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Today’s topic may not belong to those that are shocking or sensational, but I think it is sometimes worth taking a break from the noise and hardships of our times to reflect on deeper matters that require contemplation and gratitude. Today’s reflections are directed to those who wish to deepen their knowledge, to look more broadly, from a perspective other than just their own needs or expectations. This is a topic for those who can see the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice and truly feel grateful for what was done for us—for the chance to escape punishment and the joy of life thanks to his sacrifice.

If you really carry such gratitude in your heart, this topic will certainly interest you. For those seeking only sensational news, I invite you to other gatherings, because today we will focus on matters key to understanding Christ’s sacrifice. It is known that the Passover was closely connected with this—it was instituted to commemorate the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, but in reality, it pointed to something much greater: to liberation from the slavery of sin and its consequences. For although as humans we are imperfect, thanks to our faith in our Lord Yeshu we have been freed from the effects of sin—of course, if we strive to live according to that faith. Let us remember that even the devil believes in God, but does not live according to that faith—that is the essence of the matter, which is worth realizing.

When Christ offered his sacrifice, he ate his last meal on this earth with his disciples and said: „Do this in remembrance of me.” That is why today so many people who do not ask, „Lord, what will you give me?” but instead say, „Lord, I wish to serve you, I wish to show gratitude,” wonder: what exactly are we supposed to do to remember Christ? When and how often should we do it? Here many dilemmas arise. Although the matter may seem complicated, its solution is quite simple. In fact, the expression „as often as you do this” does not mean that we can do it whenever we feel like it. In the Bible, you can clearly see an annual cycle—after all, Passover was celebrated once a year. And it is this yearly observance that gives the event its uniqueness, allowing us to prepare, appreciate, and fully experience it. If we were to do it every day, it would lose its meaning—becoming ordinary, it would cease to be a distinction and a festival.

However, the question remains: when exactly should we observe this memorial? Among those believing in our Lord Yeshu, different groups have arisen arguing about the date—some insist on April 1, others April 2, still others April 3. Each group tries to prove that their way of calculating is the only correct one. Meanwhile, determining this day precisely has never been the strong suit of even ancient Israel and—interestingly—it did not matter much. Unfortunately, sometimes disputes and mutual accusations erupt around this issue, as if only one interpretation were correct. Today I will show that just the opposite is true. Yes, I myself have calculated that April 2 is the correct date, but before we settle this, we must turn to the sources and better understand why we even commemorate the 14th day of the month of Aviv/Nisan.

Let us start with the Book of Exodus 12:6. It concerns the Passover lamb: „You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole assembly of Israel shall kill it at twilight.” The lamb was to be without blemish, one year old, chosen already on the 10th day, and killed on the 14th of the month (Aviv/Nisan)—prepared and offered between „the two evenings.” What does this mean? Many misunderstand this concept, but in reality, it refers to the time from one dusk to the next, meaning the whole day. It would be impossible for all Israelites to kill the lambs at once—this lasted from morning to evening. For this reason, Jews had to gather in Jerusalem—they often came from afar, frequently buying the lamb on the spot since it was impossible to make it from Galilee on time.

14 Aviv, from morning to evening, lambs were being slaughtered – for some this was already the first day of the festival, for others it was the time of preparation for the festival. Hence the sense of confusion in the Gospels. Days were counted from sunset, so Christ’s supper with the disciples took place already on the 14th of Nisan – after dusk. For us it would simply be an evening meal, but according to the Jewish method of counting, this was the beginning of a new day. Therefore, Christ ate the meal with the disciples in the evening, went to Gethsemane, was captured at night, and was crucified and killed still on that same day, at the time when lambs were being slaughtered. He himself became our Paschal Lamb.

