ACC ~ John 11 v55

THE TRUE PASSOVER AT HAND

AUGUSTINE “And the Jews’ Passover was near at hand.” They had resolved to celebrate that Passover by shedding our Lord’s blood, the blood that consecrated the Passover, the blood of the Lamb. There was a plot among the Jews to slay Jesus, and he who came from heaven to suffer wanted to draw near the place of his suffering because the hour of his passion was now at hand. Therefore “many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to sanctify themselves.” The Jews did so, following the command of the Lord delivered by holy Moses in the Law, which commanded that on the feast day of the Passover everyone should come together from every part of the land and be sanctified in celebrating the services of the day. But that celebration was a shadow of the future. It was a prophetic intimation of the Christ to come, a prophecy of him who on that day was to suffer for us. The shadow would vanish, and the light would come. The sign would pass away, and the truth would remain. The Jews held their Passover in the shadows, we in the light. Otherwise, why was it necessary for the Lord to command them to slay a sheep on the very day of the feast unless it was only because of him that it was prophesied, “He is led as a sheep to the slaughter”? [1] Their posts were stained with the blood of a slain animal; our foreheads are signed with the blood of Christ. TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 50.2. [2]

[1] Is 53:7.

[2] NPNF 1 7:279**; CCL 36:433-34.

CHRISTIANS AND THEIR PASSOVER LAMB

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA He calls it “the Passover of the Jews” as a type, for [he refers to] the true Passover, not of the Jews but of Christians who eat the flesh of Christ the true Lamb. And, according to the ancient custom those who sin, whether willfully or inadvertently, purify themselves before the feast. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 7. [1]

[1] LF 48:135*.

TRUE PURIFICATION

ORIGEN But the true purification was not before the Pasch but during the Pasch, when Jesus died as the Lamb of God for those who were purifying themselves and took away the sin of the world. [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 28.237. [2]

[1] See Jn 1:29.

[2] FC 89:340; SC 385:172.