Homo Liturgicus: Our Paschal Lamb is Sacrificed

The next step in our consideration of Homo Liturgicus, Man the Worshiper, is somewhat obvious.

We have seen thus far that man was created with a sacrificial goal in mind, and that part of Adam’s priestly duties as guardian of the Edenic sanctuary included his being willing to engage in holy war with the serpentine intruder, even it meant laying down his life for his bride. Adam’s priestly failure resulted in his being desecrated, profaned, and rendered unfit to offer acceptable sacrifice to his Creator.

In my last post I tried to show that the Son of God, in his life of self-emptying kenosis, both fulfilled man’s sacrificial role and vividly demonstrated before man’s eyes the very self-giving dynamic that has existed within the Godhead for all eternity.

We now turn to Calvary.

The Bible is very clear that what was happening upon the cross of Jesus Christ was much more than would have met the eye. To the casual observer, what was transpiring was a fairly typical Roman execution: Crosses? Check. Centurions? Check. Condemned criminals? Check.

But all the faithful understand that this was no ordinary crucifixion, at least not for the Man in the middle of the two thieves on his right and his left. For him, this was nothing short of a sacrifice. We read in Hebrews 9:24-26; 10:5-7, 10-14:

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The sacrificial nature of Jesus’ death is so ingrained in us that we rarely ask the question, “Where did the apostles get this idea in the first place?” It’s a fair question if you think about it, for none of the elements of a Jewish sacrifice were present there on that hill outside the city’s walls: Temple? Nope. Priest? Nope. Altar? Nope.

I think the best answer to this question is found as we root the crucifixion in the context of the Jewish Passover that was in full swing at the very same time in Jerusalem. In my next post I will seek to do this in greater detail, but for our purposes here I would just point out that this is indeed how the apostles understood Christ’s death:

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Cor. 5:6-8).

Note that Christ is here called “our Passover Lamb” whose sacrifice enables us to “keep the festival.” In ch. 10 Paul draws a comparison between the paschal sacrifice offered by the Jews under the Old Covenant and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper:

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons I Cor. 10:14-21).

We see from this passage that the early church clearly understood the death of Christ to be a sacrifice that was intimately connected with the Jewish Passover sacrifices, for it was this transformation of the Jewish Passover instituted in the upper room that set the stage for a sacrificial interpretation of the events of Calvary in the first place. Thus Christ’s death is to be seen, in part at least, as his fulfillment of the role that had been given originally to the first Adam: Adam should have offered himself in self-giving love on behalf of his bride, which is precisely what Christ in fact did:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.... Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:1-2, 25-27).

Thoughts?