Moving on, the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days and began on the 15th of Nisan, while the lamb was eaten only on the evening of the 15th of Nisan – after a whole day of slaughtering animals. If anything from the lamb remained, it had to be burned before dawn. Let’s also look at Exodus 12:15-18. There it is clearly written that for seven days they were to eat unleavened bread, starting from the evening of the 14th day of the month until the evening of the 21st day. Count it: from the 14th to the 21st is… eight days, although the Feast of Unleavened Bread itself lasted seven days. This shows that the Passover on the fourteenth of Aviv was a kind of „preparation day” or a separate holiday, and the Unleavened Bread would begin in full on the fifteenth. This is precisely why, during his supper, Christ no longer ate the physical lamb – it was the first meal of the eight days during which unleavened bread was to be eaten.

I hope this explanation helps you better understand the meaning and depth of this celebration and dispel any doubts about its timing. In reflecting on this, it is worth remembering that the most important thing is our attitude of heart – gratitude, awareness of Christ’s sacrifice, and willingness to honor him.

Sometimes, when reading biblical texts, you may come across the statement that unleavened bread is to be eaten for seven days, but just as often there appears information that already on the fourteenth day of the month one should eat unleavened bread. This can raise doubts, right? It meant a ban on eating anything leavened. That is why, when Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, there were only unleavened breads on the table – which, contrary to how it is sometimes translated into Polish, were breads WITHOUT leaven, meaning not leavened, and not simply „not sour.” Unleavened means simply bread made from flour and water, baked quickly, without any additives – kind of like a simple flatbread. This is exactly the bread Christ ate at that time. Today, we would call it a flatbread rather than a classic loaf – in fact, our Slavic popumyki are quite similar in how they’re made. In biblical times, however, it was called bread.

The gospel account also mentions wine, although originally, as per Mosaic law, the essential element was the presence of bitter herbs. Today, during the commemorative supper, we use dry wine – not sweet – because dry wine is somewhat bitter, and in the time of Christ it could have been even more tart, as there were no methods for sweetening. Back then, wine often went sour quickly, turning into vinegar. A common custom was to add this wine vinegar to water to aid digestion. Hence, when you read in the Bible that Paul advises Timothy not to drink only water, but to add a little wine – it most likely referred precisely to wine vinegar. Good, sweet wine was not easy to come by in those days, especially in spring, when the wine from autumn grapes had already gone sour. So different ways of storing and producing were used – for example, grapes were dried into raisins to later make new wine from them in spring. But these are details.

Back to the point: when Christ sat down to the Passover, it was the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, so still before evening, before the official Feast of Unleavened Bread began and before the lambs started to be slaughtered „between the evenings.” Thus, Christ celebrated the first evening of Passover, when the ban on eating anything leavened was already in force – which means he was already eating unleavened bread and drinking dry wine, while instituting the Lord’s Supper and saying: „Do this in memory of me.” That is why even today during this memorial we use unleavened cakes and a bit of bitter wine.

Interestingly, the passages from the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23, stand out in this regard, where a distinction is made between Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread – which for many is unclear. Leviticus 23:5-6 says: „In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at dusk, is the Passover for the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the Lord – for seven days you shall eat only unleavened bread.” So in practice, that’s eight days – because people started eating unleavened bread already on the evening of the fourteenth day. It’s worth noting that today we do not keep the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, but only one day, established by our Lord Yeshu, according to His instruction.

It’s similar in the Book of Numbers 28:16-17. „On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of that same month is the feast, and from then on for seven days you may eat only unleavened bread.” You can clearly see the separation of the two holidays here. For some, Passover, which is the 14th of Aviv, was already a holiday, while others treated it as preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, hence some confusion could arise. It’s worth remembering this when analyzing various traditions.

Returning to the main thread: today, many people try to determine various dates for this celebration. In reality, it’s not a problem if someone makes a mistake – even in ancient times, priests set wrong dates and it didn’t really matter, what was important was unity in celebrating the holiday. That is the key issue: God did not give the Israelites a solar calendar, but a lunar one – easy to use, not requiring knowledge of astronomy or astrology (in fact, engaging in those was forbidden). The month could be determined by observing the phases of the Moon: the new moon (dark, invisible moon) marked the end of the old and the start of the new month, when the first crescent appeared – the month would begin; the full moon was its midpoint. They counted days up to 29 or 30, because months had 29.5 days. So some lasted 29, others 30 days. Remember: never, ever was there a 31-day month! This is important because sometimes mistakes in setting dates come from not taking this rule into account.

