The Jewish Passover serves as a background for Christian communion, by its celebration of Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt. The idea of liberation provides meaning for Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples. Just as Jews celebrate liberation from slavery at Passover, Christians celebrate liberation from sin at communion.

The meaning of communion is derived from the meaning of Passover. If we are to fully understand the meaning of the Lord's Supper, we must first understand its beginning. By presenting a Christian version of the Passover meal, we better understand the meaning of Jesus' words, "do this in remembrance of me." At the Last Supper Jesus brought new meaning to something old. If we don't understand the "old," then how can we understand the new meaning he brought?

Isn't it interesting? We identify ourselves with a particular denomination (Church of the Nazarene), in a particular religion (Christianity), based on the teachings of a particular book (The Old Testament) as interpreted by a particular Jewish teacher, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, recorded in another book (The New Testament). Except for the Church of the Nazarene, each of these particularities is thousands of years old. Our denomination is a very young child when compared to our heritage. Do we know who we are? Do we identify with and understand our heritage? Perhaps we assume that our lack of understanding about our heritage means it is unimportant. That's not funny, but sad, and, all too often, true.

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