The Feast Fulfilled

The feasts of the Lord were not empty dates on a calendar. They taught Israel to order time around God's acts: rest, remembrance, offering, repentance, and rejoicing before Him. In the risen Christ these things are not abolished into neglect, but fulfilled into a holier life. Tertullian says of the Passover, “It is the Lord's passover. Leviticus 23:5 How earnestly, therefore, does He manifest the bent of His soul: With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” The Lord desired the feast because He Himself would become its meaning.

So Luke shows the true Passover not ending in a slain lamb, but in the crucified and risen Christ, made known to His disciples in the breaking of bread. The women do not find a body to embalm, but a victory to proclaim. The fearful disciples are not left to private thoughts; they are gathered, taught from the Scriptures, fed, and sent as witnesses.

Isaiah joins this mystery to judgment and hope. God stretches out His hands to a rebellious people, yet also calls nations that did not seek Him. Justin says, “I was found of them that asked not for Me;’ He exclaims by Isaiah: ‘I said, Behold Me, unto nations which were not called by My name.” Therefore no one may boast, and no one may delay repentance. The same God who promises new heavens and a new earth also condemns those who choose their own ways.

Let us then keep the Lord's feast with clean hands and an obedient life: honoring the Lord's Day, forsaking stubborn sins, receiving the apostolic word, breaking bread with reverence, and becoming a people in whom resurrection is seen by steadfastness, mercy, and truth.