The lunar year lasted 354 days – 11 days shorter than our solar year. So after a few years, there was a difference of over a month, which was made up by adding the so-called thirteenth month (usually every 2–3 years). In years when such a month was added, the year lasted up to 384 days. This shows that anniversaries in the lunar calendar were never „equal” and there was never any intention of setting the date perfectly as we understand it today. Our solar calendar gives regularity: 365 days each year, the anniversary always falls on the same day. In the lunar calendar, the difference could be almost a month – sometimes between holidays there were 354, other times 384 days, and for God, it didn’t matter that much. If precise dates mattered, the Israelites would have been given a solar calendar, but that was not the case.

All of this is essential to understand that the New Year and Jewish holidays were linked with the coming of spring, not with winter as in our calendar. The New Year began after the spring equinox – which in today’s calculations would fall around March 21. The equinox was biblically like our „zero” on the clock – the point from which the next days and months were counted, and symbolically new life, because the day became longer than the night. The biblical indications are clear: the month begins when, after the equinox, the first visible crescent of the moon appears. In practice, if we wanted to calculate it fully biblically today, the New Year would fall after March 21, and Passover – on the fourteenth day of the month counted from that date, which would usually be at the beginning of April.

To sum up: the Hebrew calendar was based on 12 months, lasting a total of about 354 days, it was not rigid and did not allow for perfectly determining anniversary dates – and that was exactly God’s intention: not to become attached to the date, but to the meaning of the festival and unity in its celebration.

About – that’s exactly how I have to put it, because really, it varied greatly. Sometimes there were more months, sometimes fewer,sometimes a year even had 13 months, then the number of days was 383, 384, and sometimes even 385 days. As you can see, this is not a perfect system—it didn’t work like clockwork, you couldn’t calculate everything down to the exact day. Jews would add entire months—they didn’t just cut them off halfway through. And it was specifically „on the fourteenth day after sunset” that this celebration, the commemoration of the exodus from Egypt, was established. Today, we can check when that fourteenth day fell this year, last year, and in the future. But there is still a very important matter that you need to understand: they didn’t have the astronomical knowledge to precisely determine the phases of the Moon. Today we have apps where we can check, for example, that on January 18 at 20:53 there’s a new moon, down to the second! After that second, everything changes—the Moon begins to „grow,” but these changes are invisible to the naked eye. They did not have such possibilities.

So how did they know when the new moon was? They simply observed the sky. Interestingly, it wasn’t only priests who had the right to look for the Moon—anyone could do it, although it was easy to make a mistake! And importantly, they weren’t looking for the new moon itself, that is, the invisible, „black” phase of the Moon, but the first, thin crescent that appeared on the right side. This was crucial for them. Their system was based on observation—the key was actually seeing the crescent, not making mathematical calculations.

They were therefore unable to precisely determine when the new moon occurred, so they could not say with certainty that the next day was already the first day of the new month. Sometimes, even on the 19th day, they did not see the crescent because it was too small. In that case, they waited—until at least two independent, trusted witnesses reported having seen the first light of the Moon. Their testimonies were checked by the Sanhedrin. If there were two witnesses—and both independently confirmed the appearance of the crescent—the beginning of the new month was announced. This is important: the start of the month was determined not by the appearance of the new moon, but by the first visible crescent. However, sometimes even when the Moon was already „there” in theory, it was not visible to the naked eye—then they would wait another day.

On top of that, the weather could make observations impossible for a long time! But still, it couldn’t be that a month lasted 60 days—that’s why they introduced a rule: a month never lasted longer than 30 days. If the crescent did not appear on the 29th day, they waited one more day. But if even on the 30th day they did not see the crescent, the next day was undeniably declared the first day of the new month, regardless of weather conditions or lack of witnesses. This is a very important rule, because people trying to calculate dates today often do not know it—and as a result, in their calculations, a month might have 31 days. This is precisely why some people who this year calculated the Memorial of Christ’s Death as April 3 made a mistake—their month „grew” by one day. Such a mistake could have happened in the past, but these rules allow for eliminating errors. If we analyzed the situation today—we see that, for example, the 18th is the new moon, so the 19th should be the first day. But the crescent is too small to be seen, so one more day could be added. But if that was already the 30th day of the month, no additional day was added—a new month was established immediately, even if there were no witnesses.

