The Eucharist – Foreshadowing

PASSOVER & SACRIFICE

We will start our exploration with the very first Passover. It is here that the first rules of sacrifice are given to the people of Israel. It’s also a convenient place to start, as most people have heard the story of the first Passover (or at least seen Charlton Heston and Yul Brenner in the movie version).

A few days before the first Passover, Moses and the Israelites are told how to avoid the fate of the first born of Egypt.

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until morning you shall burn.”

What we want to focus on the nature of the sacrifice and what has to be done with it. This is the first paschal sacrifice. The sacrifice is a lamb, an unblemished lamb, which is then eaten. If the family isn’t big enough to eat the entire lamb, then neighbors are brought in to help eat the flesh. God Himself commands that the flesh of the lamb be eaten.

Not only is the Passover the most significant sacrifice for the Israelites, it’s also the only sacrifice that God commands to be perpetual. This is specifically commanded more than once. In Exodus 12:14 we read, “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever.” This is also repeated in verse 24, “You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and your sons for ever.” And in a slightly different form in verse 17, “And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day, throughout your generations, as an ordinance for ever.” The point is therefore driven home: The paschal sacrifice is perpetual.

When God’s people were freed from Egypt, they went to the foot of Mount Sinai and waited. They waited long enough that they started grumbling. Finally, growing ever more impatient, they crafted a golden calf and began worshipping it. In time, God turned this evil into good, and that good took the form of animal sacrifice. The animals for these sacrifices were related to the Egyptian gods. The creatures that people had once sacrificed to in Egypt became the Israelites’ sacrificial animals. (Among other things, the Egyptian pantheon included Apis the bull, Banebdjedet the ram, Hathor the cow; there were birds, cats, jackels, and a wide assortment of other animals.)

Animals were sacrificed for a variety of reasons. Some were sacrificed for sin offerings, some for peace offerings, some for thanksgiving. The book of Leviticus sets out the rules for these sacrificial offerings. “And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any until the morning.” (Lev. 7:5) It was absolutely required that the sacrifice be eaten as well: “Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and behold it was burned! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” (Lev. 10:16-18)

One last example is Exodus 29:31-34. “You shall take the ram of ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place; and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to ordain and consecrate them, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. And if any of the flesh for the ordination, or of the bread, remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.”

THE PURE OFFERING

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts.” (Malachi 1:11)

This passage from Malachi was written some 400 years before Christ. In that time, the name of the God of Israel was not “great among the nations.” There were no offerings made “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” This is, therefore, a prophesy of things to come. It speaks of a pure offering – grammatically singular – made all over the world. And there was only one truly “pure” offering ever made to God – Jesus Christ on the Cross.

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

All these things point to a specific idea: Righteous sacrifices in the Old Testament had to be consumed. The Paschal Lamb, as a sacrifice, had to be consumed as well.

In the text above, we see that the Passover was the only perpetual sacrifice imposed upon the Israelites. Not a bone of the Paschal Lamb was to be broken. The Paschal Lamb had to be without blemish – in fact, the lamb itself is a symbol of innocence. And most importantly for our discussion – the Paschal Lamb had to be consumed.

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). He is without blemish (1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 7:26). His sacrifice is perpetual (Revelation 5:6-10). Even after the horrors of the scourging and crucifixion, not a bone of His was broken (John 19:36). Jesus Christ is our Paschal Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Our Paschal Lamb must be consumed (John 6).

The Mosaic covenant was consummated in Exodus 24:9-11. The elders of Israel, with Moses and Aaron, went up the mountain to sit in the presence of God. They ate and drank, and the old covenant was sealed in this meal. The eternal New Covenant is also sealed with a meal; every day, from the rising of the sun to its setting – every hour or every day– the Eucharistic meal is celebrated in Catholic Churches the world over. This Eucharistic meal is hidden under the appearance of bread and wine – just as Isaiah 45:15 hints – but it is, nonetheless, the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the next installment, we will look at the establishment and form of the Eucharist.

Part 2 - Establishment and Form