When instituting the Memorial of his death Jesus said: “Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” (Lu 22:19)
According to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, from this it is reasonable to understand that Jesus meant that his followers should celebrate the Lord’s Evening Meal annually, not more often:
“Jesus had just finished celebrating the Passover with his apostles when he instituted the special meal that would become the model for memorializing his death. (Luke 22:7-20) The Passover was celebrated annually. Therefore, we can conclude that this new observance that replaced the Passover should likewise be held once a year. (The Watchtower February 1, 2011 pg. 21 “Are You Prepared for the Most Important Day of the Year?”)
But how much should be included in Jesus’ instructions to “keep doing this”? If we are to assume that it includes the date and the frequency, why stop there? Why would we not conclude that Jesus wanted his disciples to also continue celebrating the Passover, followed by this meal?
“And he said to them: “I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15, 16)
Did Jesus give any indication that night that this meal was to be a replacement for the Passover? His disciples were Jews that had, including this very night, been celebrating the Passover. This was not the only Passover Jesus celebrated with them, but he specifically chose this final one in order to highlight the significance of his imminent sacrifice. Notice Jesus did not say that the Passover was to be fulfilled and replaced by this memorial celebration. It was not that his disciples would cease but that he would cease celebrating it with them. His words indicated that his disciples would continue celebrating only without him, and that it’s fulfillment would not come until they are all together with him in the Kingdom.
While they were listening to these things, he told another illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear instantly. 12 So he said: “A man of noble birth traveled to a distant land to secure kingly power for himself and to return. (Luke 19:11, 12)
Furthermore, people will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the Kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)
On hearing these things, one of the fellow guests said to him: “Happy is the one who dines in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 14:15)
What reason then, do we have to believe that Jesus Jewish disciples would cease celebrating the Passover as Christians? In fact, while the temple was still in existence with Jewish life and worship still centered around it, for any Jew not to celebrate it would make them conspicuous leading to a charge of apostasy. (Num. 9:13,14; Deut. 16:2)
The only possible allusion in the New Testament to the observance of a Christian Passover, or festival of the death of Christ, is 1 Cor. v. 7, where “Christ our Passover” is said to have been sacrificed for us. That the Jewish Christians continued to keep the Jewish festivals is altogether probable, if not certain, from Paul’s habit. On the other hand, Paul seems to disparage the observance of special festivals except the first day of the week (1 Cor. xvi. 2) ( Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia pg. 43)
In order to bolster its claim that the memorial should only be an annual event, the Watchtower society comments about a group of early Christians that were known for celebrating the Lord’s Evening Meal on Nisan 14:
“Interestingly, for several centuries after Christ, many professed Christians were called Quartodecimans, meaning “Fourteenthers,” because they commemorated Jesus’ death once a year, on Nisan 14. (The Watchtower April 1, 2003 pg. 5 “The Lord’s Supper Has Great Meaning for You”)
It is interesting the Watchtower refers to them as professed Christians. Also, at best, they were a minority group. In any event, it is strange that they would cite the quartodecimans as an example if they do not believe them to be genuine. Especially is this so in light of their claim that it was professed Christians that removed God’s name from copies of the Greek Scriptures. However, quarto-decimanism was a controversy over whether to celebrate Pascha the Christian Passover on Nisan 14 or as an event that included the resurrection, later called Easter, on Sunday regardless of which day of the month it fell. No one was arguing that the Lord’s Supper should only be kept once a year, but that they observed Pascha on Passover night according to Jewish custom rather than on Sunday as was the practice of many other Christians.
The following is from McClintock and Strongs Cyclopedia:
“With respect to the precise day on which the Lord’s death should be commemorated, there was a threefold difference of practice.
(1.) The Catholic Church affirmed that our Lord suffered on the 14th of Nisan; but seeing that the new creation dates from Easter-morning, the Lord’s-day next following was the πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον, and the Friday preceding was the πάσχα σταυρώσιμον. Thus the-rule was fixed according to the day of the week on which our Lord suffered, and was declared to be the true ordinance, τάξις ἀληθεστέρα. This was the practice of the Church of Rome, and of the generality of churches throughout Christendom, and was said to have been derived from the apostles Peter and Paul (Euseb. Hist. Eccles.v. 23; Socrat. Hist. Eccles.v. 22).
(2.) The Asiatic rule was professedly based upon the authority of John ‘the Evangelist and of Philip, and was adopted by the churches of Proconsular Asia (Hist. Eccles.v. 23) and those of the neighboring provinces, also in Mesopotamia, Syria, Cilicia (Athanas. Ad Aft. c. 2, de Synod. Arim. et Sel.), and, as Chrysostom says, Antioch (In eos qui Orat. in Pascha . Jej. [ed. Bened. 1:608]). It was the belief of all the churches that our Lord was put to death on the 14th of Nisan, the day on which the paschal lamb was slain. But many denied that the Last Supper was installed at the paschal feast, or that our Lord celebrated the Passover day in the last year of his ministry, the statements of the synoptical Gospels notwithstanding (see Chron. Pasch. 1:10 – 16). The Asiatics commemorated the Lord’s death on the 14th of Nisan, being guided by the day of the Jewish month, as the more general practice followed the day of the week on which Christ died. They were taunted for the Judaizing practice, though the Church of Rome in its ritual and liturgy had more perhaps in common with the synagogue than the churches of Asia. The Quartodecimans were but a small party in the Church. Still fewer in number
(3) were the Ebionitish or Judaizing Quartodecimans who held to the observances of the Mosaic law, and engrafted on them the Christian celebration, making the 14th of Nisan a day of hybrid ceremonial, in which type and antitype, shadow and substance, law and Gospel, were hopelessly confused.
