It Takes Two

In both Judaism and Christianity, the covenant of circumcision or cutting of a piece of a person off as an offering of commitment is made to God. Generally speaking, the Jews circumcised the male penis and Christians circumcise the heart, reflected in a repentant life, as well as physically in the cutting of one's hair (tonsure) at baptism/chrismation. This is a promise of a follower of God of their fidelity, through a willingness to give over a part of themselves to God. See Genesis 17.

In Genesis 15, we get a different story. Well before Abraham and his clan cut themselves in covenant, God had Abraham (then called Abram) cut several animals in two. Then in verses 17-18, a torch and smoke (reminiscent of the pillar of fire and smoke that went before Moses in the Exodus) passed between the pieces of animal meat as God made a covenant with Abraham/Abram to give him descendants. This promise was rubber-stamped by God through his effectively having cut flesh. 

This was an ancient rite in many Near-East cultures, whereby the cut meat is a symbolic declaration of the vassal or subservient party to the sovereign or protecting party of allegiance, lest they be cut down or cut in two. Think of it like a blood oath (because blood contains life). It is a promise of fidelity by a weaker side for the protection by the stronger. Only it is God, not the true weaker party of Abraham/Abram, who makes the junior side promise. God is saying, if I don't increase your descendants Abe, then don't follow me... The contact is nullified.

In the mutual covenanting between God and man, God lays it down first so that his people will succeed. He did this when he found Adam and Eve naked and hiding behind fig-leafed clothes they had made. In that case, God killed an animal and made clothes of the skins to cover Adam and Eve's vulnerability more adequately than they could do on their own. Salvation from sin and death is a human inability, but God is able.

Animal sacrifice was a point of renewal of these covenant experiences, whereby the people renew their commitment in following God's example of killing animals as covering. Sacrificial animals were consumed -- burnt for God as the smoke raised to him, and other portions were eaten by the people/priests as their share. It was communion with God through a common meal. This is the heart of worship. Dare I say it, but real worship must have sacrifice and a shared exchange, which is often through a meal. A church service without communion is merely a nice offertory concert, but is not the fullness of worship. In short, praise and devotional songs are not adequately worship, even if they are worshipful.

This then draws us forward to Jesus -- God incarnate -- and his last supper with his crew (see Matthew 26), where he calls the bread and wine consumed his body and blood. It was a sacrificial communion meal (i.e. worship), whereby sacrificed food (emblematic of Christ's soon sacrifice on the cross) was said by Jesus to be the blood of the new covenant, which is a fulfillment of the original. Once again, God takes the first step, as he did with Abraham/Abram. Jesus is even the fruit of Abram's descendants. And then Jesus told his disciples to keep the communion/Eucharist in remembrance of him (Luke 22). This is not a mere symbol, but a continuation of the repentant act seen in the animal and grain sacrifices of Israel in their constant renewal of their covenant with the God who first covenanted with them. 

Many Protestants decry the Orthodox and Catholic understanding of the Eucharist as a new sacrifice, because in their mind, Jesus made the final sacrifice. In reality, all Christians agree, but the focus of the communion cup and bread as sacrifice is not as a new sacrifice per se, but as participation in the final sacrifice of Christ. Remembrance is not merely a ritualized memorial, because you cannot truly remember what you did not participate in. Rather, it is participation in the death and resurrection of Christ through a communion meal so that repentance might be actualized. It bridges time and space, so it is not a new sacrifice, but the singular sacrifice of Christ that people enter into. It is the covenant of the pieces and circumcision in unison. This is first done in baptism, when a believer dies and rises into life in Christ. Eucharist or communion is a re-commitment of covenant, or of one's baptismal death in the act God took upon himself to become our sin offering (see 2 Corinthians 5:21. Note, here Jesus did not become the properties of sin as many Protestants assume, but the consequence of sin in the place of death as our offering) so that we might live in him. 

In the end, God takes the first step in our mutual covenanting with him. This is not a coercive God that demands obedience and sacrifice for people to be heard, but instead is willing to put his head on the proverbial chopping block to show his commitment to humanity. Therefore, we have no excuse or right to blame God for death, sin, and life's maladies. He put himself on the line as proof of his word. Our appropriate response is to lay ourselves down and trust him at his word, because he demonstrated the depth and breadth by which he will act and has acted. We can walk away, because salvation cannot be forced. Salvation is covenantal. It takes two.

Praise God! 

I am wowed by this theme.