Normally, the Memorial service for Jehovah's Witnesses is based on the Jewish calendar for Nisan 14. My understanding is that Nisan 14 is always the first full moon after the Spring (or Vernal) equinox, which happened on Wednesday 20 March 2024. This year, 2024, Nisan 14 falls on April 22 when there is a full moon. But the Memorial service is going to be on Sunday March 24 this year. ***Could this discrepancy have anything to do with fact that 2024 is a Jewish leap year?*** NOTE: According to a Jewish web site I found, there are 13 months in the Jewish calendar. The first month (Aviv/Nisan) in 2024 starts on Monday April 8 but to link to our calendar, we need to start with Shevat on January 10th, 2024. Shevat: January 10 - 11th month in Jewish calendar Adar 1: February 9 -12th month in Jewish calendar Adar 2: March 10 - 13th month in Jewish calendar - full moon 25 March Aviv/Nisan April 8 - 1st month in Jewish calendar - full moon 22 April

All throughout the Bible, in too many instances to list, there is a meta narrative wherein the sentence of a righteous judgment is avoided by the sacrifice of an innocent: The innocent bearing the sentence of the guilty. Examples of this include the Passover lamb in the Exodus story, and the scapegoat of the great day of atonement. Up until the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world put an end to sacrifice, by becoming the once for all sacrifice, those sacrifices were of lesser beings for greater beings; lambs for people, etc. Jesus turned that around and made it the sacrifice of a greater for the lesser, but it doesn't seem as though the underlying idea of punishment for sin, retribution if you will, being transferred from one being to the other as disappeared On the other hand, I know that there are theologies which reject the notion of penal substitutionary atonement as being unbiblical. What do those theologians do with Passover and the scapegoat, for example??

The accepted answer on https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/248/how-long-was-jesus-in-the-tomb/3107#3107 would only have been possible if the Last Supper was not the Passover meal, which I had always thought it was. Was the Last Supper in fact not the Passover meal?

Although the earliest Christians were Jews who, like Jesus, kept the Passover feast, the Christian church during the Roman empire did not keep this feast and even forbade Christians from celebrating it. Emperor Constantine I, famous for legalizing and supporting Christianity, acted to end reliance on the date of Passover to determine the date of Easter. In so doing [he declared](https://jewishcurrents.org/emperor-constantine-and-the-jews) : > It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most > holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have > impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin. . . Let us then have > nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd. . .” Various [Church councils](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/church-councils) prohibited Christians from celebrating Passover with Jews, eating with them etc. The Church Father [John Chrysostom](https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chrysostom_adversus_judaeos_04_homily4.htm) , who taught that the Jewish Passover was no longer valid, famously declared: > Do you Christians not see that what the Jews are doing [in the Passover feasts] is mockery > rather than worship? I blame the Jews for violating the Law. But I > blame you much more for going along with the lawbreakers, not only > those of you who run to the synagogues but also those of you who have > the power to stop the Judaizers but are unwilling to do so. These days, many churches not only allow Christians to celebrate Passover with Jewish friends in homes and synagogues, but even welcome rabbis or Jewish laypeople to lead Seders in church. Some churches warn against "Christianizing" the Seder by conflating it with the Last Supper but encourage members to join with Jews in celebrating the holiday. For example, according to [US Catholic](https://uscatholic.org/articles/202304/should-catholics-celebrate-passover/) magazine: >Both Nostra Aetate (On the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions) and the U.S. > Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document “God’s Mercy Endures Forever” > prohibit Christianizing the Seder. These documents do encourage > Catholics to observe a Passover Seder, along with other Jewish > liturgical forms, at the invitation of Jewish communities. My question is: do any denominations still forbid Christians from celebrating Passover with Jews?

