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For a brief window this coming week, Passover and Holy Week, the sacred observances of Jews and Christians, respectively, will overlap. Jews around the world will gather this Wednesday and Thursday evenings for the Seder, which recounts the Exodus from Egypt and God's redemptive hand in history. And after Good Friday and Holy Saturday on Sunday, April 5, Christians will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal salvation. Two biblical traditions, distinct but from the same Abrahamic family tree, will thus find themselves marking holy seasons at the same time.
In this fraught moment, this calendar convergence feels like quite a bit more than mere serendipity. It is a visceral reminder of the shared moral and theological inheritance that undergirds Judaism and Christianity -- the common foundation that has molded and shaped what we know today as Western civilization.
At their core, both holidays tell a story of redemption. For Jews, Passover is the story of a people delivered from bondage, divine justice meted out against tyranny, and covenantal purpose eventually forged after national liberation. Likewise for Christians, Easter is a story of redemption -- of sin confronted and overcome, of sacrifice and renewal, of life triumphing over death. The theological particulars certainly differ and Judaism's heavier emphasis on particularism contrasts with Christianity's universalist orientation, but the underlying message is still strikingly similar: Hope springs eternal.
Equally central to both traditions, and both springtime holidays, is the idea of repentance. In Judaism, the concept of teshuvah -- returning to God through repentance and righteous action -- is a cornerstone of religious life. Jewish tradition teaches that in addition to the fall High Holiday season's well-known focus on repentance, the springtime season of Passover is also a perfect occasion to atone and confidently step closer to God. Christianity, of course, also places repentance at the heart of spiritual renewal, calling believers to turn away from sin and toward charity and grace. The searing imagery of Christ's crucifixion is ensconced in the West's collective memory, perhaps more than anything else, for its emphasis on atonement for mankind's sins.
These shared values -- redemption, repentance, moral accountability -- help constitute the bedrock of Western civilization today. Zooming out from the overarching themes of this season's calendrical overlap, consider some of the West's other defining principles: the rule of law, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of life, the pursuit of justice. The fingerprints of the ecumenical biblical inheritance are ubiquitous. This is our common inheritance. This is who we are.