In continuation of my Post-Holy Week(s) Reflection series I
want to go back to the evening of the Lord's Supper. A night when religion was
forever changed. Progressed and perfected from potentials and soon-to-comes to
an active realization of communion with God
As I
write this post I'm listening to John Williams' scores from Raiders of
the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade… one part
thematic choice, one part casual nerdiness. As I listen I’m struck even more by
the connection and separation between the Old Testament with its Law and animal
sacrifices and the grace upon grace which is the new covenant in Christ
Jesus—the Absolute Sacrifice. For Christianity to be what it claims it must be
perfectly bound to the history of the Old Testament while being perfectly
separate and new in its religious significance. In all of Holy Week perhaps no
event is more significant in illustrating this point as the Lord’s Supper.
Passover
is remembrance of the night of
the tenth plague where the firstborns the Egyptians were
slain and the Jews were spared. The conditions were that a lamb was to be
sacrificed and its blood placed in the entryway of the house
according to certain specifications (for more see Exodus 12). Along with the practice of
lamb offerings in Jewish Law, lamb was a symbol of forgiveness and
covenant with God and part of traditional Passover dinner’s Seder plate. It was food Jesus and the
Twelve likely ate or could have eaten which had long served as a powerful
symbol of God’s faithfulness to Israel. Perhaps the meat was non-existent but
this is unlikely as they were guests of a man wealthy enough to shelter and
feed them at a table for thirteen. More likely the lamb, like the rest of the
dinner, was insignificant in that context. The Lord chose a lesser food, humble
unleavened traveler’s bread, and some wine with which He worked a wonder. Doing
something new with an old thing, God’s Lamb passed on lamb.
That
night and ever after bread and wine would serve as the noblest of meals. This
mundane meal, chosen by God, became the deepest and most noble feast ever
served. It’s clear this decision was made not for dietary reasons or
because Jesus didn't understand the significance of lamb in Jewish tradition
but because it was to serve a unique purpose. But why exactly? Why pick the
mundane elements of bread and wine to symbolize the death rather than a
previously established symbol of sacrifice? Again, clearly something new was
being done. Several things actually.
1. On a purely practical level Jesus was
again ministering to even the least of these. Lamb is pricey. It’s a privilege
food. And while there indeed are those who do not even get bread and wine they
are among the most common of foods. Almost every culture uses some form bread
as a staple food. Likewise wine was the most readily available drink in that
room and, saving water, it was perhaps the most consumed beverage of the
ancient Near East and certainly the chief beverage of the Roman Empire. It was
readily available for the early church and could follow Christians into new
lands to serve as the sacrament.
a. *As a side note the use of wine rather
than water keeps the chief sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist wholly
distinct from one another. Though all persons of the Trinity are involved in
the sacraments because of their perfect union with one another, Baptism is more
directly the gift of the Holy Spirit while the Eucharist is primarily concerned
with the sacrifice of the Son. As the difference in sacramental elements helps
distinguish sacraments from each other the recognition of the different roles
of the Trinity is essential in Christian theology.*
2. The similar appearance in color
between unleavened bread with the Jewish Jesus’s Galilean skin and red wine
with blood helps appeal to the senses in a way which aids the imagination to
help one on the essence of Christ.
3. The use of bread and wine as a two
part sacrament allows for specificity in the work of Christ and the details of
His death.
Apart from these practical concerns there remains one
reason which currently stands out to me. There is no lamb because no lamb
is needed. While this may sound a bit circular consider the theology. For the
Jews animal offerings were necessary for to cover sin as they waited in hope
for the coming Messiah. For the Christian the Messiah is come already and His
sacrifice covers all sins. They need kill no beasts to observe there religious
ceremonies because a sacrifice has already occurred. The religions practice of
communion is tethered to the specific death of Christ. While the Jew had to
repeatedly kill subhuman creatures in recognition of their guilt while they
hoped for the Messiah, Christians know that sin is forgiven because Jesus
Messiah came and died. Religious practice no longer requires death no because
religion is no longer about what we have done and what God will do, but about
what God did in spite of us and what He continues to do. There is no lamb in
Communion because the Lamb of God was sufficient.
Hopefully
this examination of a question which nobody seems to ask will help illuminate
my future investigations on the role of the Old Testament, the nature of grace,
the role of the sacraments, and the person of Jesus.
God loves you.
