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| Last Supper window in St Luke's Episcopal Church, Anchorage Ky |
Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat;
I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
I suppose vegetarians are disappointed with this passage from Genesis. However it suggests that, before the Fall and the Flood neither man nor animals ate flesh. Carnivorism appears in Genesis with the increase of sin and may be a concession God gives to our sinful nature.
But I am more interested in the prohibition against consuming blood. The Jews believed God’s covenant with Noah was given to all humankind, though most nations had long ago forgotten it. When the early church agreed to accept gentiles into the church they retained this prohibition against consuming blood. (Act 15: 20, 29)
Although Christians apparently forgot the rule, some English Protestant sects restored it during the heyday of the Protestant reformation. They refused to eat blood pudding, a favorite of the English cuisine.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also adhere to the rule to this day. They refuse transfusions of blood because that would be a kind of consuming. When I was chaplain at the University of Minnesota Hospital I learned that doctors found patients don’t need as many transfusions as they supposed, after working with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They recovered from major surgery and huge losses of blood faster than doctors had anticipated. If nothing else this rule demonstrates the tenacity of God’s word and its many interpretations.
But this scripture must remind Catholics of the command which seems to contradict Noah’s covenant:
So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. John 6: 53-56
The New Testament writers and early church fathers were certainly fascinated with the Blood of Christ. Hebrews recalls the blood of Abel which cried out to heaven for revenge and the blood of Jesus which was spilled for justice’ sake. There is also the blood of the paschal lamb placed on the door posts, which signaled the avenging angel there were Hebrews in this house. Abel and the lamb have been regarded as types of Jesus. At least one writer urged his congregation to receive from the chalice so that the avenging angel would pass over them when he saw the Blood of Christ on their lips.
I can only suppose Jesus was fully aware of the prohibition against drinking blood as he announced the new covenant. Sharing the cup at Mass, we enjoy the privilege of tasting that sweetness which was forbidden since the days of Noah.
The book of John was written in the Greek Language. And when the author recorded things down - when he said you must eat my flesh - he used the Greek word "trogo."
ReplyDeleteNow in the Greek language, many words can be used for "eat". However, the word "trogo" was chosen; it's a very special word because it cannot be taken symbolically. When that word was chosen - when you trogo something, you actually gnaw on it. The definition is to aggressively or loudly munching, gnawing and chewing, as an animal would eat.
This cannot be taken symbolically, and the author chooses this word so that later on when people read this - it's not a soft word - it's meant to actually gnaw and to eat. It's very important; it cannot to be taken symbolically.