Those who today set the date incorrectly for April 3 do not take this rule into account, so in their calculations, they end up with a month of 31 days. That is a mistake, no matter how much they insist that everyone else is wrong—those are just the facts. We can also consider this the other way around. The Jewish system was imprecise and mistakes happened, but nobody worried about it. The responsibility for establishing the date was taken on by the Sanhedrin. It might seem that the priests should have done it, but in practice anyone who noticed the crescent could report the observation. The Sanhedrin served as the decision-making body, a bit like today’s religious leaders—but even so, at the top stood the high priest. Ultimately, it was the high priest who made the final decision,when the new month begins. Even if they were off by a day, no one made an issue out of it – the beginning of the month was simply announced and celebrated. In the Bible, we do not find any mention that these mistakes were treated as a reason for concern or disputes.

It is worth noting that today’s pursuit of perfect accuracy sometimes leads to excess. It’s a bit like the Pharisees, who would meticulously count tithes even on spices, but lost sight of the essence. Meanwhile, God gave the Israelites a system that, by design, was not precise – and this was not considered an issue. The real problem is not whether we’ve pinpointed the date exactly, but whether we worship God, or whether we abandon the observance simply because we can’t determine an exact date. Today, thanks to advances in science, we can set dates with great precision – and it’s not difficult for us. But for some, this precision has become excessive. One example is when someone sets the date of the Memorial of Christ’s Death on April 1, considering that day to be 14 Nisan. Where does such an error come from? It’s the result of excessive literalism. This year, the new moon in February was on February 17 at 13:02. Since the new moon occurred during the day, these people assume that after sunset on that day, the new month begins. Yet, no ancient Jew could have witnessed the new moon during the day – they could only establish this by today’s astronomical calculations. In reality, the first crescent would not have been visible on the 17th, and often only on the 18th day. Even if it wasn’t spotted, the 31st day automatically became the first day.

Counting from the 18th, we count subsequent days: one, two, three… up to the fourteenth – and it turns out that the fourteenth of Nisan falls after sunset on April 2. It can’t be otherwise. That is the day of the observance – everything checks out. Of course, for someone dealing with this for the first time, it may be complicated. At first, I too found counting the days tricky – it’s easy to make a mistake. The key point is to realize that the new month begins when the first crescent of the Moon appears, not on the day of the astronomical new moon. In Christ’s time, observation and counting days mattered more than perfect astronomical accuracy, which simply wasn’t known then. And always, the 31st day (if it occurred) would automatically be the first day of the new month, even if there was no witness. That was how the system operated – and that is the essence.

I can also add a few pieces of information about next year, since I took a closer look and gathered plenty of notes. I paid particular attention to 2007, which turned out to be a bit complicated, because the twelfth month ended on March 8. So you see how things can get complicated? If we were to start counting the new year from March 8, the question arises: is it possible next year to hold the observance according to tradition? So, in 2027, and specifically on March 8, the new moon will occur, meaning that is when the twelfth month ends. That means the year ends, and so the next year would start from March 9 – which is rather early. If we count 14 days from that point, we get March 22, which – according to the actual, astronomical New Year – would only be the second day of the new year. Usually, however, the ideal date for the observance is around April 4, which almost always recurs each year. So, in this case, the observance would fall too early. Someone might say it doesn’t really matter, but according to Mosaic law, the priests also had to examine the fields. So, if on March 9 they went out and found no barley yet (which is very likely, since it would still be too cold), an additional month would need to be added.

