I Will Take the Cup of Salvation and Call Upon the Name of the Lord
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
I Corinthians 11:23-26
St. John 13:1-15
"Take this all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, the mystery of faith, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." - The Roman Canon
On Maundy Thursday we commemorate Christ's institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. So I wanted to reflect on that Sacrifice, and in the course of my thinking I found myself concentrating on the element of the Sacred Blood.
The pouring out of sacrificial blood has a long history in the Old Testament, beginning with Noah in the immediate aftermath of the flood. God instructs Noah that he may eat any meat he desires, as long as he does not eat it "with the blood," because the blood contains the life of the animal, which belongs only to God. (Gen. 9:4-5)
Herbert Brichto explains this rule by means of Malachi 1:7, which says:
You offer on my altar desecrated bread, and you say "how have we desecrated you?"
By saying, "the table of the Lord is contemptible."
Malachi puts "my altar" and "the table of the Lord" facing each other, referring to the same thing. Brichto explains that in the Old Testament, an altar is God's table, where "God is the host, man is his guest." (Brichto, "On Slaughter, Sacrifice, Blood, and Atonement," pg. 22)
In everything eaten, God is telling Noah, man must acknowledge God's ownership and provision for mankind. In Israel, every altar is God's table, and conversely, every table becomes an altar insofar as it is where God's provision is eaten. But the line between them is drawn clearly: an altar is an altar because of whose table it is, and it is clearly distinct from the household table. At the altar God's portion is poured out, separated from man's portion, and there are dire consequences for confusing the two (see I Sam. 14, Lev. 17). The distinction should be absolutely clear, not because one is a table and the other is not, but because they are two very different kinds of tables.
But God has offered another kind of sacrifice:
"But Christ being come as an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Heb. 9:11-12)
In Christ God has offered his own offering, not flesh for human consumption where the blood is held back as God's portion, but an offering of God Himself, by God himself, offered on God's own altar in Heaven. And because it is not made by man, nothing is held back. God gives the fullness of himself to mankind in the Eucharist. Vitally, he gives us even the blood, which contains the life. Likewise, the wine is poured out at the table where Christ showed hospitality to his twelve guests, inviting them not only to acknowledge that what they eat at their own tables comes from God's altar, but to approach the very table of God and there to eat and drink of God's own portion.
Where Noah needed to pour out the blood of the animal because its life was from God and belonged to God, when God offers Himself, he freely gives his blood, his life, to the world, for the life of the world.
I Corinthians 11:23-26
St. John 13:1-15
"Take this all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, the mystery of faith, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." - The Roman Canon
 |
| Adoration of the Mystic Lamb altar piece, Hubert and Jan Van Eck |
The pouring out of sacrificial blood has a long history in the Old Testament, beginning with Noah in the immediate aftermath of the flood. God instructs Noah that he may eat any meat he desires, as long as he does not eat it "with the blood," because the blood contains the life of the animal, which belongs only to God. (Gen. 9:4-5)
Herbert Brichto explains this rule by means of Malachi 1:7, which says:
You offer on my altar desecrated bread, and you say "how have we desecrated you?"
By saying, "the table of the Lord is contemptible."
Malachi puts "my altar" and "the table of the Lord" facing each other, referring to the same thing. Brichto explains that in the Old Testament, an altar is God's table, where "God is the host, man is his guest." (Brichto, "On Slaughter, Sacrifice, Blood, and Atonement," pg. 22)
In everything eaten, God is telling Noah, man must acknowledge God's ownership and provision for mankind. In Israel, every altar is God's table, and conversely, every table becomes an altar insofar as it is where God's provision is eaten. But the line between them is drawn clearly: an altar is an altar because of whose table it is, and it is clearly distinct from the household table. At the altar God's portion is poured out, separated from man's portion, and there are dire consequences for confusing the two (see I Sam. 14, Lev. 17). The distinction should be absolutely clear, not because one is a table and the other is not, but because they are two very different kinds of tables.
But God has offered another kind of sacrifice:
"But Christ being come as an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Heb. 9:11-12)
In Christ God has offered his own offering, not flesh for human consumption where the blood is held back as God's portion, but an offering of God Himself, by God himself, offered on God's own altar in Heaven. And because it is not made by man, nothing is held back. God gives the fullness of himself to mankind in the Eucharist. Vitally, he gives us even the blood, which contains the life. Likewise, the wine is poured out at the table where Christ showed hospitality to his twelve guests, inviting them not only to acknowledge that what they eat at their own tables comes from God's altar, but to approach the very table of God and there to eat and drink of God's own portion.
 |
| Icon of Christ the Great High Priest |
Where Noah needed to pour out the blood of the animal because its life was from God and belonged to God, when God offers Himself, he freely gives his blood, his life, to the world, for the life of the world.
Comments
Post a Comment