Stranger Claims, #5. Mamre to the Cenacle, Moriah to Golgotha
In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, there were many tussles about language and emphasis. One tussle was about the heart of Catholic worship, about the Mass. Is it a sacrifice, or a feast? Do we worship at an altar, or break bread at a table?
This is a false dichotomy: the answer is both. At Mass, we meet Jesus as Lord and as Savior, as the generous host at a feast, and also as the priest and victim at a sacrifice. You can say that sacrificial love is at the heart of the Gospel, and also say that hospitality is at the heart of the Gospel: these are not contradictory assertions. And both truths are based squarely on the revelations that began in Abraham’s story.
Christians understand the Last Supper to be the first act of a single drama, the first moments of a single event. What happened over three days (the “Triduum”) is a single unified whole, from the feast on Thursday night to the crucifixion on Friday afternoon to the resurrection on Sunday morning. Of these three pieces, two – the feast and the sacrifice – are foreshadowed in Abraham’s life.
Abraham was an old man, and his wife was an old woman, when they had their first and only son, Isaac. So it was a painful shock to Abraham when he came to believe that God was asking him to sacrifice his son. Whatever God said, Abraham did put God first, ahead of everything and everybody, his son included. So if he was put to the test, he would sacrifice his son. They packed up, and went off to Moriah, where Abraham was planning to kill the child. So it was a great relief when God intervened. Abraham experienced this, and reported it, as God changing his mind; but whether he changed his mind or just clarified the request, Isaac lived.
In cultures around Abraham, killing the innocent was seen as one way to communicate with the gods. Abraham understood bloodshed to be an integral part of making a covenant, a deep commitment to a permanent relationship. But the God of Abraham and Isaac did not want Isaac’s blood to seal the covenant.
Did Abraham glimpse something important, but fail to get the details quite right? Christians believe that God established a covenant with Abraham, and that this covenant was perfected by Jesus. Christians believe that the covenant was indeed sealed by the blood of Abraham’s child – not his only son Isaac, but his greatest son, a descendant centuries later. Christians do not believe that God sealed the covenant with blood because God is bloodthirsty; rather, mankind is bloodthirsty, and God can bring good out of it. Whoever initiated the bloodshed, Jesus accepted the role of victim. Christians accept a covenant sealed in the blood of Abraham’s son.
Whoever initiated … Throughout his ministry, Jesus moved toward Jerusalem, conscious of what was to happen at Golgotha. At the Passover celebration, he initiated a three-day event. He’s not bloodthirsty, but he is priest as well as victim.
The events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday are two parts of a single whole – foreshadowed by events at Mamre and also at Moriah.
The point is, if you want to argue that the heart of Christian worship is the sacrifice of the Mass, you’re right. No argument. But the luminous heart of God shines brightly, with rays of different colors. Mass completes the sacrifice at Moriah, and the feast at Mamre – both.
Let me make the point forcefully. If you don’t see hospitality as central to Christian life, including Christian worship, you see wrong. You can’t ignore the teaching from Mamre and understand the Mass. Hospitality is at the heart of the Gospel, and at the heart of our worship.