Covenants

Exalted Father

a meditation on Genesis

For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” - Saint Paul

Whereas the story of Adam and Noah seemed like counterpoints to each other, the story of Noah could never truly be the final fulfillment and answer to the story of Adam and the need to restore the marred image of mankind. And the clearest hint we had to look for salvation beyond Noah was that the original promise to the serpent was still in flux and not addressed in the story of Noah and the Ark. The promise stated,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.”

Noah’s story never identified the woman. And that’s exactly how Abram’s story starts. The scripture says,

“Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.”

Whatever happens next in the story of Abram, we know that we have to pay attention to what happens with his beloved wife, Sarai, and the issue of her barrenness.

And so, let’s keep that in the echo of our minds as we progress through the episodes of the life of Abraham and his sons as told in Genesis, beginning with his call from the Lord and moving into the tales of his children, grandchildren, and even their sons. One thing we will draw to the forefront of our mind, over and over, is how true the old saying is “the New is concealed in the Old, the Old is revealed in the New.” We will see Jesus often as we step through the rest of the stories of Genesis.

Moreover, the gist of the story of salvation, and especially the stories of Genesis, is an exalted father (Abram’s name meaning in Hebrew) who deeply loves his only begotten son, and yet this beloved son must suffer to save humanity and all creation. This is the story we saw with Adam, this is the story of Noah, and this is the story we will see with Abraham and his sons. We shall see how profoundly the stories of Genesis are an allegory of Christ. The New fulfills the Old.

The Call

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”

God calls Abram, and promises an old man land, fame, and a great nation to come from him, so great a fame and fortune that all the families of the earth will find blessing in him, truly the father of all. If only, he heeds the call.

And as we know, Abram “believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.” After the stories of Adam and Noah, that is a powerful statement by the Holy Spirit.

For with Adam, the son of God lacked faith and disobeyed the word of the Lord. Noah, on the other hand, found favor in the Lords eyes and showed what righteousness was, for he “did all the Lord commanded him.” But the details of Noah’s righteousness are a little vague, as the nature of that story was not necessarily to give us a hero to emulate, though the story does that, but to shine a brief light on Christ and the Church, to give humanity hope in both judgement and salvation. Judgement in that evil will be addressed forcefully and cleansed permanently from the earth; salvation in that humanity would be saved by the Righteous One of God. The story of Noah is overtly Christological, it’s about Jesus and the Church, but the story of Noah is so brief that it’s hard to see what righteousness by faith looks like in one’s own journey, though we know we must heed all that God commands us, and that salvation will come by being part of God’s family. But to teach us more about righteousness, we have the story of Abram. And to expand more on salvation via God’s family, we have the story of Abram, the exalted father of our faith, a man who walked the hero’s journey with God.

Yes, what Abram embarked on is what Joseph Campbell called the Hero’s Journey. In short, our hero receives a call to adventure out of his ordinary world, and through the the guidance of a mentor, he accepts the call, crosses the threshold of “no return” of which there is “no going back” until after the mission is accomplished (if at all). On the adventurous journey, the hero faces tests, makes allies, confronts enemies, as he goes forward to his ultimate test, trusting his only begotten son, whom he loves, fully to God. When he does so, he achieves the mission God has for him, receives his reward, and takes the road back sharing that reward with all the world, the world that finds its blessing in his beloved son.

Donald Miller has a very simple and beautiful description of the hero’s journey - a hero has a problem, meets a mentor with a plan, who calls the hero to action and helps the hero avoid failure and achieve success.

Abram is our hero, and in the 12th chapter of Genesis, he is called to a godly adventure, the mission God has for him. God has the promise of land, fame, and a nation for him if he accepts the call and goes on this journey with God. Along the way, he will face enemies, meet allies, and be tested as he proves himself righteous. And in the end, the whole earth will find blessing through him. Of course, the God who is creator of all, including the best stories, knows how to tell a story that gives us an amazing hero to emulate and follow.

As Saint Paul and the other scripture writers attest, his heroism starts because Abram “believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” As our hero, Abram shows us the way to live our lives, in faith. Trust the Lord. And throughout the story, we see how Abram deals with tests, enemies, and allies and shows us how heroes live in the world, how godly heroes operate. We see what righteousness looks like in the circumstances of our lives through Abram’s story.

As we go on this journey with Abram, we’ll begin to notice something key for those of us living in the New and Eternal Covenant, the key that unlocks a great mystery. And that lock is opened by paying attention to Abram’s name. Abram means Exalted Father.

Abram’s story is a pattern for how God our Father will save the world. The main tests in Abram’s life center around his son, his only begotten son, the son of the promise. And in that relationship, between the Father and Son, will be found the salvation of the world, the way that all the families of the earth will find blessing, which is the ultimate fulfillment of Abram’s call.

Moreover, in the New Covenant, the one that fulfills and not abolishes, we’ll see that holy fathers are the ones who offer the beloved Son to the world. The holy Catholic Church has an even greater fulfillment in the New Covenant because in parishes and churches all across the earth, we have holy fathers (holy Abrams) who offer the only begotten son of our Heavenly Father on consecrated altars across the world. Truly, our holy fathers live by faith, like Abram, and live out that faith in wonderful ways, emulating Abram’s passion alongside God’s beloved son as our holy fathers present Abraham’s test perpetually for all the world.

And so, with the story of Abram, we shall consider simply some of the many episodes of his life, for his life reveals the pattern of salvation to be found throughout the scriptures and across the covenants, seeing how what we experience in Jesus was foretold in Genesis.

And, for those who believe like Abram, we will see life in God’s holy name, the holy name by whom the world is saved, and blessed, and loved. And that name is Jesus.

King and Priest

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him…”

One of the many interesting episodes of Abram’s journey is his encounter with the high priest of God, early on in his story. Melchizedek, King of Salem (‘peace’), whose name means “King of Righteousness,” is an enigmatic and mysterious figure of the Old Testament. In fact, there is more spoken of him in one brief letter of the New Testament than all of the Old Testament. For he is only mentioned in three places, in the story of Abraham, in a vision of King David, and in an exposition in the letter to the Hebrews. That’s it as far as the sacred scriptures testify.

The lead up is interesting. Lot has gone on Abram’s mission, but they have separated. Abram and his wife Sarai were in the land of inheritance, but they went down to Egypt due to famine, a theme to be expanded on later in the stories of Israel, Joseph, and Jesus. When they returned they had been so bountiful through famine that they could not dwell together in the land. And so they separate, Abram lets Lot chose the land he wants and they separate. After, the Lord promises Abram,

“Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, yoru descendants also can be counted.”

After Abram separates from his nephew, God promises Abram descendants so numerous they cannot be counted. A barren old man, promised descendants uncountable, and of course, Abram believed the Lord.

But Lot has fallen in with sinners, for his neighbors were wicked. And when they went to war, Lot was captured among many others. But someone escaped and told Abram. And Abram gathers his men and saves his kinsman “Lot with his goods, and the women and the people.” After this ordeal, Abram meets the mysterious Melchizedek. The sacred writer records Abram’s encounter with the mysterious figure,

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was Priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God most High, Maker of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

That’s it. That’s all that we hear of Melchizedek in the scriptures for about another 1,000 years, when King David sees him in a vision and records it in Psalm 110. Here is King David’s vision:

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my RIGHT hand, till i make your enemies your footstool.”

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes! Yours is dominion on the day you lead your host in holy splendor. From the womb of the morning I begot you. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

THe Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

And we won’t hear about Melchizedek for about another thousand years, after the resurrection of the risen Lord, where the Hebrews writer sees in this enigmatic figure prophecies of Christ which he expounds on in his letter to his kinsmen.

Truly, this is a mystery, but thankfully we have the light of the Spirit to shed some light. So, let us have a few reflections of our own.

One is the theme of righteousness. Here, Abram, whose faith is “reckoned to him as righteousness,” meets the King of Righteousness who is also the King of Peace while returning home from war and rescuing his nephew. This King is also Priest of God Most Hight, so a model of Christ who is both king and priest. And this priest, like Christ, offers bread and wine in his liturgy celebrating the exalted Father’s victory over his enemies. This King-Priest blesses both Abram and God Most High, clearly working a prophetic ministry as well. Yes, Abram, the one by whom the whole earth will be blessed, is blessed by this King of Righteousness and Peace.

