God no longer dwells in shadows

Thomas Sunday

Acts 5:12-20
John 20:19-31


God’s plan for mankind was set in motion long before Christ was born. The Book of Revelation refers to him as the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world.

Speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah, God promised a New Covenant. He says, “See, days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

In the Book of Hebrews, we read that the Law was given as a shadow of the “Good Things to Come” - the Old Covenant was a shadow of the New Covenant. We read, “when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well”. And in today’s Gospel, we see our Lord implementing some of those changes.

At the Last Supper, He instituted the priesthood and the Eucharist. In our Consecration, the priest echoes His words. “This cup is my blood of the New Covenant”. Every one of the various types of sacrifice under the Law were a shadow of the Eucharist.

Not only that, but the Eucharist is the fulfillment of the Passover Meal. In fact, some have suggested that the Eucharist is the SAME Passover Meal that He began in the upper room, and that it won’t be completed until the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Then, one week after the Resurrection, He brought the apostles into that priesthood when He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. This priesthood is not only the fulfillment of the Levitical Priesthood, which offered a number of different sacrifices, but also the Priesthood of Melchizedek, who brought an offering of bread and wine to celebrate with Abraham.

The forgiving of sins, which comes next, is interesting.

Those who were perceived to have leprosy in the regions where the Bible was written were considered the lowest in society. They faced rejection and were beggars who lived on the side of the road. In Jesus’ culture, it was forbidden for Priests and Levites to touch people who were classed as ‘unclean’, which included those affected by leprosy.

Leprosy, under the Old Covenant, was very much like serious, or mortal, sin is, under the New. Both resulted in separation - Leprosy separated you from the community, sin separates you from God.

Under the Law, the Old Covenant, when one was cured of leprosy, they had to present themselves to the priest to be examined and be declared clean from the sin. In the same way, when we repent of a sin, we present ourselves to the priest to be declared forgiven, or rather, to receive forgiveness.

The Law was given as a shadow of the good things to come. When Christ was crucified, the veil in the Temple was torn, from top to bottom. We can now see the work of God, previously hidden in shadows.

• Under the Law, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of various animals that had been sacrificed. Christ, as the High Priest of the New Covenant, entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. We remember OUR Day of Atonement on Good Friday
• God instituted Matrimony when he gave Eve to Adam. We see Christ validating Matrimony by attending the Wedding at Cana and performing His first public Miracle.
• God gave circumcision as a visible sign of entering the Kingdom of Israel. We see Christ receiving baptism, and then mandating it as the visible sacrament of receiving New Life and entry into His Kingdom.
• The Eucharist was foreshadowed in the Passover meal.
• What happens on the altar is no longer hidden; now we have the doors in the iconostas allowing us to see.
• The priest no longer offers the flesh and blood of slain animals; rather, he re-presents the body and blood of the Lamb, slain once for all.
• The priest now reconciles the sinner to God, rather than reconciling the leper to the community.

Rejoice! God no longer dwells in shadows! The Divine Mercy is made visible to us!!