The following blog has a quaint list of anniversaries for the Feast of the Annunciation: > Thus we find in some calendars of the Middle Ages the following quaint “anniversaries” listed for March 25: > > - The Creation of the World > > - The Fall of Adam and Eve > > - The Sacrifice of Isaac > > - The Exodus of the Jews from Egypt > > - The Incarnation > > - The Crucifixion and Death of Christ > > - The Last Judgment > > [Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25](https://familyfeastandferia.com/lityear/feastdays-part-1/annunciation-march-25-2/) I am able to associate the historical background of all these points, except the for the last point: The Last Judgement. For example I have more or less located a source for the Sacrifice of Isaac: [Are there any Jewish or Hebrew traditions that hold that the Passover and the binding of Isaac were on the same day (15 Nisan)?](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/94810/13061) Thus my question: **Can someone locate a Middle Ages reference source linking The Last Judgement to the Feast of the Annunciation or the Jewish Passover of 15 Nisan?**

When our Lord died on the Day of Preparation (for the Sabbath) that is Friday, there was an urgency to get his body into the tomb before sunset, because at sunset the sabbath day would begin and any work would not be permitted. Why then did the women disciples not go to the tomb on Saturday at/after sunset? If the sabbath day started at sunset on Friday then it ended at the Saturday sunset. Why did they wait for the dawn on Sunday morning?

I was reading "When the Bible talks about wine does it mean alcoholic wine? " and I thought, The Last Supper was during the Passover, when the Jews ware forbidden to use leaven: > **Exodus 12:15 KJV** > Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the > first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever > eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that > soul shall be cut off from Israel. This implies that the wine used in the The Last Supper was just grape juice, right?

I wonder what the precise timeline of the observance of the Passover would look alike. The following chart shows a basic interpretation I have put together as a starting point. I would like to hear your qualified feedback / additions / corrections. Had the Passover consistently been observed during the Intertestamental period? When after 70 AD did the Jews / Christians start again to observe the Passover (in limited form without the temple)?

**In Regards to S.E. Answer:** The Consummate Refutation of Christianity—if the Last Supper was a Passover Feast . Since any day of the week that Passover falls on is considered a Sabbath, ***doesn't it make more sense to infer that the week of the crucifixion involve a double Sabbath, (two Sabbath Days in it)***? > **Luke 6:1** - Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, (σαββάτῳ δευτεροπρώτῳ ), and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. > **John 19:31** - Then the Jews sought to take the bodies down, for that Sabbath was the Passover Sabbath). If so, then an exact date of Jesus' crucifixion can be inferred, because there are very few Friday's that fall exactly 14 days after the Spring Equinox—making that Friday and Saturday both, Sabbaths. It is possible to use the U.S. Naval Observatory data for this.

Jesus was put to death on Passover eve Nisan 14. This was the first full moon following the vernal equinox.this year the vernal equinox is March 20.2016 The first full moon after March 20 is March 23 2016. This is the day that Jehovah's Witnesses will have their annual memorial of Christs death event. That is why those who celebrate Easter will be doing so on March 27 2016. The first Sunday following the paschal full moon. All seems to be in order until I check the date for Passover this year and it is April 22 2016. Can someone explain why there is almost a full month lag for Passover this year?

I've just noticed that the Jewish Festival of Passover falls on Sunday 28th March (2021), the night of the full moon, but the Christian Church is celebrating "Good Friday" on Friday 2 April (2021). So the Christian celebration of Easter 2021 is a week late? Why?

At Exodus 12:11 we see the Lord instructing the Israel on how to go about the first Passover : " This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord." We also see Jesus celebrating with His disciples,the Passover which has since come to be called the Last Supper: "So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal." (Mk 14:16) Now, it is reasonable for one to assume that the Jews had their Passover meal from year to year, in the same manner as their forefathers had had before their flight out of Egypt , that is, standing up ! But we are made to believe, at least through images, that Jesus sat down with his disciples to have the Passover meal. My question is : Is there any denomiation which believes that Jesus had his Last Supper standing ?

