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The Passover Festival Season: Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread Means a Transformation

We should all perennially ask the question, Has the death of Jesus Christ made a real difference to me? Is my life really transformed? When I observe the feast of Unleavened Bread, year after year, does it have an impact on my life?

These are questions Paul required the Corinthians to ask themselves as they partook of the Passover bread and wine, symbolizing the broken body of Jesus Christ and His shed blood. “But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). Some were guilty of participating in the Passover service of God’s Church in an “unworthy manner” (verses 27, 29).

Observing the Passover Unworthily

What were they doing? First, they were making a meal out of the Passover service. The Passover that Jesus instituted consisted of a piece of unleavened bread and wine (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), not the supper itself (verse 20). However, in mistakenly incorporating the meal as a part of the Passover, they violated yet another godly principle. Some who had food and drink would eat a meal together before others arrived for the Passover service. Also some of the “haves” would eat in front of the “have-nots” of the congregation without a thought of sharing their blessings (verses 17-22). They were not considerate of the poverty of their brethren in the very Body of Christ at the time of the Passover service, which itself pictures that we should all be united as one body.

It is in the context of this problem that Paul requires them to examine themselves so they would not eat and drink in an unworthy manner. To partake of the Lord’s Passover service with this procedure of a meal and made worse by an attitude of partisan spirit, demonstrated that they did not “discern” (or understand or appreciate fully) the Lord’s body.

The major problem in the Corinthian congregation is that it became divided. Groups of individuals would line up behind a leader of their own choosing (1 Corinthians 1:10-12). Rather than judging or examining themselves, they spent their time judging others in their own congregation. They were demeaning others in the congregation and their conduct at the Lord’s Passover highlighted their violation of the lesson and meaning of Passover.

It was the time of the Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread—festivals that were observed by the Church Christ founded. The Church understood clearly that the Feasts of the Lord were to be observed by the disciples of Christ. They resisted pagan observances and customs that would tend to later creep into the Christian faith.

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