And it is very good that our priest king in Genesis offers bread and wine, for these are the two most appropriate elements to offer as the King of Righteousness and Peace. For both, bread and wine, are food and drink that undergoes its own passion. The elements of grain and the vine must suffer to become the delight of God and man.

Moreover, humanity fell by eating fruit from the tree. Would it not be appropriate for us to be restored by eating grain from the field and drinking fruit of the vine? Grain that is crushed and mixed with water, heated over a fire, all to become bread to be crushed in our mouths and digested in our bodies. Fruit of the vine, refreshed by God’s rains for an abundant harvest that is picked and tread and crushed to be imbibed by men and become the delight of our hearts.

Melchizedek is clearly a Christ figure, as well as a eucharistic story, right in the early episodes of Abram’s life, in the story of a clear victory of Abram over his enemies. And that victory is celebrated in the form of communion with Bread and Wine.

1,000 years later, King David, sees Christ in a heavenly vision. And in this vision, he notes that the Lord says to his Lord - yes, even great King David has a Lord - and sees God offer King David’s Lord authority, dominion, kingship, and eternal priesthood. Again, a prophecy of Christ foretold a millennium before it was accomplished.

Of course, at this stage, it is no wonder, for our God not only is mighty to save, but he is mighty to proclaim his eternal salvation, accomplish it, and share news of it unto the ends of the earth. He was doing this across many of the stories of Genesis, let alone throughout the rest of human history. And he was announcing it millennia before he would accomplish it. It was prophesied; it was foretold; it was fulfilled..

Deep Sleep and Covenant

“Your own son shall be your heir”

Immediately after the episode with Melchizedek, God makes a covenant with Abram. Now, remember, God has made promises to our hero, and Abram has “built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord,” but we have not yet had mentions of a covenant with Abram, only promises. Part of the hero’s journey is setting forth in faith, and as we walk by faith and not sight, God gives us greater and greater sight into his holiness and mission. And after Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek, this is when the promises shift into a covenant that God makes with Abram.

For,

the word of the Lord comes to Abram in a vision, “fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

But Abram said,

“O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Behold, you have given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.”

Abram remembers God’s promise of descendants and asks God about that promise. And God confirms to Abram,

“Your own son shall be your heir” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Soon after, a sacrifice occurs. God has Abram bring a heifer, she-goat, and ram - all three years old, and a turtle dove and young pigeon. The animals are cut in two, the birds are not. And the scripture writer notes,

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and behold, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.

A little later, after God foretells of the slavery of his descendants for four hundred years in Egypt, the scripture writer further notes,

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram.

Like Adam, Abram goes through a deep sleep. Though, since he already had a wife, there was not one fashioned from his side but instead the promise of a son and descendants and land for them. And it wasn’t Abram who walked between the animals confirming the covenant, but God passed through the carcasses himself and confirmed the covenant. The covenant is based on a promise from God, and that is the surest way to secure a promise, have it be delivered and depended on by God. For it was God alone, in the form of a smoking fire pot and flaming torch, who passed between the animal pieces.

And some might question, why only two representations of God and not three that pass through the bodies? In this case, God is confirming the dual nature of Christ. For it is not the Trinity that was offered in sacrifice, but the Son. Our Heavenly and Exalted Father offers his Son, God made flesh as the worthy sacrifice. The Word of the Lord, Jesus, is fully divine and fully man. And so it was Christ Jesus who passes between God and man in this promise to Abram. Hence, the light of the world, God’s divine presence made incarnate, in this case via smoking fire pot and flaming torch, and not the Holy Trinity, who passes between God and man. God alone is bound in this covenant with Abram, and Christ the God-man, fully God and fully man, fulfills it.

So, as we continue the story of Abram, we see early on clear Christological passages in Melchizedek’s blessing by God Most High as well the covenant made with him as a deep sleep falls upon him and the promise of a son to come is confirmed.

I suppose, we could have spoken many things regarding this passage and chapter, including the faith of Abram to believe a promise made in daylight about stars yet to be seen. But these are enough that we believe in the promised son of the Father, Jesus of Nazareth, the one by whom all promises of God are fulfilled.

A New Name

“Now sarai bore him no children”

But, with every hero’s journey, the hero needs to face tests. And one of Abram’s big tests comes after receiving the covenant from God. And the scripture writer gives us a clue, for the next lines are found in Chapter 16,

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was hagar; and Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

We see immediately from the point of view of scripture, Abram faces the test of trusting fully in God. How does a barren couple bear a child? And Abram makes a similar mistake as Adam. One might sympathize more with the ladies, Eve and Sarai, for their mistakes, the scripture is unclear if they have heard the promise from God. But we know without a doubt, both Adam and Abram heard the promises direct from God. And yet, they had their moment of doubt and listened to the voices of their wives rather than trust fully in the promise of God. Thankfully, God’s promises are based on his faithfulness not ours. We just need to keep faith in God who is faithful. As Isaiah the Prophet writes,

“He who believes will not be in haste.”

Unfortunately, rather than wait on God to accomplish his word, Abram heeds Sarai and bears a child with Hagar, a son named Ishmael. But, the holy Mother of the promise is not Hagar, nor is Ishmael the son of the promise and true heir of the exalted father.

One can understand Sarai’s position. As a loving wife, she desires her husband to be able to fulfill the word of the Lord. And so, she offers Hagar, she offers surrogacy. She is a barren woman, possibly past the age of conceiving, for the scripture notes later, “The way of woman had ceased to be with Sarah,” which is a polite way of saying she is no longer fertile.

And one can understand Abram’s point of view, tasked with this incredible promise from God, this covenant, surely he must have felt like he had to do something to fulfill it. Surely he had to act before it was too late, he was old after all and his wife was barren.

The pain they both felt must have been significant. And they thought in a very human way attempting to help God. And so Sarai told Abram to take her handmaid as a surrogate. But Abram and Sarai are repeating a similar type of mistake as Adam and Eve, not by eating the fruit of the wrong tree, but instead by planting seed in the wrong woman. In this case, they lacked full obedience to God. But let us remember Saint Paul’s words,

These things were written as an example for us.

And thankfully, in the New Covenant, we have a woman fully faithful to the word of the Lord, Our Lady of Fertility, who is fruitful even when virgin. Barrenness, for those who believe, is no longer possible in the New Covenant. Now, that is not to say that couples no longer struggle with fertility or fruitfulness, some most certainly do. What we do say is fruitfulness in the New Covenant is different than a simple description of barrenness of womb or lack of seed from man. For the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed about the fruitfulness of both the barren and the eunuch in the New Covenant,

Sing, o barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not had labor pains! for the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that is married.

And regarding the eunuch,

let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For Thus says the Lord, “to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off.

God has a plan of fatherhood and motherhood for us greater than we can imagine, if only we have faith and trust in his ways. The barren will have reason to joyously sing and the eunuch will have a name that never ends.

Thankfully, as we saw with Adam, our mistakes are not enough to diminish nor detract from God’s ability to do his will and fulfill his promises. God is loving Father even and especially when we behave as wayward sons and daughters. He has a plan to bring prodigal sons and daughters home. And that plan includes a transformation.

So, Abram will have to undergo a transformation to fulfill the plan God has for him. And what better way to denote a transformation than to be given a new name? Hence our heavenly Father transforms Abram to Abraham.

Behold my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of a multituDe of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for i have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and i will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you.

And once again, we see names have meaning and help unlock layers to the story. As Abram, Exalted Father, the story is about the promise of a son. As Abraham, the Father of Nations, that story doesn’t go away, it still remains in the echo of our minds, but it starts to take on other layers that get reflected in the sons born to the father. That old story remains but it does take on new shape.

