*The Passover Seder is a "home service". That is, it is not celebrated in the Temple (though in Second Temple times the lamb was slain in the Temple area), nor was it celebrated in the synagogue. The "officiant" was neither a priest (the cohen) nor a rabbi. It was the father of the household. Thus it was very much a localized affair, or from the ground up, if there were larger considerations, such as households being together because of the journey or because of poverty.The practice of the Lord's Supper in the New Testament also had this aspect of "localization" This might be seen in the reference to the seating on the "green" grass of the multitudes in groups of fifty (Gospel of Mark) at the time of the multiplication of the loaves as the early church saw in these feeding miracles of Jesus portents of the Eucharist he would institute - and thus form the precise literary forms about these events found in the gospels. They saw their celebration of the "little passover" as a continuation of the miraculous way that the Lord supplied His people. This localizing factor may well have influenced the New Testament role of the deacon - someone "in touch' with the local people of the community, well aware of their needs, who would serve them, freeing the Apostles for the serving of the Word and Prayer. | *The Passover Seder is a "home service". That is, it is not celebrated in the Temple (though in Second Temple times the lamb was slain in the Temple area), nor was it celebrated in the synagogue. The "officiant" was neither a priest (the cohen) nor a rabbi. It was the father of the household. Thus it was very much a localized affair, or from the ground up, if there were larger considerations, such as households being together because of the journey or because of poverty.The practice of the Lord's Supper in the New Testament also had this aspect of "localization" This might be seen in the reference to the seating on the "green" grass of the multitudes in groups of fifty (Gospel of Mark) at the time of the multiplication of the loaves as the early church saw in these feeding miracles of Jesus portents of the Eucharist he would institute - and thus form the precise literary forms about these events found in the gospels. They saw their celebration of the "little passover" as a continuation of the miraculous way that the Lord supplied His people. This localizing factor may well have influenced the New Testament role of the deacon - someone "in touch' with the local people of the community, well aware of their needs, who would serve them, freeing the Apostles for the serving of the Word and Prayer. |