The Passover

The Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) is the Jewish feast commemorating the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt, when God struck down the firstborn of Egypt and passed over the houses of the Israelites marked with the blood of an unblemished lamb (Exodus 12; CCC 1334).

The Historical Event

On the night of the Exodus, God commanded each Israelite household to slaughter an unblemished lamb, mark their doorposts with its blood, and eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, it passed over every house marked with the lamb's blood. Pharaoh, shattered by this final plague, released the people of Israel. The Passover became the foundational event of Israelite identity — the night God made them his people (Exodus 12).

The Passover as Typology

The Church sees the Passover as a type — a divine foreshadowing — of Christ and the Eucharist. Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29) whose blood, shed on the cross, delivers humanity from the slavery of sin. The Last Supper was a Passover meal, and at it Jesus instituted the Eucharist — the New Passover — replacing the old rite with himself as both priest and victim (CCC 608, 1334).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Mass draw so heavily from Passover imagery? The Mass is the Christian Passover — the fulfillment of what the Jewish Passover prefigured. The language of sacrifice, lamb, blood, and liberation that permeates the Mass comes directly from this heritage. The Church has retained these elements as "integral and irreplaceable" because they point to Christ (CCC 1093–1094).