Now, as Abraham, God will guide him to live up to the meaning of his name “father of nations.” This old man with a barren wife is not only promised a son but he will be the father of nations. Only one son is truly heir to Abram’s promise, and yet nations will come from Abraham. But he has to do it God’s way. And to help him understand God’s way, our Father gives Abram a new name which signifies his divine mission as Abraham, Father of Nations.

Babies are given a name by their parents for the hope they have for them on this earth. And in the New and Eternal Covenant, it makes sense for believers when born again to receive new names for their new hope as children of heaven. So many, for example, chose to take on the name of a saint that represents their new role as part of God’s family.

More so, in the New and Eternal Covenant, it makes sense for a woman to take on a new name when they make marital vows. They take on the name of the family which they will hope to increase for future generations.

More even, it makes sense in the New and Eternal Covenant, that when bishops become holy fathers, they take on a new name to signify their new and exalted mission as head of the Church. That is just following the example and pattern established with Abraham, the Father of Nations.

These patterns are a fulfillment of the Old Testament types established by God and man in the old stories. A fulfillment because Christ came to fulfill not abolish.

And, not surprisingly, once again, we see Jesus taking actions of both divinity and humanity when he gave Simon son of Jonah a new name. For Simon’s name was changed to Peter (that is, Rock) when Jesus appointed him head of the Church. Jesus calling him “The Rock” signifies his divine calling. Christ does both a manly and a godly thing in renaming Peter. For Adam has authority to name the creatures of the world, and so our last Adam demonstrates his authority by giving Simon a new name. And God has authority to name those who have a special and divine mission, and so our God incarnate renames Simon to Peter,

“BLESSED are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And i tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock i will build my Church and the powers Of death shall not PREVAIL against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

When we are given a name, whether in the Old or New Covenant, it is a reminder of our mission in God. Names mean something, and when people are given new names, that means something as well, it signifies renewed clarity on their divine mission.

Now, Abraham takes on a new identity as Father of Nations.

Now, let’s consider the price he has to pay…

Circumcision

“and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations.”

Now, the promised son is a sign of the covenant with Abram. But with the confusion of Ishmael, the son of the flesh and not the son of the promise, God renames Abraham and renews the covenant. And hilariously, he makes Abraham snip the flesh of his member as a reminder to trust fully in the Lord.

The original covenant with Abram has to be renewed with Abraham. And now, it takes on a reminder, a sign. When the covenant was with Abram, exalted father, the sign of the covenant was the promised son; but now, with Abraham, the father of nations, there needs to be a new sign of the covenant, and that new sign is circumcision.

And with circumcision comes a cost - pain, suffering, and even a little blood. In the previous covenants, the sacrifices were born by animals. The consequences of man were felt, but now, as a sign of the covenant, man himself (not females) must shed his own blood as his flesh is cut off. Of course, the flesh that is removed is literally the tip, a reminder of the sin committed with Hagar, both hilarious yet serious, as the Wisdom writer notes,

“That they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins.”

We see the physical punishment is born by Abraham, not Sarah, though she undergoes her own torment, but it is the males who are the ones who carry the reminder in their flesh of the covenant with God. A reminder of our role as servants and protectors of our woman and families, but also a reminder of the way we are easily led astray and into sin.

And so, Abraham and all the males of his household are circumcised, adults and children. And for the promised son, and future generations of males, the circumcision is on the 8th day. On that day of establishing the covenant with Abraham, adults and children were circumcised. A few, three in fact, practical points to make.

One, as mentioned, it is not only Abraham that bears this sign, but now all the males of the community. For males, this is a reminder to take heed and not make the same mistakes as Adam and Abram. Men, when you hear the word of the Lord, take heed to keep it; and make sure you teach it. Don’t let others be confused and tempt you to dismiss the full decree of the Lord. For,

The law of the lorD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
Making wise the simple;
the Precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
Enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.

So, now all the males who are part of Abraham’s family must be circumcised to participate in God’s promise to Abraham. Thanks be to God, Christ fulfilled this Covenant and now in the greater and New Covenant, Baptism, and not Circumcision, is the sign by which we participate in God’s blessing to Abraham. And this sign is open to all, men and women, adults and children, families and individuals, in short, all of God’s children.

Secondly, as males and leaders, not only are we to heed and teach and follow all the decrees of the Lord, but when we make mistakes, or have learning experiences, let us not be fooled and not think there will be no consequences. All sin has consequences. Even personal sins affect communities. And the sins of leaders, due to their role and influence, impact their communities even more. And so, God gave his male leaders in the Old Covenant with Abraham a funny and painful little reminder about the right way to follow all of God’s ways.

Lastly, for our purposes, why the 8th day?

Well, it’s the new week. When the baby of the Old Covenant with Abraham emerges from the womb and enters into life breathing air for the first time, they begin their first week on earth. A holy and powerful week. At the end of this first and potentially Holy Week, they rest. On the first day of the New Week, they are circumcised and fully enter into the Covenant made with Abraham.

In the New and Eternal Covenant, in the days of old, the Church used to baptize on the 3rd day. Since Christ resurrected on the 8th day, the new week of the resurrection was also a new creation in Christ. In this new creation, it made sense to baptize on the 3rd day because this is when life began in the 1st Covenant with Creation. It made sense to mimic that 1st Covenant in the Last Covenant, and so eternal life bursts forth on the 3rd day, the day of resurrection. And so, in the New and Eternal Covenant, the 3rd and 8th day are entwined as one, for the 3rd day of Christ’s resurrection is also the 8th day of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

And thanks be to Christ, the promised son of the Heavenly and Exalted Father, he follows all of God’s ways and fulfills the Old Covenants fully and perfectly! Otherwise, we would need to be circumcised to enter into God’s covenant. But the wisdom of the Church saw circumcision as unnecessary but baptism as vital. Hence, when Saint Peter recounts how Gentiles had received the grace of baptism by the Holy Spirit, he had them baptized (and not circumcised), and they all rejoiced in Jerusalem saying,

“Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.”

A few chapters later, in the book of Acts, Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas encounter this same question, for Saint Luke records,

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

But when the Church gathered her apostles and elders to consider the matter, they understood by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that the great signs and wonders wrought to the Gentiles was a sign of God’s grace in that "we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Hence, they sent a letter to the Gentile believers that said in part,

“For it has seemed good to the Holy SPirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity. if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

There was no mention of circumcision in the letter because when they had considered the matter, circumcision was a sign of the Old Covenant with Abraham that Christ had fulfilled. It was and is no longer necessary for salvation; now baptism saves, as prefigured in the story of Noah. In the New Covenant, we have baptism, and not circumcision, as our sign that we are a part of the chosen family of God. And in the greater and enhanced beauty of the New Covenant, this sign is available to both man and woman, for “male and female he created them.”

Would the greater Covenant exclude females from participating in the sign of the covenant? Of course not, for it is women that birth the children. Of course females in the New and Eternal Covenant should be baptized alongside their brothers by whom we are made into sons and daughters of God, born not of the will of the flesh but by the will of God who imparts to us his Holy Spirit at Baptism.

More even, would the greater covenant exclude children? Of course not, for if the Covenant with Abraham included both adults and children, likewise, the fulfillment of that Covenant is greater by allowing both babies and adults to participate.

Hence, we baptize babies in the New and Eternal Covenant. And God willing, if not on the day of birth we baptize on the 3rd day, a sign of the eternal life they are inheriting as children of God.

And also, we baptize adult converts. And they join the 3rd day of Christ by their reception into the Church on the easter vigil, the day of Resurrection, the 8th day of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the first day of them being a new creation in Christ.

Oh, yes, thanks be to Christ in his marvelous fulfillment of all the riddles and mysteries of the Old Covenants!

Our Lady

“Sarah shall be her name… and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her”

God’s beauty is shown forth in his tender love for barren old women. And it is a key part of the story of the all-important matriarch of the Hebrew people. In this case, the story of Sarai, who becomes Sarah.

As Sarai, she was surely Abram’s princess, his beloved wife and spouse. As Sarah, she is Our Lady, the woman of the promise. Behold, the woman and her seed.