In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul refers to Jesus as "Christ, our Passover", suggesting that the Passover of Exodus somehow foreshadowed the life of Jesus. How specifically does the Passover do this? > Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really > are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 > Corinthians 5:7 ESV

**According to Catholicism, is are there any teachings or traditions that may shed light on who was the host of the house where Jesus celebrated his Last Supper and how such a host may have known how to prepare for the Lord’s Passover?** > 12 Now on the first day of the unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the pasch, the disciples say to him: Whither wilt thou that we go, and prepare for thee to eat the pasch? 13 And he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith to them: Go ye into the city; and there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him; 14 And whithersoever he shall go in, say to the master of the house, The master saith, Where is my refectory, where I may eat the pasch with my disciples? 15 And he will shew you a large dining room furnished; and there prepare ye for us. 16 And his disciples went their way, and came into the city; and they found as he had told them, and they prepared the Pasch. - Mark 14:12-16

To clarify, by _host_ I am referring to the owner of the house in which the Last Supper took place. As is related in Luke 22, Jesus sent His disciples to seek out a man carrying a jug, follow him to a certain house, and to ask the owner of that house where He and disciples were to eat the Passover. I'm curious to know how the owner's consent to this was obtained. Did he recognize the disciples as being Jesus' followers, or was it the custom of people with room to spare to allow guests to eat the Passover in their houses? I'm especially interested in contemporary records that can shed some light on this. If history is silent on this question, that is an acceptable answer as well.

I am wondering if two Seder meals were eaten during Jesus' time the way it is today outside Israel. If so that might help explain why the gospel of John mentiones eating the passover the night he was crucified and yet other gospels say the last supper was when the evening of the day the lambs were sacrificed. This link answers the question regarding today but how was it during Jesus' time? TO EDIT: These are the references to the so-called contradiction. In the Synoptics, Jesus is eating Passover **before** He suffers. John portrays the Passover yet to come **after** He suffers. >Luke 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to **eat this passover with you before** I suffer: > >John 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they **might eat the passover.** This fairly well-known "contradiction" has been explained in a number of ways ranging from the idea John was written centuries later, for religious purposes, to a different type feast (Passover or other), and to the 7 or 8 day view of which this post is about. [Is Passover 7 or 8 Days?](https://reformjudaism.org/passover-7-or-8-days)

Can any one offer an educated answer of how the Christian Church moved from Passover on the 14th day of the first biblical month to the day we now call Easter? (You can even pretend Passover and Easter are synonymous tittles!) Making the question more clear: The Bible clearly says, Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. This is as well more elaborated in Exodus 12. Jesus and the Apostles all would have used this date, see Luke 22, Mark 14 and Mathew 26. Jesus disciples would have kept the Passover according to the Jewish luni-solar and Agricultural based calendation of the day, which calls the first month Abib, Deuteronomy 16: 1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Today the celebration in West now called 'Easter' is not held according to the prior calendar law of the Lord but is kept on 'Easter Sunday'. How do Catholics and Protestants do this with scriptural authority? Make your answer clear from the Bible. Show where in the Bible a prophet, Jesus or his disciples/apostles tell chrisians how to keep this feast we call Easter? Or if you believe you do not need scriptural authority please tell why in the answer you give regarding the question: How did Christians get from the biblical feast of Passover to Easter sunday? (Please do not give any Ishtar speculations, this question does not concern paganism...thank you.)

Communion is a common practice in the Roman Catholic Church. The tradition has a long history. Jesus kept the Passover since He followed the law. But there are Jewish traditions during Passover where you drink four cups of wine, break the bread, cover the bread, and hide it. How do we know Jesus did not do that and that He is not teaching us to celebrate Passover, to remember Him? He breaks the bread and dips it, gives blessings, signs hymns, and so on could well be a one part of a longer ritual the Jews where doing at the time and today.

The Quartodecimans held a Christian Passover on Nisan 14. Does this mean that they performed the eucharist (Lord's Supper) only once a year on Nisan 14, or was the Christian Passover something additional to a regular eucharist celebration?

Luke 22 > (7)Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb > had to be sacrificed.
(8)Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go > and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." From the info of verse 7, so when Jesus say "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover" I guess it happen in the time where the Jewish people either are preparing a lamb to be sacrificed (sacrificed in the same day) or even maybe some of the Jews are already sacrificing the lamb when Jesus say that. Assuming my guessing is correct, the question is : What date that event happen ?
13 Nissan ? 14 Nissan ? or 15 Nissan ? The Reformed opinion is sought [here](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/60002/according-to-calvinist-luke-228-what-date-did-it-happen) The Lutheran opinion is sought [here](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/60004/according-to-lutheran-is-it-13-or-14-or-15-nissan-when-luke-228-happen) .