What you ought to know about the Passover

People gather for end of year prayers at Namboole Stadium. FILE PHOTOS

What you need to know:

  • Every end of year crowds gather in Namboole to pray and that is referred to as the Passover. Desire Mbabaali finds out what Passover is compared to biblical times.

The night of December 31 is celebrated world over as the advent of a new year. But it is also celebrated by some in the Christian community as the Passover, derived from the Exodus Passover celebrations of the Israelites. In a bid to understand what the Passover is and its meaning to the contemporary church, and whether it should be celebrated by Christians today, we talk to different people who share their understanding of the feast

A thing of the past
Sandra Nakayima, a Catholic, said she couldn’t explain details however, “The Passover has something to do with killing the lamb by the Israelites and smearing the blood of the lamb on their door posts when they were going out of Egypt,” she says. When asked whether the Passover is still relevant to Christians today, Nakayima says she isn’t really aware.
On the other hand, Moses Byamukama, a Seventh Day Adventist, adds that the Passover is one of the feasts of the Old Testament that God constituted while redeeming the Israelites, but does not see its relevance today.
“Just like Christmas, Easter or the New Year, all those should not be celebrated because they are not anywhere in the Bible. The Passover is different from the New Year, and it was for the Old Testament Israelites,” Byamukama says.

New beginnings
Furthermore, Pastor Frederick Mukisa, leader of Victory Pentecostal Church Natete, says the Passover signifies the salvation God performed to the Children of Israel when he delivered them from the slavery of the Egyptians.
“Today, we take that example to celebrate the Passover on December 31, as a sign that we are crossing over all the problems and failures of the past year into a new fresh year. We do this by faith,” says Mukisa.
He also adds that his church has organised and celebrated the Passover for the last four years every December 31.

Misrepresentation
On the contrary, Pastor Sarah Segujja of Buloba Christian Church, says pastors who use the biblical Passover in place of the New Year celebrations use scriptures out of context.
“The Passover in the bible in Exodus 12 was specifically to signify the salvation of the Israelites and has nothing to do with New Year celebrations. Though in the first verses of the same chapter, God tells Moses that the month in which the Passover was celebrated would become their first month, it is still out of context if it is used for December 31,” Segujja says.
Though she is not opposed to the church celebrating the New Year, Segujja suggests it takes on another names such as December 31 overnight other than the Passover because, “If we call it that, it would be a misrepresentation of the truth,” she says.

The Biblical Passover and its fulfillment
Francis Zziwa Kiyaga, a theologian and lecturer at Anointed Bible School, explains that, the Passover in the Old Testament perspective was an experience where the angel of destruction passed over the first born children of Israel and destroyed the firstborn children of Egypt and their livestock - Exodus 12:29-30.
It was the 10th oracle that God performed against Pharaoh for refusing to let the Israelites out of Egypt where they had been enslaved for 430 years to go to Canaan, the Promised Land - Exodus 11:7-10.
On the fateful night of the Passover, God instructed the Israelites through Moses to take a lamb for each household; a one year old lamb without blemish. The blood of the lamb was to be put on their door posts and the lintels of their houses – Exodus 12:5-7. Israel was to keep this day for a memorial feast throughout generations, Exodus 12:14.
“It should be noted that the Old Testament is the shadow of the New Testament – Col 2:16-17. It was pointing at the person of Jesus the Christ, who is the main theme of the Bible,” Zziwa notes explaining the fulfillment of the Passover.

New Testament
In the New Testament perspective, the celebration of the Passover feast is fulfilled by Jesus. When a person receives/ accepts Jesus as the lamb without blemish, which takes away the sins of the world - John 1:29 and Luke 23:13-14, then death has passed over this person - Ephesians 2:5-6 and Revelation 21:8. They are redeemed from the evil world into the family of God.
But Jesus also fulfilled the Passover during the last supper when he took bread and called it His body, and the wine, his blood - Luke 22:19.
“Therefore, the Biblical teaching on Passover is far different from the end of the year celebrations on December 31,” Zziwa concludes.