These three varying rules created a plentiful source of dissension;” (McClintock and Strongs Cyclopedia-Paschal Controversy)
However, the Cyclopedia also recognized that they did so more often than annually:
“They had looked on the bread and the wine as memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. They were now told to partake of them “in remembrance” of their Master and Lord. The festival had been annual. No rule was given as to the time and frequency of the new feast that thus supervened on the old, but the command, “Do this as oft as ye drink it” (1Co_11:25), suggested the more continual recurrence of that which was to be their memorial of one whom they would wish never to forget.” (McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia-Lord’s Supper)
How often? According to Justin Martyr during that time early Christians also celebrated the Lord’s Evening Meal on the first day of the week:
Chap. LXVII. — Weekly Worship of the Christians.
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration. (Justin Martyr First Apology ch. 67)
Would Gentile Christians be instructed to follow Moses instructions regarding Passover? Perhaps. But similar to circumcision it would have been wrong for them to be made to feel that their salvation depended on it. (Col. 2:16,17) For them, the Lord’s Evening Meal would suffice. Rather than on the lamb, Jesus focused on the bread as representing his body. Since the Passover was specifically to be observed in the place that Jehovah chose, after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jews would no longer be able to follow Moses instructions. Furthermore, although it would not necessarily be wrong to do so, Jesus did not instruct his disciples to celebrate his resurrection. It is clear that Paul said that the meal was to proclaim the death of the Lord.
Regarding how often the Lord’s Evening Meal should be celebrated, Insight on the Scriptures states:
“The Passover, observed in remembrance of Jehovah’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage in 1513 B.C.E., was commemorated only once a year, on the anniversary date of Nisan 14. The Memorial, also an anniversary, would appropriately be held only on Nisan 14.
Paul quoted Jesus as saying regarding the cup, “Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me,” and added: “For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.” (1Co 11:25, 26) “Often” can refer to something done only once a year, especially when done for many years. (Heb 9:25, 26)
While this is true, there are simply no instructions for doing so annually.
Nisan 14 was the day on which Christ gave his literal body as a sacrifice on the torture stake and poured out his lifeblood for forgiveness of sins. Hence, that was the day of “the death of the Lord” and, consequently, the date to commemorate his death thereafter. However, rather than the date, Jesus instructions seem to focus on the activity and its significance not on how often it should be carried out.
The participants in this meal would be “absent from the Lord” and would celebrate the Lord’s Evening Meal “often” before their death in faithfulness. Then, following their resurrection to heavenly life, they would be together with Christ and would no longer need a remembrancer of him. Regarding the duration of this observance, “until he arrives,” the apostle Paul evidently had reference to Christ’s coming again and receiving them into heaven by a resurrection during the time of his presence. This understanding of the matter is clarified by Jesus’ words to the 11 apostles later that evening: “If I go my way and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you home to myself, that where I am you also may be.”—Joh 14:3, 4; 2Co 5:1-3, 6-9. (Insight on the Scriptures vol. 2 pgs. 268-269)
This line of reasoning attempts to change the focus of the occasion from Jesus to his disciples. But Paul said “For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives”, not until you die. Jesus said to “keep doing this in remembrance of me”. There is no reason to view his words in John 14 about preparing a place for them as a clarification of Paul’s later statement. Furthermore, the idea of an extended presence during which time anointed Christians are resurrected after finishing their earthly course has no basis in scripture. Jesus presence is his coming to execute judgment. (2 Thess. 2:1,8)
A 2003 Questions from the Readers article states:
“In the original Greek, he did not use the word pol·laʹkis, which means “often” or “frequently.” Rather, he used the word ho·saʹkis, which means “as often as,” an idiom meaning “whenever,” “every time that.” Paul was saying: ‘Every time that you do this, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord.’ Compare the account at 1 Samuel 1:3, 7. There, “as often as” (in the modern translation of the Hebrew) refers to events that happened “from year to year,” or once a year, when Elkanah and his two wives went to the tabernacle at Shiloh. (The Watchtower January 1, 2003 pg. 31)
However, Paul’s comments are not written in Hebrew. To search for an English translation of a Hebrew word in order to support a possible rendering of a Greek word amounts to nothing less than sheer desperation. It is also totally unnecessary, since the Greek word hosakis also occurs in Revelation 11:6. According to that verse the two witnesses are given authority to “strike the earth with every sort of plague as often as they wish”. Clearly this is not to be understood as once a year.
In conclusion, it does not appear that there was any hard and fast rule among early Christians as regards how frequent the Lord’s Evening Meal should be celebrated. Hence, rather than the date or frequency, emphasis should be placed on the significance and solemnity of the occasion.
For whenever you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)