Yes, not only was Abraham given a new name, but so was his wife, Sarah. And for Catholics, you see the root of the culture in our behaviors and respect for Mother Mary, Our Lady of the New Covenant, in the pattern we see begin with Sarah, Our Lady of Abraham. Sarah’s name translated means Our Lady. Like Isaac is a type of Christ; Isaac’s mother, Our Lady, is a type of Mary.

Of course, we were trained in the story of the fall in Eden to pay attention to the woman and her seed. And so, another critical sign of the covenant is not only the promised son, but Our Lady, the woman who brings forth the son of the promise. Mother Mary is the fulfillment of Sarah, Our Lady of the Old Covenant.

Now of course, there are differences. Mother Mary was a virgin, Sarah was barren; Mother Mary believed the word of the Lord, Sarah had her doubts and laughed at the angel’s proclamation; Mother Mary said “let it be done to me according to thy word,”, Sarah similar to Eve, said something like “try this fruit” when she offered her servant Hagar. In many ways the contrast is strong. But of course, the New Covenant fulfills the Old Covenant types. And that is why Mother Mary is even greater than the Old Testament types that point forward to her. In this case, Mother Mary is even greater than the great matriarch, Sarah, spouse of Abraham and mother of Isaac, Our Lady of the first son of the promise.

Thanks be to God, the true son of the promise is Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady! Is anything too hard for the Lord?

But now that God clarifies that the son of the promise will be born through Sarah (and not Hagar, or any other woman), there will be issues forthcoming that the Church foresaw as allegories of the relationship between God and his children. For God specifies,

No but sarah Your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

In the light of the New Covenant, Saint Paul sees this story of Abraham and his son to reveal insights about the unification of Jew and Gentile (nations) in Christ.

Now the promises were made to abraham and to his offspring. It does not say “and to offsprings” referring to many; but to offspring, Referring to one, which is Christ.

And so, in his letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul explicitly addresses issues of the early Church, specifically in this case the gospel and the question of circumcision, highlighting the importance of faith.

FOr In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Again, the promise (that is, a son from Our Lady, the woman and her seed), and not according to the flesh (that is, circumcision). Saint Paul uses the difference between Hagar and Sarah to highlight the covenants.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Saint Paul goes on to goes on to conclude that in Christ we are sons of the free woman.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you… For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.

Saint Paul ends the holy letter to the Galations with,

But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule.

And so, circumcision does not mean anything because Christ fulfilled the Old Covenants. Now, it is not circumcision that matters but faith; for faith in the promised son preceded the failure that led to the need for circumcision. And so, faith leads to baptism which is the sign of the New Covenant. Baptism is the sign commanded by Jesus, it is the sign of faith not failure. And Jesus is the true son of the promise, the beloved son of Our Lady, the one in whom we have faith.

Truly, there is so much more we could have said on these things, may the Holy Spirit draw to the mind of readers the more things He would teach, these are sufficient for now to know Christ Jesus is the son of the promise to Our Lady, let us continue with the stories of Abraham’s life.

Prophet

“he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live”

Yes, there are many things we have neglected in the stories of Abraham’s life, not for want of desire, but for brevity and desire to focus specifically on some of the more overt allegories of Christ in the old stories.

Now, what we’ve shared to this point is not an all-encompassing list of how Christ fulfills the stories of Genesis, but simply lays out a pattern to recognize how incredibly Jesus fulfills even the smallest details of the stories of Genesis and the riddles and mysteries proposed by the Holy Spirit that find their fulfillment in Christ alone.

One item for us to note is how prophetic these stories are. For even the story of Abraham and his sons was used by Saint Paul to teach on the covenants to come - that they were foreshadowing of the Covenant with Moses and the Covenant with Jesus. So, even Abraham’s story, and the details of his life, were crafted and recorded as allegories for the Church to understand truth; past, present, and future. For the saying is true, the Old is revealed in the New and the New is hidden in the Old.

And so, we could have seen allegories of the Holy Trinity in the three angels of the Lord who Abraham received at the Oaks of Mamre, or we could have spoken of kingship in the covenants Abraham made with kings, or the priesthood in the sacrifices he offered and the altars built to call on the name of the Lord, or the intercessory prayers offered for cities, or the redemption of his kinsmen, or the exile from the promised land, or the exodus out of Egypt; for all these and more are important in the story of Christ and the holy Church, which is why so many of the New Testament writers focus on drawing truth from Abraham’s life. Truly, Abraham’s story is profound, all the more amazing when you realize it starts as an old man receiving a call to adventure from the Lord.

But alas, for the sake of brevity, we shall simply mention these and move on to possibly the most important part of the story. For those with eyes to see, it becomes clear that Abraham’s whole life was ordered toward a major test - an ordeal centered on his beloved son of the promise. It is to this moment that we now turn our gaze.

Beloved Son

“Take your only begotten son, whom you love, and offer him as a burnt offering”

There are so many passion stories in the world and in Genesis, and yet, the story of Abraham and his beloved son is possibly the easiest to see and identify as a hidden story of Christ in Genesis. For, obviously, Christ fulfills this story.

The story is found in Genesis, chapter 22. And the literary excellence is in full effect. We’ve now followed Abraham for decades, as he first receives the call out of his daily life and into his hero’s adventure with God. He has received divine promises, he has tried to satisfy them in his own ways to find out that God’s ways are higher than our own, and he has come to lean on God and learn from God that He is faithful and trustworthy to fulfill all his promises.

And so, the scripture records the testing of Abraham.

After these things God tested Abraham, and he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only-begotten son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which i shall tell you."“

This is the first time the word “love” is mentioned in the holy scriptures. Surprising, that the scripture waited so long to use the word love. For it didn’t explicitly use the world love when it recorded Adam’s joy for his bride, nor Abraham’s love for Sarah. But the first time love is explicitly recorded as a word is when it deals with the Father’s love for his only-begotten son. This was surely an allegory of Christ.

Likewise, in John’s gospel, the first use of the word love is when Jesus is teaching Nicodemus about the love of the Father for his children. For the famous passage states,

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

And so the parallels come to a head with this story of the testing of the Father of Nations, let us note a few of the details in the craftsmanship of story.

In both stories, the 3rd day is the day death transforms to life. In both stories, the beloved son carries the wood of his offering up the mountain. In both stories, God provides the lamb. In both stories, the son is laid on the altar of salvation. In both stories, the ram provided by God is harmed by thorns in a thicket, an allusion to the original curse for Adam, “thorns and thistles shall be brought forth to you” and fulfilled in our Christ’s crown of thorns, a crown not common to most kings who are accustomed to gold, silver, or other gems. And in both stories, the descendants of Abraham are exponentially multiplied as they conquer satan, sin and death by the blood of the lamb of God.

And so, in this story Abraham’s obedience is tested and his faith brings forth the righteousness of eternal life. From the perspective of common man, this is the most bizarre hero story in the history of humanity - an old dad offering his beloved son in sacrifice. But in the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit, this is the gospel proclamation of Jesus Christ foretold thousands of years before their fulfillment.

Praise be to Christ, the beloved son of the promise to Our Lady.

Behold, the only-begotten son of our Heavenly Father.

Bride and Burial

“I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that i may bury my dead out of my sight… after this, Abraham buried sarah his wife in the cave of the field in the land of canaan”

Of course, after the passion story of the promised son in Genesis, the next important point from the perspective of the New Covenant would be the son’s bride. And we get the mention of his future bride in a brief genealogy that mentions Rebekah. Unfortunately, before we hear more about the son and his bride, the story returns to Abraham and Sarah, specifically, we learn of the death and burial of Our Lady.

Now, to us, thousands of years removed from the story, it may come as a surprise that so much of the story of Abraham is spent on the death and burial of his wife, Sarah, Our Lady, the matriarch of the Hebrews. For those of us living under the New Covenant, with the spiritual meanings echoing in our mind as we hear about the Old Stories, this brings forth the question, what happened to Mother Mary?

If so much scriptural space is given to the death and burial of Sarah, surely, Our Lady of the New Covenant is a greater fulfillment of the earlier types that pointed towards her. And so, what happened to Mother Mary?

