The first Christians were all Jewish. What’s more, in those early years they faithfully followed Jewish religious practices. The Eucharist, for example, was something they did in addition to the Sabbath rituals.
Gradually, however, they found themselves at odds with some of the Jewish leaders and were told that belief in Jesus as Messiah and Lord excluded them from the synagogue. (Paul, before his conversion, is an example of those who persecuted early Christians.)
Over the course of 20 centuries, Christians have been persecuted from time to time…and Christians have also done their share of persecuting.
A new day has dawned. The Second Vatican Council explicitly taught respect for those of other faiths, including those of non-Christian faiths.
True ecumenism emphasizes, not differences, but what we hold in common with others. The first goal is to find areas of understanding and agreement.
My time with the Lord today might best be spent praying for unity among Christians.
This simple question is probably the most disputed “calendar” question in the New Testament.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Last Supper was clearly a Passover meal.
But in John’s Gospel, it occurred on the day before the Passover meal. When Jesus is on trial before Pilate, John’s Gospel reads:
”[Pilate] brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon.” (19:13-14)
If this chronology is accurate, then the Passover meal would have been celebrated after sunset on the day Jesus died.
The last meal Jesus had with his disciples certainly was in the atmosphere of Passover. This feast was the reason why they came to Jerusalem. And, certain, the day before Passover would have special meaning. Some say this is why Matthew, Mark and Luke refer to it as a Passover meal.
John, on the other hand, has Jesus condemned to death at noon on the day before Passover – the very time when the priest began to slaughter the paschal lambs in the Temple area.
On this date, Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was born in 1920.