Seder.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke assert that the Last Supper took place on the first night of Passover. As such, some Christians are attracted to contemporary observance; some churches even hold “Christian Seders” in an attempt to practice the religion of Jesus. ADhttps://b46c6ce8d384ef37a45cb24e39514dbf.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

However, it’s pretty unlikely that Jesus participated in a Seder. When the Second Temple in Jerusalem stood, the first night of Passover usually involved just eating the paschal sacrifice, a lamb that had been slaughtered at the temple and then roasted and served at home. The temple was destroyed several decades after Jesus’ death. There are no descriptions of the Seder or the Haggadah — the text that guides the Seder ritual now — from major historical authors or works detailing Passover observance during the time of the Second Temple, such as Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, the Book of Jubilees or the Elephantine “Passover Papyrus.” We first see mention of them in early Rabbinic texts like the Mishnah and the Tosefta , which can be tricky to date, as they originated as oral traditions. 

Parts of the Seder might have begun to take root during Jesus’ lifetime, but there’s no evidence that they were widespread or developed enough that he would have participated in them. 

So Fellow Christians, jumping online and printing out a little info on seders will not give you a chance to have a Passover like Jesus. Also:

This TikTok really sums it up:

• Read what Jesus actually told his followers to do in remembrance of him here.