Really, it makes perfect sense for the Last Supper to be Passover.
Theologically, the idea is that Jesus replaced the Temple worship by being the “ultimate” Passover lamb, replacing the Levitical structure (and necessary animal sacrifice rituals for purity and forgiveness) enacted with Mt. Sinia and thus giving the every day Joe (Jew and non-Jew) direct access to God to repent and/or pray w/out the necessity of further sacrifice.
Of course, all this is lost on people who: (1) aren’t Jewish or (2) don’t know squat about Temple practices.
As a potential cohen (albeit one in severe apostasy), I should take my replacement personally, but I’m OK with it. :-)
I went to a Catholic school growing up and at least one year (I think it was more like 2-3 years in a row), we had a sedar meal on Good Friday — right after we had all gone to mass. (o:
It was very interesting and IIRC (I was pretty young) they brought in someone (not sure if it was a local Rabbi, or what) who said all the prayers, told us the story of Moses, and had us eat the different foods that symbolized what the people had gone through. I though it was really interesting, and I always thought it odd when I was young that (since Jesus was technically a Jew and celebrated all of the Jewish holy days and such) we didn’t celebrate more of the Jewish holy days...
I think you understand Jesus’ role vis a vis reversing the damage done in Exodus 32 better than many Christians.
Be prepared to be BLOWN AWAY!!! Read this: Christ's Blood On the Mercy Seat
The Discovery of the Earthquake Crack in the Ceiling With adrenaline flowing through his veins and great anticipation, he looked around to see what else he could see, which wasn't much. He shined his flashlight around the open area and then up to the ceiling. There, he saw something that caught his eye - it was a crack in the ceiling with a black substance within the crack. Crawling slowly and painfully over the rocks to the rear of the chamber, he saw a stone case extending through the rocks. It had a flat stone top which was cracked completely in two and the smaller section was moved aside, creating an opening into the stone case. But the top was too near the ceiling for him to look inside. Yet he knew what was inside- the crack in the ceiling was directly above the cracked part of the lid, where it was open, and the black substance had fallen from the crack into the case because some of it had splashed onto the lid. It was at this time, as Ron recalls, as the instant realization of what had happened here dawned on him, that he passed out. When he realized that the crack in the ceiling was the end of the crack he had found in the elevated cross-hole many feet above him, and the black substance was blood which had fallen through the crack and into the stone case, he KNEW the Ark was in the stone case. But the most overwhelming realization was that Christ's Blood had actually fallen onto the Mercy Seat.
When he came to, it was 2:45 pm. A mere 45 minutes had passed since he entered the chamber, yet in that short time, he became the first witness to the literal fulfillment of the "type" represented by all the sacrifices made by God's people since Adam and Eve, and later specifically directed by God, Himself, in the laws of the sacrificial system. Now he knew why he and the boys had to do the last three years of excavation that he had sometimes felt was useless. If they had not found first, the cut-out niches, and then the elevated cross-hole with the earthquake crack, he would not have recognized what had happened here.
Theologically, the idea is that Jesus replaced the Temple worship by being the “ultimate” Passover lamb, replacing the Levitical structure (and necessary animal sacrifice rituals for purity and forgiveness) enacted with Mt. Sinia and thus giving the every day Joe (Jew and non-Jew) direct access to God to repent and/or pray w/out the necessity of further sacrifice.
Of course, all this is lost on people who: (1) aren’t Jewish or (2) don’t know squat about Temple practices.
This is why Jewish converts to Catholicism "get" the Eucharist better than most Protestant converts initially do.
The term "remembrance," as in "do this in remembrance of me," must be understood within the Passover framework. Jews believe that in the Passover celebration, the Exodus event is actually made present, not simply remembered.
When Catholics celebrate the Eucharist, we believe that Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary is mysteriously made present to us; it is not simply remembered; nor is it regarded as a different sacrifice.