Thank You Rabbi, But I am Unable to Accept Your Invitation

Thank You Rabbi, But I am Unable to Accept Your Invitation

Rabbi Arthur Adams of Sun City West, AZ has graciously invited we Christians to celebrate Passover along with our Jewish neighbors.

It is true that our Jesus was Jewish. He observed Moses’ Law faithfully and no sin could be laid to his account (I Pet. 2:22). He did not however honor the oral traditions of the rabbis. In fact he often challenged them and warned his hearers, “ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition....in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt 15:6-9).

From childhood Jesus observed the sacred Passover with his family. As his days drew to a close he shared the Paschal feast with his disciples (Mk. 14:12). It was while they were eating the meal that Jesus instituted the sacred memorial feast we call the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Following His resurrection, he disciples observed this sacred meal on the first day of each week, the day on which he was raised (John 20:1).

The Apostle Paul taught that “our Passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ” (I Cor. 5:7). The feast we keep is the weekly memorial of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine that commemorates his death for us on the cross (Matt. 26:26-29; Acts 20:7).

Having embraced Jesus of Nazareth as our messiah, we do not observe the venerable days of our Hebrew neighbors. When some of the early disciples attempted to meld the two religions together, Paul admonished them, “ye observe days, and month, and season, and years, I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain” (Gal. 4:11).

While I truly appreciate the rabbi’s kind invitation to observe Passover with him, I beg to be excused, as I must devote myself to the celebration of my Passover, the Lord Jesus who gave his life for me.

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