Sts. Peter and Paul Solemnity
Rev. Thomas Kuffel
Oddly, St. Paul tells us, “Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed” (I Cor 5:7). This fulfills the prophecy of St. John the Baptist who on seeing his cousin declares, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). For us Gentiles separated by centuries from Israel and the Jerusalem Temple, such symbolism seems doubtful. Jesus is the real Passover Lamb Who replaced the spotless male lambs sacrificed upon the altar rail in the temple during the Passover. Do we grasp the mystery of this statement?
During the Passover in Jerusalem, Israelite families came to celebrate. The Fathers brought a lamb to the Temple. Then he cut its throat and Levite priests collected the blood who then poured it upon the Altar of Sacrifice in memorial of the First Passover in Egypt. That blood poured out became mixed with water so it would flow out of the Temple side, as a river flowing into the valley (see Eze 47:1). St. John attests to this mystery declaring, “At once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true” (John 19:34). John tells us this so we could believe that what happened during Passover week at the Temple, as Ezekiel prophesized, happened to Jesus the New Temple. A soldier pierced his side, suddenly blood and water flowed out completing the prophecy: From Jesus’ side, his blood and water flowing out as the new River of Life cleanses us from sin and brings forth new life in us.
Gentiles today find this unintelligible for we have lost the sense of Temple worship and sacrifice. Yet for the Israelites, Temple sacrifice was an essential element of the Passover. For us, sacrifice seems brutal cruelty to animals. Yet for the Israelites, animal sacrifice as well as grain offerings were an integral part of their worship.
Animal sacrifice vicariously took the place of the persons offering the animal. It joined the two together in a covenant and that covenant sealed them into a bond that if broken, what happened to the animal, happens to the offerers. In other words, fail to keep the covenant, let it bring death.
This is the essence of the Passover Lamb. It took the place of the firstborn son, who would be struck dead if the family did not offer the Passover. In Egypt, Israelite Families sacrificed a lamb, took its blood, and sprinkled its blood upon their doorposts and then roasted and ate the lamb. This death ritual, which seems sick to us, saved Israel from the Angel of Death who came to strike down all false firstborn sons, especially Pharoah and his son.
Though this sacrifice originated in Egypt some 3500 years ago, it foreshadowed the true sacrifice of Jesus Who is the Firstborn Divine Son Who offers Himself, not vicariously but actually, upon the cross. In the letter to the Hebrews, St Paul declares:
“If the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God” (Heb 9:13–14).
By his blood, He takes away the sins of the world. Jesus’ self-offering completes the prophecy so that no other offering needs to be offered (Heb 10:1-18). He laid down his life freely and took it up again freely for He has the power to lay it down and raise it again. His sacrifice, done once for all, atones for all sin.
Jesus changed the Mosaic Ritual. Instead of offering a lamb, He offers Himself as the Lamb of God. During the New Passover, Jesus tells us to do this in memory of me! Do what? Instead of taking a lamb and sacrificing it, take bread and wine. This bread becomes his body. The wine becomes his blood. To ensure this is not a false prophecy, St. Paul tells us.
“’This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the chalice, after supper, saying, ‘This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:24–26).
Yet what does it mean to do this in memory of Jesus? For many it means we celebrate the Passover taking bread and wine and remembering what Jesus did. For some, this is a symbol or a transignification. For Catholics, it is more than a memorial. The Father interacts with his people offering his Firstborn Son to atone for our sins. He invites us to enter this mystery and be lifted up into the Divine Presence freed from sin and be alive in Jesus. During this New Passover, Jesus the God/Man descends and becomes present actually, not figuratively.
Yet, is this all that we are to do? Offer bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus and He will present Himself magically upon our altar? This of course was the condemnation and ridicule of those, who transposed the words of institution: Hoc Est Corpus Meum (this is my body) into hocus pocus. Still, how do we know that this is not just figurative or magic?
Jesus became the sin offering: He “made himself to be sin (the sin offering)” (2 Cor 5:21), not just to make us righteous, but also that we too become part of the sin offering. We partake in the sacrifice by sacrificing ourselves as did Jesus. Do this in remembrance of me recalls the original action. Do what? Not just offer bread and wine but sacrifice yourself as part of the offering.
Sts. Peter and Paul did this. They not only offered the bread and the wine which became the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, the perfect offering. But they too became the lamb of sacrifice in union with Jesus, our Passover Lamb, not the Lamb of God Himself, for only Jesus is that. Rather, they shared in his suffering and death as they united themselves to Jesus, witnessing with their lives the communion they had with Him. Their martyrdom proclaims his death and resurrection. This is the secret of the Scriptures. Those who die with Christ will rise with Him.
Yet, there is an even deeper understanding of this sacrificial offering. The martyrs in union with Jesus, offer atonement for sin. They, united with Christ, make reparation for the sins of the people as did Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice was not exclusive. It was inclusive. He invites us into communion with Him not only to receive his sacrificial offering but also to offer our body and blood and become divinized. This conformity to Christ through our own self-offering Christifies us. We not only imitate Christ, but we become another Christ, a Christian.
Christianized, our soul receives the spiritual stigmata in which we identify perfectly with Christ. In this identification, we have the wounds of Christ spiritually impressed upon our souls. His wounds imprinted upon our souls perfectly conforms us to Him becoming an offering of reparation for the sins of the world. United to Jesus in a sacrifice like his, we experience the sorrow and the sadness, the wounds and the weakness, the death and the darkness only to rise and live. In this Christianization, our love increases recognizing that nothing separates us from Jesus. Not “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Rom 8:35).
In a world gone wrong, where selfishness reigns, Christ our Passover invites us to correct the wrongs, by selflessly sacrificing ourselves for Christ, as He selflessly sacrificed Himself for us. When we do this, we glorify God through the sacrifice of our bodies, as did Peter and Paul (Rom 12:1).