Therefore, in 2027, we’ll probably add such a month, and as a result, the observance will take place a little later. The new moon will then fall on April 7. Counting 14 days from that date, we get a date between April 20 and 21. I still have to check it carefully, but it seems to me that the memorial next year will fall around April 21, which means it will already be much warmer. Fortunately, we still have a year left to verify the date finally, since calculating it according to the ancient method is not that simple. Especially when we take into account, how it used to be done in the past. In summary – most likely it will be April 21.

Moving on, let’s turn to the Bible to understand why we celebrate this occasion. We often talk about the supper, which is a commemoration of Christ’s death, because Yeshu himself said: „Do this in remembrance of me.” So, we commemorate not only the death itself, which is of great significance, but also what it represents. What is interesting is what the early Christians emphasized – what terms they used and where they drew inspiration for their celebrations. In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, we read: „Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you truly are unleavened. For the Anointed One was sacrificed as our Passover.” The Apostle Paul clearly refers to the Passover and indicates that Christians have their own „version” of Passover. He continues: „So let us celebrate our feast, not with old leaven, leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth.” This is a hint to cleanse oneself of all sin before the ceremony – both in thoughts and deeds. That is why there is the tradition of spiritual preparation before this celebration. What’s crucial to understand is that this is our Christian Passover, a commemoration of the death of our Lord Yeshu, the counterpart of the Old Testament Passover.

For this reason, it is not surprising that during the celebrations we use unleavened bread and dry wine, and that we do it once a year, trying to keep the same time, though it’s not required to be exact to the second or even the day – God did not demand such precision. What’s more important is to follow the spirit of this tradition.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26. „For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Yeshu, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And after giving thanks, he broke it and said: Take, eat; this is my body, given for you, {which is broken}. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever {you} drink, in remembrance of me.” So each time you participate in this celebration, remember this meaning. „For whenever {you} eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until (He) comes.” Paul then warns, verse 27: „Therefore, whoever eats this bread and drinks from the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” This refers to the need to purify oneself before the ceremony. Each person should analyze their life, reconcile with God and with people, especially if they have hurt someone or are in conflict with someone.

How important it is to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ is emphasized by Yeshu himself, as recorded in the Gospel of John 6:53-54. „Yeshu then said to them: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in yourselves. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has aeonian life, and I will raise them up on the last day.’” It further says that this is the bread from heaven, giving eternal life – not like what the ancestors ate. This makes it clear that faith or living a good life alone is not enough – a certain condition must be fulfilled: to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ – of course, symbolically, through unleavened bread and dry wine, with due respect, in community.

Previously, Passover was celebrated in homes: the lambs were killed in the temple, and then brought home, where they were eaten with family or with neighbors if one family could not finish the whole lamb – what was important was that everything was eaten, and the rest was burned, without breaking any bones. Now, however, this celebration takes place in community – in a congregation, assembly or church, because together we form God’s temple. That is why we come together to this event, to eat bread and drink wine together. Interestingly, even in the first centuries of Christianity, it was practiced that if someone could not participate in person because of illness,The deacons used to bring bread and wine to his home – it was not possible to conduct such a ceremony alone. Today, we practice connecting via Zoom, but it must be admitted that there is not much biblical justification for this – it is rather a sign of the times and modern possibilities. Ideally, everyone should be able to personally come at least once a year to commemorate the death of Christ, even if someone lives very far away, e.g., in England or Italy.

It is worth taking care of spiritual preparation before this ceremony, because this is the true measure of our bond with Christ. It is not enough to be present physically – one must strive for reconciliation with others, ask God for forgiveness, and cleanse one’s heart and life.

So the essence is not in the date itself, but in the spirit, intention, community, and in giving honor to our Lord Yeshu Christ.

The full written version of the article is now available at https://yeshu.blog . There you will also find my videos and music — all created in the name of our Lord Yeshu.

Thanks for listening until the end. I would be extremely grateful for likes, shares and comments, because it helps grow the channel, which gives a chance to reach even more people.

If you receive the gift of faith in the name of our Lord Yeshu, take the next step and contact me to be immersed in the name of Yeshu. You can find contact details on our website or simply write on Messenger.

Glory to Yeshu!!!