Surely, the daughter of the Heavenly Father, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the mother of God was cared for at the end of her earthly sojourn more than even the great Abraham cared for his wife at the end of her life.

For Abraham, in hope of the resurrection and awaiting the promises of God, bought land in the promised land and did so specifically to bury his dead, to bury his wife. And the Holy Spirit testifies,

In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection.

For if Abraham was not expecting his wife, who had fallen asleep, to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to bury his dead. But Abraham, not only the Father of Nations but also the Father of Faith, displayed his faith for us, his children, by taking care of his wife’s body for the resurrection.

And if the earthly Abraham cared so much about the resting place of the mother of his only-begotten son, surely our Heavenly Father cared just as much and in fact more for the body of the mother of our Lord?

So, we ask one last time before we answer, what happened to Mother Mary?

Well, she’s alive and in heaven!

To see this across the cultural divide between us and the holy patriarchs, let us glean some insights from the old ways of life taught to us by Abraham. For one, let us understand the responsibility of preparing our beloved ones for the resurrection.

As living husband, Abraham was responsible to care for his wife, in life and in death. And so, he buries her to prepare her body to rise in the resurrection. The consequence of our sin, made clear by God, was that death and dust now await us. He tells Man in Eden,

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return.

But, that was then. Before it was fulfilled, before Christ. Thousands of years after the life of Abraham, the true son of the promise was raised from the dead! Death defeated and curses reversed. Now, the hope we have is not dust but God’s eternal breath, not death but God’s eternal life. To dust we may return, but as children of God, it is a short resting place for sleep as we await our awakening in the heavenly Jerusalem, the place where death has no sting nor sorrow nor place.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive… The last enemy to be destroyed is death… Thus it is written, “the first man Adam became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit… Death is swallowed up in Victory… Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus christ.

And though Sarah died, she died in faith longing for the promises of God to find their fullness. Mother Mary held the fullness of God’s promises in her womb, birthed God’s only begotten and long-promised son, and held in her arms the One in whom we have faith. She was full of faith in ways we cannot comprehend as “she pondered these things in her heart.” And she was with Jesus at the cross, before she held his dead body in her arms, preparing his body for a short-lived burial.

Before but for this moment, as Christ fulfilled his earthly ministry, while tortured on the tree, Jesus gave his last will and testament, entrusting the care of his beloved mother to the only apostle with him at the cross. Saint John records this moment,

When jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Jesus’s last will and testament on earth, before he pronounced the “it is finished” regarding the inauguration of the New Covenant and fulfillment of the Old, was to entrust the care of his beloved mother to the disciple whom he loved.

And it is this disciple, by God’s providence, who reveals to us what happened to our mother at the end of her earthly sojourn. He writes in Revelation,

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

The testimony of scripture aligns with the testimony of the Church and the many Marian apparitions across history to give the clear witness of countless faithful Christians that Mother Mary is in heaven with her beloved son, our bridegroom.

In the Old Covenant, the father of the faithful cares for the death and burial of Our Lady; in the New Covenant, our Heavenly Father and his beloved Son care for the dormition and heavenly assumption of Our Lady, Mother Mary. This is fitting, for the New is greater than the Old.

Sarah had a living husband who buried her. Mother Mary, on the other hand, has an eternal son who cares for her. Our New Covenant is either a better covenant or it is not. But if it is better, we have a better Father, a better Son, and a better Mother than even the great stories of Abraham, his wife, and his beloved son! And we have a better story than burying Our Lady of the Old Covenant, for Our Lady of the New Covenant is not mingled with dust and death but instead is in heaven with her Son and our Savior.

Saint Matthew’s records curious details of the crucifixion that support this. For he notes the bodies of the saints being raised. Mother Mary was at the cross experiencing this great human moment, the moment that the Old Covenant was fulfilled and the New Covenant inaugurated, when Saint Matthew testifies by the power of the Holy Spirit,

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs were also opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and Appeared to many.

Mother Mary had an earthly husband, the great Saint Joseph, who by many accounts was among the saints raised by Christ as testified by Matthew’s gospel. Christ defeated death and raised the bodies of the saints to his eternal home. For he promised his apostles,

In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would i have told you that i go to prepare a place for you? And when i go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where i am you may be also. And you know the way where i am going. I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father but by me.

And so, we are told in the scriptures of the death and burial of Our Lady of the Old Covenant. In contrast, for Our Lady of the New Covenant, there is no mention of her death or burial in the holy Scriptures. Instead, she is seen in heaven. And the testimony of the Church confirms this, not only in the scriptures but in our sacred history. There are many approved Marian apparitions over the centuries of her continued visitation of her children across seas and centuries, across mankind and millenia, as she shares the gospel of her son across time and peoples and cultures. Now, is the time of her heavenly ministry on behalf of her beloved son.

And the contrast we see with the Old Covenant Lady dimly explains the vision of Revelation. At the end of her earthly journey, it is not necessary to bury her, instead she is brought into heaven. There is a thread of her heavenly assumption that begins in the story of the family of God entering the Ark of heaven’s mercy, continues with Abraham’s care for his wife’s body in death and hope of resurrection, and extends into the next stories of the Ark of the Covenant and the placing of the Queen Mother in the throne room of the heavenly King.

Hence, the Catholic teaching on the assumption of Mother Mary is rooted in the sacred covenants, rooted in prophecies and promises, found in the patterns and predictions of the Old Covenant stories, and contains the fullness of truth. Not only is Mother Mary’s heavenly assumption a fitting fulfillment of many Old Testament types of the Ever Virgin Mother of God, but it is a fitting fulfillment specifically for the life of Our Lady of the New Covenant, the mother of the only-begotten son of the promise, the eternal king who lives forever.

And so, Sarah was buried, but regarding Mother Mary, the testimony of scripture and the witness of the Church is the ever-virgin mother of God is in heaven, brought there by her eternal Son.

Of course, the New Covenants fulfillment would be greater than the Old Covenant figures pointing to Our Lady. For we have an even greater Sarah than even the one of Abraham, for we have the Sarah who miraculously and virginally birthed the true son of the promise. The one heard by mankind to the serpent and foretold in the protoevangelium,

I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.

We have Our Lady of the New Covenant, the woman revealed by Christ at the wedding at Cana, the woman by him on the cross at Calvary, and the woman spoken of in Revelation,

Then the dragon was Angry with the woman, and went off to make waR on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

This is the woman who is with her eternal son in heaven. Her story was hidden in the Old Stories, but her beloved Son is teaching us of his love for our mother.

Praise be to God always!

Bridegroom

“Then Isaac brought her into the tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her.”

The first time love is explicitly mentioned in Genesis is between the father and his only begotten son who is to be offered in sacrifice. The second time the word love is used between that son and his beloved bride. The New Testament implications are clear. And Jesus teaches them. Because the story of Abraham and Isaac is not just the story of a Father’s love for his only begotten son, or the son’s passion and resurrection, but also the story of the Father seeking a bride for his beloved son. The allegory of Christ continues strong throughout all of Genesis, not just the passion story of Isaac but even after.

Saint John is a helpful cultural bridge to weave these themes together. In his gospel, the first mention of love is in context of the passion and cross of our Lord and Savior, the only-begotten Son of the Father. Jesus tells Nicodemus,

ANd as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So far removed from the ancient culture, we may not see that the cross is in fact Christ’s wedding vow fulfilled for his bride - he has made his offer. Those who accept, become his spouse. The cross is where Christ’s bride, the Church, is fashioned from his side. Like the Woman came from Adam’s side, the Church comes from Christ’s side, a fulfillment of the early story of Adam and his bride. And that story continues in a special way after Isaac’s passion is accomplished.

Key to notice, the allegory of Christ continues across all of Genesis. For the sake of brevity, let us only mention a couple, maybe three, of the Christological elements as a pattern for further exploration; this is not as all-inclusive list. There are more, these are noted simply as a pattern to unlock other examples.

One, it is the Father who sends his servant to find a bride for his beloved Son. Likewise, Christ would send his disciples to gather his bride. For he told them prior to his Ascension,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you; and behold, i am with you always, to the close of the age.

