THE OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND OF THE MASS

Saint Augustine on the Old Testament

The Old Testament is the New concealed.

The New is the Old revealed.

Hey! That’sgood!

Sometimes Christians feel like the Old Testamentis not very important for them. Didn’t Jesus do away with all of that stuff when He started theChurch?

But listen to Jesus!

Matt. 5:17 “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished."

Listen to Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles Rom. 11:17 "But if some of

the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you."

Some things that are different:

Dietary Laws (You can be a Christian and have your bacon, too!).

Sunday instead of Sabbath

Churches all over the world instead of one temple in Jerusalem

Less violent response to evil

This is bacon. Now that Jesushas come, we can eat it.

Why the differences?

No longer necessary to isolate Israel in preparation for the coming Messiah

Some things, like temple worship, were a shadow of the substance to come

Progression of revelation; Laws in OT are good, commandments of Christ are better.

This modern depictionof Moses is the work

of the famous Jewish artist, Marc Chagall

But we still have a Jewish faith!

Jewish Messiah

Jewish Bible

Jewish sacrificeThis symbol, known as the “Star of David”

in English and the “Shield of David” in Hebrew became a symbol of Judaism in the Middle Ages

A Jewish Sacrifice

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 1:11 is a prophecy of the Mass

There was a time when acceptable sacrifices could only be offered in Jerusalem

There is coming a day when acceptable sacrifices will be offered all over the world.

The TempleMount in Jerusalem

Every OT sacrifice is a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross

OT sacrifices look forward to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as symbol

The Mass looks back to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as substance

We’re going to look at three different sacrifices

Peace offerings (שלמים)

Passover (פסח)

Thanksgiving offerings (תודה)

שלמים

shelamim Perhaps from שלום,

shalom, which means “peace”

Or related to Akkadian šulmānu, “gift, tribute”

Usually translated “peace offerings”

The shelamim were banquet sacrifices

shelamim were for families

1Sam. 1:1-4 … Elkanah … used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh …. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters; 5 and, although he loved Hannah, he would give Hannah only one portion, because the LORD had closed her womb.

Eating with GodCovenant with GodBecoming family with God Exodus 24:4 And Moses

wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of

oxen to the LORD.

Exodus 24, continued

6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

8 And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The rest of Exodus 24:1-11

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

The Last SupperFirst Massgift of Blood of New Covenant

Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Passover

Ex. 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.”

Exodus 12, continued

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.

7 Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them.

Exodus 12:8

8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Things to note

Not good enough to just sacrifice the lamb

Not good enough to just put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts

Salvation for the firstborn depended on the family eating the lamb together

Luke 22:1 Now the feast of Unleavened Bread

drew near, which is called the Passover.

תודה

Todah, “Thanksgiving” offering

A special kind of the shelamim, that used unleavened bread.

Lev. 7:11 And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which one may offer to the LORD. 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thank offering unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of fine

flour well mixed with oil.

Amazing facts about the Todah

One way to translate into Greek is תודהευχαριχτια (“eucharistia”). Sound familiar?

The loaves of bread spread with oil are called meshuchim, related to Meshiach, “Messiah.”

Our Todah

Jesus is our todah sacrifice to the Father.

We receive Him and offer Him, together with ourselves, at every Mass.