Worthy Is The Lamb! (Not The Loaf...)

This blog continues from where I left off....

This momentous (for me) move toward a vegetarian lifestyle certainly got my brain riled up. Things I never thought twice about before suddenly presented themselves for reconsideration.

One notion blew my mind for the sheer fact that it had been there in front of me about a thousand times — literally. And I never saw it.

It's called the Lord's Supper. The bread and the wine. I've probably taken the Lord's Supper a thousand times in my life. Maybe more.

But here's the thing I never noticed before. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he was presiding over a Passover meal. That means that meat was on the menu that night. Lamb, to be specific.

This occasion presented Jesus with a perfect opportunity to make (for his frequently confused disciples) a tangible statement about a very important symbolic truth.

After Jesus' resurrection, St. Paul will later (1 Corinthians 5) recognize Christ as "our Passover lamb" — and that is what he is.

John the Baptist testified to this same reality when Jesus began his ministry — when Jesus first approached John at the Jordan river.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

So the pivotal moment has arrived. Jesus is about to institute the Lord's Supper. The Pascal Lamb is presiding over a Passover meal.

And...

And...

He grabs for the bread instead.

Go figure?

Now it must of course be said that Jesus is also the bread of heaven. The bread of life. Absolutely. He said so himself. This is also true.

But John the Baptist didn't call Jesus the Loaf of God.

The Apostle Paul didn't call Jesus our Pascal Loaf.

No one on earth has got this matter confused. What about in heaven?

Nope. Not there either. In Revelation Jesus is not wandering around heaven as a resurrected loaf of bread. Not even symbolically.

In heaven too Jesus is revealed to be the resurrected Lamb of God.

To quote just one of many references, let's savor this one:

Revelation 5:15
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
   and honor and glory and praise!”

Jesus is described as a lamb about twenty-five times in Revelation.

On the night of the Lord's Supper, there was lamb meat on the table.

Why on earth, then, did Jesus reach for the bread?

Well, meat is more expensive. Did Jesus chose cheaper ingredients so as to make the Lord's Supper more affordable to all?

Perhaps. But a tiny bite of meat once a week doesn't cost much, and is this really the moment to be stretching the food budget?

In any case, Jesus chose the bread, and it wasn't because the lamb was too far down the table. We ought to think about why he did that.

The book of Hebrews spends no small amount of time arguing that the sacrifices in the temple are no longer necessary. Jesus was the last, perfect, sacrifice. No further animal sacrifice is necessary, ever again.

For me this thought invites a follow-up question. Is it possible that Jesus intended to be the last sacrifice not merely for the sake of mankind, but also for the sake of the animals?

Hard to say. Scriptures do not answer this specific question. However I cannot help but wonder if Jesus intended for us to eventually work out the fact that we're free now to stop killing animals. Prior to his death, that simply wasn't an option for believers.

If that thought was on Jesus' mind, it's perfectly clear why he reached for the bread. After Good Friday, we'll never need meat again.

If that thought was not on Jesus' mind, we're left with a bit of mystery as to why he didn't reach for the lamb sitting there on the table.

As I said, these are just wondering questions. I don't have answers.

But I will address an obvious objection. Someone may ask, "If that's what Jesus wanted, don't you think he would have mentioned it?"

There is an easy reply to that. The Bible does not explicitly address every topic that should be of interest to God-fearing Christians.

Preserving rain-forests and managing water resources should concern us all, but the Bible is understandably silent on these topics.

What's worse, the Bible is sometimes tantalizingly vague even on highly charged moral issues that were relevant both then and now.

For example, Jesus did explicitly condemn slavery. We know he didn't like it, though, because we know who Jesus is.

Many Christians believe Jesus was a pacifist, but he didn't condemn the centurion for his line of work. He only commended his faith.

So Christians worked out some values and beliefs only in hindsight — and sometimes (e.g., pacifism) without unanimity among believers.

So, Yes, Paul certainly made it clear that meat is still permissible (1 Corinthians 8) — but on the other hand he gave instructions to slave-owners that did not include setting their slaves free.

Working out the true convictions of New Testament personalities can be tricky at times, because they focused like lasers on the highest priority: building the Church.

It's clear enough from the book of Philemon that St. Paul was definitely looking forward to a day when slavery would be no more, but that was not the highest item on his agenda each day.

Likewise, we do see Jesus eating fish in one post-resurrection appearance. But Jesus wanted to meet Peter, and Peter wasn't at the local falafel joint. He was fishing.

Would Jesus have preferred a different menu that day? Perhaps. But in any case it's clear that Jesus too had bigger fish to fry. He needed to reinstate Peter and remind him of his calling to build the church.

...Specifically, to stop catching fish. And start feeding sheep.

I'm playing with words, to be sure. It's food for thought all the same.

To be continued...