Catacomb Resident Blog

The Symbolism of Food

20 May 2023

We skipped over an issue in 1 Corinthians 9.

In the middle of this discussion about food offered to idols, Paul raises another food issue: "muzzling the ox". He makes it very clear that God wasn't that worried about oxen so much as He was establishing a precedent that applied much more broadly. People who work ought to share in the product of their labor. That's actually a biblical principle of economics, and it applies across the board, even in the priesthood. God shared His offerings with the priests, because the priests were too busy to go out and grow their own food on top of their Temple service duties. Thus, churches should work toward paying their pastors and elders.

Paul's personal example of paying his own way is not the norm. It's not especially holy, but a matter of conviction and context. People who serve as spiritual shepherds should not be expected to pay their own way, and the church body should be ready to support them so they can carry out their ministry callings.

Notice what he is saying here: the local church body is a microcosm of the Nation of Israel. It's still a feudal entity, one big happy family. They share their property. It's not like modern communism where committees do everything impersonally; it's a family household sharing out of love. The welfare of one is the welfare of all. How would you act in a feudal family clan from ancient times? Act that way now as a covenant community.

Then picking it up again in Chapter 11, Paul refers to some ancient Hebrew traditions that belong to Christ. He reasserts the feudal chain of authority: God, Christ, the male head of household, and then the women. There is one item reversed from Hebrew tradition: men in Christian worship must have their heads uncovered. Women must still cover their heads, though. It's the symbolism of spiritual covering. A woman without a symbolic covering is announcing that she is morally equivalent to a prostitute (which is what a shaved head symbolizes). Indeed, any woman under the Covenant must grow long hair, but a man must not.

Look folks, the issue with men having a head covering has to do with the symbolism of an earthly nation under earthly command -- "mobilized" in modern military jargon. That was your ritual covering, your authority to act. At the Cross, that ended; you personally must come into the Presence of God. You no longer represent any earthly authority. We are now a spiritual nation, not an earthly one. Men can no longer justify wearing a cover on this earth because we are no longer mobilized under earthly command. While the battles of ancient Israel had spiritual meaning, they were earthly battles. Now, all our battles are spiritual in nature. You cannot have an earthly "Christian" kingdom. There is no such thing; keep your head bare in worship, guys. You can certainly wear appropriate headgear any other time.

Paul goes on to explain the symbolism of spiritual covering and the feudalism inherent in our existence. A church is a tribe, a nation in miniature. Everyone is brother and sister, and they must honor each other as such. Corinth had gotten so far off track as to defile the Lord's Supper by not sharing equally at the table.

So, in order to quell this ugliness, Paul lays down the ritual for the Lord's Supper. He recites the portion of the Jewish Seder that Jesus Himself extracted as the new ritual in His name.

In the original Seder, after the food and Q&A rituals of the symbolism, there came a moment when the food was cleared from the table and a fresh round of wine was poured into everyone's individual cup. Then the master of the ceremony would produce the matzo hidden within his reach. He broke it up and shared it out to everyone at the table as the Bread of Promise. But instead of celebrating the future Messiah, Jesus told them to celebrate that His body would be broken for them. Then instead of toasting to the Old Covenant promises, again Jesus told them celebrate the New Covenant promises in His blood shortly to be shed for redemption.

The ritual means nothing if we do not examine our own souls in light of His sacrifice. At the foot of the Cross is level ground; we are all one together in this feudal family ritual. If there are factions in the body, you will be defiled by a false ritual.

The Lord's Supper is not a normal meal. If you are hungry eat at home before you show up. The part that Jesus extracted from the Seder was after the meal was finished and nobody was hungry. The remaining to items were mere tokens. It won't hurt to invite over to a pre-worship meal someone in your church who is destitute, so they can be at church not thinking about it as just food and drink, but can celebrate the ritual that puts us all in one household of faith together.


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