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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I just posted this on my blog at <A
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/post/index/378/Jesus-died-on-14-Nisan">http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/post/index/378/Jesus-died-on-14-Nisan</A> ...
for me this was quite exciting to hear from the Pope himself. The homily
text is pasted at the end.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>God bless,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stephen</FONT></DIV>
<H1 class=title>Jesus died on 14 Nisan</H1><BR>Posted by
<STRONG>stephen</STRONG> on <STRONG>April 7, 2007, 1:30 am</STRONG><BR>in
<STRONG>Catholic issues</STRONG> ( <STRONG>Sabbath keepers</STRONG>) <BR><BR>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 40px"><SPAN style="COLOR: rgb(153,0,0)">According to
John, Christ died on the cross at the exact moment when in the temples nearby,
the lambs were being slaughtered for the Pascal feast. His death coincides with
the sacrifice of the lambs. That however means that he died on the eve of
Passover ... Most of the exegetes were of the opinion that John did not want to
give us the exact, historic date of Christ’s death, but had instead chose a
symbolic date to highlight the one profound truth: Jesus is the true Lamb
of God who shed his blood for us.</SPAN><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 80px">- HH Pope Benedict XVI, sermon, 5 April 2007,
Holy Thursday<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>Sources - <A href="http://new.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8936"
target=_blank>Asia News</A>; <A
href="http://michaeldubruiel.blogspot.com/2007/04/holy-thursday.html"
target=_blank>Annunciations</A>; <A
href="http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2007/04/lamb-and-temple.html"
target=_blank>Whispers in the Loggia</A> [full sermon text]; <A
href="http://youngfogeys.blogspot.com/2007/04/good-friday.html"
target=_blank>Young Fogeys</A><BR><BR>Fr Jay Toborowsky comments on his <A
href="http://youngfogeys.blogspot.com/2007/04/good-friday.html"
target=_blank>Young Fogeys blog</A>:<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 40px"><SPAN style="COLOR: rgb(0,102,0)">But something
else in that Holy Thursday homily knocked me out, which I heard for the first
time ever. There's always been a battle over whether the Last Supper took place
on Passover night or the day before. ... Scholars tell us that, since Passover
was always on a fixed date, there were times when it fell on the Sabbath, and
then came the dilemma of which of God's mandated feasts do you keep (since one
involves heavy work and one requires no work be done)? So in his homily, B16
tells of scholarly research that says that the people of Qumran (where the Dead
Sea scrolls were found) would, in the case of the Passover and Sabbath
collision, have their seders the day before, with all the froo-froo, but
intentionally without a passover lamb. The implications of Jesus and the 12
apostles having such a seder are interesting. With no lamb on the their table,
Jesus himself is the Lamb at that seder (adding a whole new profound depth to
his command to eat his body and drink his blood).</SPAN><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>I've been waiting years to hear this most logical 14 Nisan crucifixion
timing from a Catholic priest. And now I hear it from the pope
himself. I always get given the 15 Nisan story. The explanation
above goes a long way to explain why the <A
href="http://www.bible.ca/d-3-days-and-3-nights.htm" target=_blank>Wednesday
crucifixion theory of Herbert Armstrong</A> is wrong, so ironically it was
Herbert Armstrong who was adamant that Jesus died on 14 Nisan.<BR><BR>That is
the obvious time for Jesus to have died. After all, Jesus death wasn't
timed to coincide with the killing of the lambs, nor was it meant to be
approximate; the Passover lamb sacrifice foreshadowed Jesus' death, and its
original timing was designed to coincide with Jesus' death. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=line_hr></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=t_small>Post from : <A
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/index.php">http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/index.php</A></SPAN><BR><SPAN
class=t_small>Printed from : <A
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/index.php?id=378">http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/index.php?id=378</A></SPAN>
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear brothers and sisters,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The reading from the Book of Exodus we’ve just
heard describes the Paschal celebration of Israel as the Mosaic law established
its binding form. In the beginning it could be that it was a spring feast of
nomads. For Israel, though, it transformed itself into a feast of commemoration,
of gratitude and, at the same time, of hope. At the center of the Paschal meal,
ordered according to strict liturgical regulations, was the lamb as symbol of
the liberation from slavery in Egypt. For this, the Passover haggadah was an
integral part of the meal on top of the lamb: the narrative recounting of the
fact that it was God himself who liberated Israel “by his uplifted hand.” He,
the mysterious and hidden God, revealed himself to be stronger than the pharaoh
with all the power he had at his disposal. Israel did not forget that God
personally took into his hand the story of his people and that this story was
continually rooted in communion with God. Israel did not forget
God.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The reading of the commemoration was surrounded by
words of praise and thanks taken from the Psalms. The thanksgiving and blessing
of God reached its culmination in the berakha, which in Greek is termed eulogia
or eucaristia: blessing God becomes a blessing for those who bless him. The
offering given God returns to bless man. All this raises a bridge between the
past and present and toward the future: the liberation of Israel was still
incomplete. The nation also suffered as a small people in the area of tensions
amidst great powers. Its recalling with gratitude the act of God in the past, it
became at the same time a petition and hope: Bring to completion what you’ve
begun! Give us lasting freedom!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This significant meal of the masses Jesus
celebrated with his own on the evening before his Passion. At the outset of this
context we must understand the new Passover, which He has given us in the Holy
Eucharist. In the accounts of the evangelists there exists an apparent
contradiction between the Gospel of John, on one hand, and that which, on the
other, Matthew, Mark and Luke communicate to us. According to John, Jesus died
on the cross precisely in the moment in which, in time, the paschal lambs were
slaughtered. His death and the sacrifice of the lambs coincided. This means,
however, that He died on the vigil of Passover and thus wasn’t able to celebrate
the paschal meal – this, at least, is how it appears. According to the three
synoptic Gospels, then, the Last Supper of Jesus was a paschal meal, in which
traditional form He inserted the novelty of the gift of his body and blood.
