- Passover is a feast celebrated on the lunar calendar. (Which is why Easter is, as well.) It is one of the three great pilgrimage feasts in Judaism. While the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, it brought Jews together from all over Europe, Asia and Africa. The Hebrew word is Pesach and from this comes our word Paschal.
- The anointing at Bethany is not done by Mary Magdalene, although this woman and Mary are often confused, especially in art and legend.
- The Passover meal in Exodus both pre-figures and celebrates the covenant between God and the people of Israel at Sinai. Jesus' language in the institution of the Eucharist follows in this tradition - both pre-figuring and commemorating his sacrifice on the Cross, the New Covenant.
- Lambs were sacrificed at the Temple and eaten for the Passover. Christian tradition, once the Temple had been destroyed, and reflecting on Jesus' death at the Passover, named Jesus as the ultimate Paschal lamb.
- If the Jewish authorities had wanted to kill Jesus for blasphemy, they could have. (See the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7). Written in a Roman world, the accounts of the Roman condemnation of Jesus (for insurrection) seem to be skewed to not lay too much blame at the feet of the Romans.
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