The pattern was set in Genesis, and fulfilled in the times of the New Covenant. This is the pattern the apostles took to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. Like the story of Abraham finding a bride for his son via his servant, the true Heavenly Father of all nations and tongues commissioned his servants, the apostles, to find the bride for his only begotten, beloved son.

Two, curious details of barrenness. Like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah struggled with fertility. Sarah’s fertility came as a miracle, a covenant with God who promised a son to Abraham and Sarah. Likewise, Rebekkah’s fertility came as a miracle, her husband praying for her, and then twins are born. But before there were twin sons, there was barrenness.

And lastly, let us look at the 40 years with spiritual eyes and see the symbolism that it hints. 40 is coming to be an important number in scripture. 40 days and nights of rain and the world is made new. 40 days of temptation in the wilderness and after Christ enter’s his new ministry. And at 40 years old, Isaac enters into a new life with his new bride. 40 is beginning an important number for when something new is about to happen. And so, after 40 years from the start of Christ’s earthly ministry, the temple of the Old Covenant is permanently destroyed, as the Word foretold God’s plan,

two peoples, born of you, shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
The elder shall serve the younger.

Let us turn to the next story to see how it foreshadowed the coming of the New Covenant, and the need for the Old Covenant (elder) to serve the New Covenant (younger).

Birthright and Blessing

“So Esau swore to Him and sold his birthright to Jacob…Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

In Holy Scripture, we see the struggle of brothers going back to the beginning. Adam’s first sons, the brothers Cain and Abel hint at the problem to come in many brotherly stories of the sacred scriptures, whether Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, or Joseph and his brothers, just to name the brotherly stories in Genesis alone. Brotherly strife continues throughout many tales in the testaments for these stories are allegories of the Old and New Covenants. These are themes carried across all of sacred scripture.

With Cain and Abel, the elder Cain martyrs his innocent and younger brother. Hence the elder covenant offers the sacrifice of the younger son to fulfill the Old and inaugurate the New. With Ishmael and Isaac, one is the elder son of the flesh, while the other is the younger son of the promise. Hence the elder covenant is the one of the flesh, of circumcision, and the younger covenant is the one of the promise, the one based on faith, for the story our Heavenly Father has for us is “the righteous shall live by faith.” And the story of Jacob and Esau is especially poignant, for the prophecy continues that the Old Covenant will serve the New,

the elder shall serve the younger.

This prophecy and promise is severe, for very soon the scripture records, via both prophets of the Old and apostles to the New,

Jacob i loved, but Esau i hated.

This commentary on the covenants unlocks how revolutionary the ancient Church’s proclamations of “Christ is Lord” and “Christ is king” were to both the religious and political authorities. Those phrases were, are, and ever shall be powerful, until the end of the ages. Let us consider.

When Christ rose from the dead in 33 AD, after a brief 3-year ministry, there is an important question, who do the people of God follow? Is it the old ways, the Old Covenant? The pilgrimage feasts of passover, pentecost, and tabernacles; the sacrifices at the temple; the passover lambs and daily offerings; the leadership of the high priests and levite priests? Or is it now something else? Is this the fulfillment of the Old and the beginning of something new? Well, that is the deeper New Covenant revelation to the ancient story of Jacob and Esau, their story answers those critical questions that the faithful had after the passion of our Bridegroom.

At his Last Supper, Jesus clearly said he was inaugurating a New Covenant in his flesh and blood, but what does that look like in the daily life of the ancient Israelites, the people of God? The religion of the ancient Israelites and Jews was profound, impacting daily life and rituals, including mandatory pilgrimages to the holy city, obligatory visits to the temple and constant sacrifices and offerings. Daily sacrifices, and more even. So, what would be required of the people of God now in the New Covenant? And importantly, who would have the authority to decide this? And would the New Covenant have more or less of a daily influence and impact on the daily lives of God’s people? Again, the Old had daily sacrifices, routine pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem, forgiveness of sins, priests, rituals, and more. Would the New Covenant have less of an impact on the daily lives of the faithful?

Well, that answer is provided clearly by God, not only in the teaching of the Church or the New Testament scriptures, but also prophesied and foretold in the Old Testament stories, including the brotherly stories in Genesis, especially Jacob and Esau, the story where God prophesies, “the elder shall serve the younger,” meaning the elder Covenant will serve the New.

So, our goal in this section won’t be to discuss what behaviors and cultural institutions shifted at Christ’s cross, even though those thoughts are critical to draw out how much is fulfilled in the transition into the New Covenant, but more importantly, how leadership and authority transferred. And how this was in line with what was prophesied from the beginning in the brotherly stories of Genesis, starting with Cain and Abel, and importantly, prophesied in the story of Jacob and Esau, the story about Birthright and Blessing.

Certain aspects of the story of Jacob (who is later renamed Israel) are perpetually critical for the ancient Israelites and the people of God today, their descendants, whether by flesh or faith. The impacts of this story are still felt and seen today. To see this, let’s provide some context on the ancient biblical view of Birthright and later Blessing.

Because Esau was older, his was by custom and culture the birthright, meaning, his was the greater portion of God and the inheritance. Not to the exclusion of his brother, simply the greater and more important portion. Meaning, as firstborn, he was to inherited the first portion, the best portion of the promises of God, this is why he has the birthright, by virtue of being the firstborn. And unless he forfeits his birthright, he is the natural inheritor of the blessings given to Abraham.

But God had prophesied something different for these brothers, and their story has a hidden meaning for the New Covenant. In short, Esau despised his birthright, he hated what he had, considering the sacred as nothing more than a one-off meal, despising his role in the promises to our Father Abraham, promises which stated that all families of the earth would bless themselves by his chosen Son. For God said to Abraham,

And by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.

God, foreseeing all this before it was accomplished, prophecies to their Mother Rachel while she is pregnant, “the elder shall serve the younger.” In doing so, we hear in glimpses God’s plan for the major covenants of salvation history, “The Old Covenant shall serve the New." For as we have been saying, the Old is Fulfilled in the New; the New is revealed in the Old.

The Jewish leaders of the time of Christ did the same thing as Esau, they forfeited their birthright as sons of Abraham. This happened during Jesus’s trial, when before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, the chief priests despised their birthright as the firstborn of God’s people and professed “we have no king but Caesar.” Pilate showed them their king, he showed them Jesus and proclaimed “Behold your king!” Yes, Pilate - the Roman ruler over the Jews in Judea - inspected Jesus and brought him out and told the people on the eve of Passover that Jesus is their king. This is the sign by which Christ is crucified under.

As leaders of the people, the chief priests would have known the many scriptures which clearly proclaim God is king. But they chose Caesar, not Christ; they chose Roman rulership not God’s messiah. And in proclaiming Caesar as their sole king they despised their birthright; and put their souls in danger of perdition.

In the providence of God, it is the Roman ruler of Judea - the rightful political authority - who confirms Jesus is king. And in the providence of God, it is the high priest and chief priests who hand over the unblemished lamb for sacrifice. As the High Priest prophesied,

It is better for one many to die than the nation perish.

In the providence of God, priests begged for Christ the lamb’s crucifixion and our king was crucified, in fulfillment of the sacred stories and scriptures. All this occurred confirming the many psalms and prophets which clearly proclaim God is king over all.

For example,

I have set my king in zion, my holy mountain (Psalm 2).

Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do i Pray (Psalm 5).

The LORD is king forever and ever (Psalm 10).

Who is this KING of glory? The lord of hosts, he is the king of glory (Psalm 24).

FOr the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods (Psalm 95).

And the LORD will become king over all the earth (Zechariah).

And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion (Micah).

These are simply a small selection. The psalms and the prophets are filled with testimony that God is king and his son reigns. It is a trinitarian mystery and to this day, the Church continues to celebrate the kingship of Christ in our feasts and solemnities. We even recognize the Queenship of his mother. Throughout the world, in every church, in every crucifix in hearth and home across the globe and unto the ends of the earth, we continue the proclamation that Pilate made as Roman governor of the Roman province of Judea, the proclamation that states Jesus of Nazareth is King of the Jews. Yes, our king was crowned with thorns, crucified for testifying to the truth, rose on the third day, and rules over all even unto today and till the end of time.