Until some years ago, this contradiction seemed unsolvable. The majority of
exegetes were of the mind that John did not wish to communicate to us the true
historic date of the death of Jesus, but chose a symbolic date to make evident
the most profound truth: Jesus is the new and true lamb who shed his blood for
us all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The discovery of the writings of Qumran has in the
meantime found a convincing and possible solution that, while not accepted by
all, could still have a high level of probability. We’re now in a place to say
that what John related is historically precise. Jesus really spared his blood on
the vigil of the Pasch in the hour of the slaughter of the lambs. However, he
celebrated Passover with his disciples probably according to the calendar of
Qumran, so at least a day prior – it was celebrated without a lamb, as the
community of Qumran didn’t recognize the temple of Herod and kept vigil for the
new temple. Jesus therefore celebrated the Pasch without a lamb – no, not
without a lamb: in place of the lamb he gave himself, his body and his blood.
And so he anticipated his death in a way coherent with his word: “No one will
take my life from me, but I myself will offer it” (Jn 10:18). In the moment when
he offered his body and blood, He gave real completion to this affirmation. He
Himself offered his life. Only so did the ancient Pasch obtain its true
sense.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St John Chrysostom, in his Eucharistic catechesis,
once wrote: What are you saying, Moses? The blood of a lamb purifies men? Saves
them from death? How could the blood of an animal purifiy men, save men, have
power over death? In fact – Chrysostom continues – the lamb was able to
constitute only a symbolic gesture and thus the expression of wait and hope in
One who would be able to complete it that by which the sacrifice of an animal
was not capable. Jesus celebrated the Pasch without a lamb and without a temple
and, still, not without a lamb and without a temple. He himself was the awaited
Lamb, the true one, as John the Baptist foresaw at the beginning of Jesus’
public ministry: “Behold the lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of
the world!” (Jn 1:29). And He himself is the true temple, the living temple, in
which God lives and in which we can find God and worship him. His blood, the
love of Him who is simultaneously Son of God and true man, one of us, that blood
is able to save. His love, that love in which He gave himself freely for us, is
that which saves us. The nostalgic rite, in some ways lacking efficacy, that was
the slaughter of the innocent and immaculate lamb, found its response in Him who
has become for us both Lamb and Temple.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So at the center of the new Passover of Jesus,
there was the Cross. From it came the new gift brought by Him. And so this
remains always in the Holy Eucharist, in which we can celebrate the new Pasch
with the Apostles along the course of time. From the cross of Christ came the
gift. “No one takes my life, but I myself offer it.” Now he offers it to us. The
paschal haggadah, the commemoration of the saving act of God, has become a
memorial of the cross and resurrection of Christ – a memory that doesn’t simply
recall the past, but attracts us into the presence of the love of Christ. And so
the berakha, the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving of Israel, has become our
Eucharistic celebration, in which the Lord blesses our gifts – bread and wine –
to give himself in them. Let us pray the Lord to help us understand always more
profoundly this marvelous mystery, to love it more always and in this to love
Himself more always. Let us pray for help that we not hold back our lives for
ourselves, but to give them to Him and so work together with Him, that men might
find life – the true life that can come only from He who, Himself, is the Way,
the Truth and the Life. Amen.</FONT></DIV>
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