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Lottan
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Christ was The Lamb of God
The scriptures refer to Christ as the lamb of God (John 1:29) and the spotless lamb of God (1-Peter 1:19). The life of Christ and his crucifixion was the physical fulfillment of the Levitical sacrificial system Moses set in place pointing to the advent of the coming savior. These sacrifices are not the subject of this post but I will note here this sacrificial system was done away with after Christ's death on the cross (Ephesians 2:15).At the Last Supper, Christ broke the bread and instructed those with him, "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26) and "This is my body which is given for you" (Luke 22:19). However, this is not the first time that Christ had referred to himself as bread:
Moses compared eating bread with the word of God in a metaphorical fashion centuries earlier which Christ quoted during his temptation; note he said "it is written" referring to the written word of God in Moses:
So why would Christ refer to himself as bread to be eaten? After all, eating the flesh of a human would be cannibalism, clearly against the dietary laws of Moses. The disciples upon hearing Christ was to be eaten did not immediately toss him in the oven with some garlic and serve serve him up on a bed of pasta. In fact, Christ was never literally eaten; thus it stands to reason this is mere metaphor.
Bread Metaphorical for Teachings and Leaven a Metaphor of Hypocrisy
Christ warned the disciples from buying leavened bread from the Pharisees:However, later in his ministry Christ instructed his followers to observe the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees but warned them of the hypocrisy found within their behavior:
We all understand hypocrisy. We observe hypocrisy every day in the media, our neighborhoods, Hollywood, expounded upon in stories of all sorts, and sung of endlessly in music. It was this sort of behavior which Christ warned his followers of and we can see such lack of sincerity and genuine adherence to their espoused doctrines in the passages of Matthew 6, Matthew 23, Mark 7, and Luke 11. This leaven, which is hypocrisy, is what Christ was warning his followers about: in effect, he was telling them that while the Pharisees and Sadducees behave in a manner that they may have glory of men (Matthew 6:2) outwardly they were empty inside full of dead mens bones and uncleanliness (Matthew 23:27-28).
Thus, the leavened bread Christ was warning his followers about was not a literal loaf of bread behaving as a hypocrite. Instead, the leavened bread Christ was referring to were the scribes and Pharisees teachings by their hypocritical example which had polluted their oral instructions. How many times do we compare our own actions with that of our Pastor, fellow parishioners and church goings, friends, neighbors, or other teachers we have in our lives and make judgements about our own righteousness based on how well our deeds agree with whom we view as holy men?
We now find ourselves with a greater understand of the symbolism of the unleavened bread which Christ broke at the Last Supper and told his disciples with him to "eat, this is my body": He was drawing our attention to his teachings, the bread, which was unpolluted with any hypocrisy (leaven) in his actions, ie. his flesh.
Flesh Metaphorical for Action and Deeds
Actions being metaphorical for flesh should come as no surprise to us. This metaphorical connection is found in countless volumes of poetry, songs, films, novels, novelettes, and even paintings; i.e. art of all kinds. However, we need not the wisdom of man to make this connection (Proverbs 3:5) as Galatians makes it for us:An Application to Our Daily Lives
We've all heard the Proverb "As a dog returneth to his vomit so a fool returneth to his folly" (Proverbs 26:11). Recognizing the fool returning to his folly here is easy. However, if we were to follow in the way, that is the actions, of the gambler and go to Vegas would we not be, metaphorically, consuming the actions (teaching by deeds) of this gabling fool? I suppose there is some wisdom in the old proverb, "You are what you eat."
Note that dog is an unclean meat found in Leviticus chapter eleven. Isreal was not to eat dog meat: i.e. an instruction metaphorically warning them not to emulate the actions of a fool. Stated another way, the literal meat meant nothing. After all, Christ said,
Solomon, knowing nature (1-Kings 4:33), wrote Proverb 26:11 using a known behavioral trait of the canine to illustrate the behavior a fool and provide a reason for why dogs are unclean. Therefore, understanding this deeper meaning sheds new light on Peter's vision of Acts 10 and why Paul said he could eat food scarified to idols (1-Cor 8).
l will leave you with this question: Which is more likely? The Levitical dietary laws
- Are an arbitrary system of restrictions set up by a merciful and all loving Creator at a time, and prohibitive location for farming, in which food was already scarce; or,
- Have a deeper meaning, set up by a merciful and all loving Creator, designed to teach following generations the importance of being cautious of whom we accept instruction?
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