And so, in the miraculous mystery of God, the chief priests of the Old Covenant offered up the Son (and lamb) in sacrifice for the New Covenant. But when they confessed “we have no king but Caesar” they forsook they birthright like Esau, and no longer participate in the Covenant with God unless they repent and embrace the New Covenant. For the New Covenant is the only Covenant available today to the people of God. And so Isaac’s blessing applies today to the younger son of the eternal covenant,

May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be every one who blesses you!

So, by crucifying Christ, the Jews like Esau, forfeited their birthright, and the blessing of the firstborn when to the younger, to the people of the New Covenant. The world is blessed now not by the temple nor the synagogue but by the Church and the living body of Christ on earth. The elder must serve the younger, the Old Covenant serves the New, and so the priesthood passes from the Jews to the Church, and it is the Church which executes the Father’s will on earth. It is no longer the synagogue but now the Church that proclaims the fullness of God’s revelation; it is not the temple of stone but the body of Christ by which the people live in the covenant family with God. And so, Christ in his wisdom, warned and prophesied God’s plan to his disciples, when he said of the temple of Jerusalem,

“Truly, I say to you there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Jesus knew of a greater truth that he also prophesied, the truth of what was to be the true and eternal temple, not a temple of stone in Jerusalem but the temple of his body, made up of living stones, the temple of which he said,

“Destroy this temple and in 3 days i will raise it up.”

The temple of which Saint Peter taught in his first encyclical,

Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through JEsus Christ.

Only after Christ’s resurrection did his disciples understand that the temple of the Old Covenant was simply a sign to be fulfilled in Christ. It was one of many signs that point to Jesus, and the temple of his body, built of living stones. Once the reality is here, the sign that pointed to that reality is no longer necessary, especially if it adds confusion to the faithful. The temple pointed to God’s presence with his people, now that God’s body is on earth, the temple that pointed forward to this greater reality of the New Covenant is no longer necessary.

You don’t need signs to Disney world once you are in Disney world. And you don’t need the temple in Jerusalem once you have the resurrected body. And so it is to Christ the king who the people serve, not the High Priest in Jerusalem. Christ is the beloved Son with both the Birthright and the Blessing given to the people of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

But let us not overlook, when Jacob steals the blessing, he is not doing the right thing, and lest the faithful be confused, we note that not everything in the bible explains a good behavior. Even in the case of the heroes of our faith, including great heroes like the Patriarchs or the mediators of the key covenants of salvation history, just because it is written doesn’t mean it is good. It is written for our instruction, for our good, for our growth into sons of heaven. The heroes of the faith have their own journey of faith and transformation which the scripture writer records for us by the authorship of the Holy Spirit. And in the magnificence of God, we see that God does work good even through our mistakes, including sometimes our evil intentions and actions. May we have a heart of repentance, not a heart of impenetrable stone.

Jacob, the hero, is forced to do penance for his duplicity towards his father and brother, exiled and working many years for his beloved bride. Jacob is not a perfect picture of Jesus, but God will draw him closer and closer to Christ and even through discipline shows his Fatherly love towards his chosen son, Jacob.

And, at the proper time, when Jacob is ready, he meets with the Angel of the Lord, God himself, who gives Jacob a new name, the name of Israel, the name by which the people of God will be known by throughout history. And so, the sons of Israel are the people of God who hold both the birthright and the blessing. And through Christ, the New Israel, the true Isaac, the eternal beloved and promised son of Abraham, the world will be blessed.

And so, it is the sons of Israel, not the sons of Esau, by which the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are fulfilled. And it is through the Church, not the temple nor the synagogue, by which the promises shall continue to be fulfilled in our hearts and minds and souls, and by whom the world will be blessed. While not all of us can be sons of the flesh, in God’s love, we can all become sons of faith. We are all Abraham’s children.

Let us be the sons of faith, the ones of the promise, not the sons of the flesh and the mistakes of man. And that is the beauty of relationship with our Lord who transforms us, for Christ is Lord, not Caesar. And while we may render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, we must give to Christ what is his, which is all, which is

The earth and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24).

Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Let us repent of our disobedience, of giving to others what is due to God alone, and let us acknowledge the eternal kingship of Christ in the New and Everlasting Covenant, becoming even more than subjects and citizens of heaven but most importantly, sons of God. God be praised, our Christ is king!

Yes, we have the New and Eternal Covenant which recognizes Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the covenant that still has daily sacrifices, the one with priests who offer the son before the altars around all the world, not a covenant of a forgotten temple in ruins, but the covenant where the living stones are formed and fashioned into the bride of Christ!

We have the Eternal Covenant with Christ, our King!

Sons of Israel

“Now Israel loved Joseph more.”

There is so much we have glossed over in these stories of Genesis, but surely not even all the data centers and AI insights in the world could fathom the glories of Jesus in Genesis. Genesis is all about Jesus. And so, for the sake of brevity, we shall move onto the story of Israel and his twelve sons, which later become the 12 tribes of Israel. Our focus, once again, will be to look at the story of Israel’s beloved son, Joseph, and see how he too is a type of Christ, the beloved son who suffers at the hands of his brothers to bring about the salvation of the world.

At this point, our eyes have been tuned to see Christ in the stories of our heroes of Genesis, and so yes, the story of Israel’s beloved son, Joseph, is another story in the many of sacred scripture that are fulfilled in Jesus, the true beloved son of Israel and savior of God’s people. Let’s focus on a few brief Christological (and Eucharistic) elements to this rich story.

When the “history of the family of Jacob” is told in Genesis (Chapter 37), it starts by mentioning a seventeen year old Joseph who is shepherd, the most beloved son of Israel (aka Jacob), and specially clothed by his father with a long robe with sleeves. The brothers don’t like this.

But when his brothers saw that their father loved joseph more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak Peaceably to him.

Like Joseph, Christ too felt this type of hatred, at least from some of his kinsman; some, not all. When Jesus stood his trial before the High Priest, he is sentenced to death simply because he professed the truth of who he is as the son of the living God.

The high priest said to Jesus, “i adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the christ, the son of the living God?” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But i tell you, hereafter you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes, and said, “he has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? What is your judgement?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

And while Jesus was on the cross, they continued to mock him for being the beloved son of God. Saint Matthew records,

So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the son of God.’”

But where could this hatred have come from? (May the power of the Holy Spirit enlighten our souls). It may have been a few reasons, but it starts with their special status as beloved sons.

For Joseph, the hint of his brothers’ hatred is in the Father’s gift of garments, a robe specifically, signifying a special status amongst his brothers. Joseph was clothed with a long robe with sleeves by his father. He was the firstborn of his beloved wife, Rachel, and held a special place in his father’s eyes.

Similarly, Jesus, divine by nature was clothed with humanity. When the perfect woman was found, full of grace, immaculately conceived, at the perfection of time and place, worthy to house God in her womb, the angel visited and announced the fullness of God’s plan and her role in it - that she’d be the mother of our savior. And clothed with humility, her response was one of perfect obedience,

“let it be according to thy word.”

The religious rulers of his time hated the idea of a son of the living God, that Christ, born of a woman, had special status before the Father. For this truth, they sought to kill him. Saint John records,

This was why the jews sought all the more to kill Jesus, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.

So one reason for the hatred of their kinsman was their special status as beloved sons. But another reason was their perfect obedience to their Father; they were not only clothed with special graces from their Father but also clothed themselves in humility, being perfectly obedient sons.

When Joseph is called by his dad he responds with the phrase of our great prophets, “Here I am.” When Jesus is called by his Father to lay down his life for sinners, he models his mother’s perfect obedience and responds with the great and manly word, “thy will be done.”

Both Joseph and Jesus were hated for their mission. Their special status as beloved sons also meant their mission was unique. Joseph had dreams as a young man of his mission. And Joseph’s brothers hated him for his dreams and the God-given mission they represented. The scripture states,

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more… His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words.

