We wanted to share with you up front a comment that has been posted by a writer out of Alberta Canada.
Ken said...
I got into something of a dust-up with some non-denominational types over the issue of the Old Covenant and the Church's teaching that the Old Covenant between God and the Jewish people is fixed and irrevocable, and that the Jewish people who live in that covenant offer up a response to God as well.Essentially, it's a teaching that the salvation Christ brings extends also to the Jews, the first to hear the Word of God, by means of the Old Covenant and the law of Moses. I'm sure the good Reader can see why such an idea would trigger a good dust-up with those who take a rather simpler view of the Christian faith.Now, the Reader can relax a bit: I'm not going to go into a lengthy explanation of the Catholic position today. But I wanted to remark on something I tripped over on my stroll through the blogs this morning, which I think is relevant.At the end of a post that begins with a discussion of the tripartite division of the Temple, and how this relates to Mount Sinai, Michael Barber notes that there is a certain parallelism in the words Moses uses in bestowing the Old Covenant on the people, and the words that Christ uses in giving the New Covenant in His blood:Key to all of this is the covenant ratification ceremony of Exodus 24--a passage Jesus' likely alludes to at the Last Supper:Mark 14:23: "And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. [24] And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (cf. Matt 26:28).Exod 24:8: "And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." [Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on this verse reads, "This is the blood of the covenant"].Much could be said here [wait for my dissertation!], but suffice it to say, if Jesus is linking the Eucharist with Exodus 24 the implications are huge.If the Sinai experience was a Temple experience in which God's presence came to be with His people, how much more real is God's presence with His people in the Eucharistic celebration?The short answer would be: very real, perhaps even terrifyingly real. I previously discussed the institution of the Eucharist by Christ, and His revelation in the breaking of the bread, from a purely Scriptural point of view, and would suggest to the Reader that it is beyond doubt that Christ does literally become present in the bread and wine in the Mass. It's still a bold declaration of faith to say so, but Scripture supports the conjecture.Some Catholics probably also understand the Eucharist as a re-participation in the New Covenant that Christ instituted at His Last Supper. But perhaps there is a deeper significance, one that relates the New Covenant back to the old, and thus makes the Eucharist a re-participation in that older promise between God and man as well.
June 24, 2008 1:55 PM
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