The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. The Passover is not optional for the covenant community; the whole community must celebrate it. The communal dimension is insisted upon: not households in isolation, not individuals alone, but the whole community. 1 Corinthians 11:17–22 addresses the Lord's Supper in terms of community failure — when you come together, you are not eating the Lord's Supper. The gathering of the community is part of the meal's meaning. A Passover observed alone is a diminished Passover; a Lord's Supper celebrated without the community misses something essential. The whole community of Israel must celebrate it — not because the theology requires a minimum number but because the meal is the community's declaration of who they are together: the people God brought out of Egypt.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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