God had a mission for Joseph that would give him dominion and kingship over his family, and for that mission his brothers hated him. The original promises of dominion and kingship granted to Adam would be given to Joseph, the New Adam, and they held to a Cain-like anger and envy.

Unfortunately, rather than be ruled by their brother and obey God’s will, they were ruled like Cain, by their jealousy. Just as chief priests and scribes spurned the kingship of Christ, Joseph’s brothers “conspired against him to kill him.” And, they covered the robes given to him by his father with the blood of a goat, dipping his robe in blood. Yes, they sacrificed an animal and sold Joseph to slavery and told their father he had been killed. And yet, this was all part of God’s plan for their salvation. Even their evil actions of blood and sacrifice and selling into slavery would lead to life and salvation.

The parallels between Joseph and Jesus are many, and the story is only getting started. Time fails us to go into the details, but the short summary of the life of Joseph is, like Jesus, he was faithful in all things. Joseph served as a slave and the household prospered. But Joseph was imprisoned, once again, his garments being torn from him from a lusty wife whose husband had him falsely imprisoned on fake charges. And yet, while in prison Joseph was faithful still. And while Joseph is in prison, more elements of the Crucifix and Eucharist enter into the story.

Joseph is imprisoned and the hint and aroma of the Cross and Eucharist are experienced in the dreams of the baker and cupbearer, who are given the divine interpretation by Joseph.

To the cupbearer he says,

This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer.

And to the baker he says,

This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head - from you! - and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat the flesh from you."

Wow! Genesis has even another story that hints at the Cross of Christ and the eucharistic elements of bread and wine. Truly, Genesis is all about Jesus. For both beloved sons of Genesis patriarchs, Isaac and Joseph, have their own passion story which compliments Abel’s and points to Jesus.

Unfortunately for Joseph, the cupbearer did not immediately remember him. It had to pass for God to give Pharaoh dreams that no one could interpret, until finally, Joseph was remembered and the cupbearer told Pharaoh of a young Hebrew who can interpret dreams.

And behold, Joseph is cleaned up and given new clothes - again being clothed by the authority figure in his life - and even more eucharistic elements come to the forefront of the story. In short, “God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do” and seven years of abundance in the land will be followed by seven years of famine. The dream is fixed, God will accomplish his will and He has revealed it to Pharaoh to let him prepare “so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Amazingly, Pharaoh notices Joseph’s discretion and wisdom and acknowledges that since this plan was revealed to him by God, that he shall appoint him to oversee the execution of this plan and the story of bread in times of abundance so that they survive the times of famine and scarcity. And Pharaoh said to Joseph,

“Behold I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.

Miraculously, the dreams young Joseph had years earlier are starting to be fulfilled after a long time of seeming silence from God. And the scripture writer notes,

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Eygpt.

The parallels with Jesus are many. Joseph was responsible for ensuring the Bread of Life would be distributed to all the world. Years later, when the famine hits, the family of Israel are hungry and go to Egypt for they heard word of bread. And they end up encountering the brother they betrayed. But the only way to save themselves is to reconcile with their savior, their brother.

Like Christ, Joseph only had love in his heart and the awareness of God’s purpose. He cared not for their betrayal and openly wept and forgave them when they repented of the past evil they had done. Joseph trusted and saw God’s hand over all this. He knew that though they meant harm to him, God allowed these awful circumstances to pass so that salvation would come to God’s people through their savior, Joseph, a type of Christ. For Joseph told his brothers,

“Fear not, for am i in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

And so, if you are like one of Joseph’s brothers, despair not ye of little faith. For never in the history of humanity has Christ denied forgiveness to a repentful man. In fact, just the opposite, in parable after parable, Jesus highlights the overwhelming love and power of God not only to forgive but also to die for his enemies. As Saint Paul writes,

For God shows his love for us like this, while we were sinners Christ died for us.

And so, fear not, for if God is for us who can be against us? And God is for you, dear reader. He is for you and sealed his love by offering his life for yours. No matter the extent of your sins, repent in this life, while you still have time. For God is faithful to forgive a contrite and humble spirit. Christ’s love covers and heals all who desire forgiveness and healing.

And one can imagine Jesus as a young boy loving the story of Joseph (who his earthly father is named after), knowing in his soul that it was the story of his life, being offered over to the Roman rulers so that the Old Covenant could be fulfilled and the New inaugurated.

Surely, Saint Joseph, Terror of Demons, told his beautiful son Jesus many times of the wonders of our God who turns evil into good. And surely in his soul, Jesus would learn long before it occurred, that what the chief priests did in evil would usher in the most unfathomable grace - that Christ would die not only for the nation but for the world, as the prophecies foretold. And what they intended for evil, God turned into eternal and almost unimaginable good.

A good that is hinted at, but not revealed in its fullness until the coming of Christ. For all the stories of Genesis hide the New Covenant, and with the coming of Christ our Savior do the stories of Genesis find their fulfillment and meaning. Yes, Joseph’s story is a powerful story in its own right, but when combined with the clear insights of the Holy Spirit, we see his story is an allegory of Christ, foretold long before it would happen and come to pass, like Joseph’s dreams, wow!

Truly, once again,

the New is hidden in the Old, and the Old revealed in the New!

King of Praise

“The scepter shall not depart from judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples”

Genesis is all about Jesus. And the story of Abraham and his descendants in the rest of Genesis continue to expand mysteries begun in the first stories of mankind.

The story of Adam starts with dominion and kingship. And yet with the entrance of sin, evil begins to reign until the rains come in the time of Noah. With Noah’s baptism, a new world begins.

But the heart of man is inclined to evil and the people of the world attempt to make a name for themselves when our role is to make known the name of God. And God has his prophet Abraham by which he has a special call to bless the families of the earth.

In the story of Abraham, the promises include land, kingship for his offspring, and that God will make his name great, so that he will be a blessing for all the families of the earth. Abraham has a prophetic ministry announcing God’s plan for all humanity.

Though Abraham will have kings come from his union with Our Lady, the enigmatic king of his time is Melchizedek, this King of Righteousness is also King of Peace and priest of God Most High. So, we see Kingship and Priesthood in one man, but not Abraham. And though kings and high priests would descend from Abraham, there is one king and priest of God Most High who he would bow to and honor in his prophetic office, acknowledging as great than him. As Jesus would say about himself,

“Truly, before Abraham was, I am.”

As the Genesis stories continue, and the story of Joseph ends with Abraham’s descendants exiled from the promised land and in Egypt, the sins of Israel seeking the bread of life to avoid starvation during the famine, with the beloved son, Joseph, acting as king but not king. In this small exile, the families of the earth are blessed by Abraham’s great grandson, but it feels as if the promises of God are so close and yet so far.

But there are mysteries opening up for humanity and God’s people, including the mystery of kingship.

On his deathbed, Jacob offers a final blessing to his children which is also a prophecy. He says, “Gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come.” And he speaks this very interesting prophecy for his son Judah (whose name means Praise),

Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion’s whelp;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down, he lurked as a lion,
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

So, by the end of Genesis, we have the promise of a king to come, who will be of the tribe of Judah, in whom “shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Of course, those of us today know this king is Jesus, but at the time of the story being told, we have the exiled sons of Israel, Abraham’s grandson, in a foreign land, awaiting the promises made to their father and patriarch. One can imagine the longing for the day to come when the promises of God find their fulfillment in the beloved son of Abraham. Oh God, speed the day that the sons of Abraham see Jesus!

Truly, the gospel of Jesus is found throughout the stories of Genesis. Yes, the passion and resurrection of Christ is throughout the first stories of mankind as well as in the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These early stories are filled with details of the beloved son of God who was crucified, who died, and who resurrected and ascended into heaven. That good news was foretold by all the prophets, especially the Prophet Moses who compiled the stories of Genesis for the people of God, hearing them passed down over centuries by his ancestors.

And so, it is time we turn to the stories Moses lived out as God’s friend, leading his people - the sons of Israel - from slavery to freedom. Let us hear the story of how the sons of Israel become the nation of Israel and inherit the promises given to all the peoples of God.

Next: Out of Water