Can a Christian Eat Passover with His Jewish Family? Is Mary the New Eve? by Pastor Walter Snyder Q: My sister's family are Jewish, mine Lutheran. She invited us to her home for a Passover Seder with her sons, their families, and our (Jewish) Mother. I was raised a Jew but approximately twenty years ago I joined the Church. Is it appropriate for my Lutheran family to attend the Seder? If yes, should we participate or simply observe? A: Dear friend. Much like our Christian celebrations of Christmas or Easter, Passover has both religious and family aspects. My short answer (based both upon doctrine and upon my own thoughts and knowledge of human nature) is that if it were my family, I would attend and would participate as far as my faith and conscience allowed. Remember that the disciples and the early (Jewish) converts worshiped in the temple and that Paul and others continued to use the synagogue as the beginning of any mission work in areas that had a Jewish population. Yet once the Jews totally rejected them and the Lord, they moved on to different venues, notably the early house churches and city congregations. As a Christian, your participation in the Passover is, sad to say, more genuine than that of your Jewish relatives, since you know and are part of the fullness of the Passover and worship Jesus, the ultimate Paschal Lamb. If I were attending, I wouldn't be able to pray with the family, since if they remain believing (or even secular) Jews, they won't address the Father through His Son. I cannot categorically say that Jews pray to a ~false~ God; rather, it's as if they pray to a false ~memory~ of God. They recall the Covenant God but deny the Fulfillment of the Covenant, the Seed of Abraham through whom all nations are blessed. My participation would depend on the personalities and the faith of the others as well as my own. If my family would allow, I might ask that I could also pray to the Blessed King of the Universe in the Name of His Only-Begotten Son. Otherwise, I'd remain respectfully silent, appreciating the dinner as a foretaste both of the Lord's Supper here on earth and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in heaven while enjoying the company of family. At the same time, I'd continue praying on behalf of the unconverted, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth, that this earthly memory meal might be fulfilled both in the Sacrament here on earth and at the eternal banquet table. If you can gently yet honestly let them know ahead of time exactly where your "faith zone" and your "comfort zone" are, both "sides" will benefit. And if they (or you) decide that the tension would be too much, you still have time to talk things through. I hope this helps. I lift you up in prayer before our loving Father. Q: One of the titles that Catholics give Mary is the "New Eve." Do Protestants accept or reject this title for Mary? A: It depends upon the "Protestants"---many Lutherans, myself included, continue this thinking. When you examine Revelation 12, you see a multiple set of images. Eve, Mary, and the Church all have a part in the woman I include a portion here: "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world---he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (vv. 1-2, 4-6, 9, 13-17)" Mary and the Church both fit the image of the woman giving birth. The woman's Child is, obviously, Christ. Jesus Christ brings life to all who believe and "Eve" comes from the Hebrew word for "living" or "life-bearing." The "rest of her offspring" are those alive in Christ, believers in Jesus---children of the Church and of Mary by Word, water, and faith. Thus, both the Church and Mary are the "New" or "Second Eve," just as Christ is the "Second Adam." Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard Version~, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Ask the Pastor, © 2002 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States and any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions concerning the property of others. Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."