“The Fat, the Breast, and the Thigh”
[Leviticus 7:22-38]
April 1, 2010 Second Reformed Church
Last Sunday, we considered that the offering that was made to God – in all of the offerings that we looked at in the opening chapters of the book of Leviticus – required that the offering be wholly offered to God – consecrated to God – set apart as holy to God – even those portions which would be shared with the people and the priests.
We have already discussed that it was unlawful for Israel to eat the fat of an animal, as we see again in this evenning’s Scripture. The fat was holy to God – it was burned and was a pleasant smell in the nostrils of God. There was a partial exception in this: though they were never to eat the fat of an animal, if an animal died naturally or by another animal killing it, they were allowed to use the fat of those animals for soap or any other use other than eating it.
Likewise, we have seen that it was unlawful for Israel to eat the blood of an animal because the life was in the blood and the blood was to be used to signify the paying of the debt that was owed to God for sin. Blood had no food use in Ancient Israel according to the Law of God.
We have not said much about what is covered in verses twenty-eight through thirty-eight of this chapter, which concerns the portions of the sacrifice that are given to the priests for their sustinance. Specifically, we are considering here the breast and the thigh of the animal sacrifices which were to be given to the priests as their food.
We are told in these verses that the breast and the thigh which were given to the priests for their food were to be offered to God as a wave offering before they ate it. What this meant was the priest would take the breast or the thigh of the animal and lift it up and down and side to side – or north and south and east and west – over the fire in consecration – in setting it apart as holy to the Lord – in spirit – and for them to eat.
Why would they do this? What does it symbolize? Commentators suggest that when the priest lifted the breast or the thigh up and down over the fire, it was symbolizing their dependance on God for all that they have. We will remember that the Levites – the priests – did not own land and their food was provided for them from the offerings of the people. So, their livelihood was provided by God through the congregation. This is also the New Testament understanding of the relationship between the pastor and the congregation – the pastor does not own his own home and relies on part of the offerings of the people for his sustinance and to provide for all of his needs.
Commentators also suggest that when the priest would wave the breast or the thigh from left to right and back, it was to symbolize that God is among His people. We also understand that as the Word of God is read and preached and the sacraments are rightly administered, Jesus is spiritually among us, ministering to us, giving us His Grace that we would be strengthened and enabled to do the good works He calls us to do.
As we receive the elements of the bread and the cup in the Lord’s Supper, we say that we are eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood. Now, in the Reformed Church – and most Protestant denominations – we do not understand that to mean that we are literally eating His Physical Body and drinking His Physical Blood. Although we are untied in Jesus and consecrated by Him – set apart as His people – we understand what is happening to be both symbolic and spiritual, not crudely of the flesh.
Jesus prayed for us on that first Mandy Thursday, saying, “‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them, I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except for the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I concecrate myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth” (John 17:1b-19, ESV)..
In this first part of Jesus’ prayer for us, we understand several things:
Those who confess faith in Jesus are the Father’s and the Father gives them to Jesus. Just as we recognize that all we have comes to us from God – just as the priests recognized in the wave offering that everything they received came to them from God – so Jesus – in His Humanity – recognized that everything He had been given as the Savior of a people – was given to Him by God the Father.
Consequently, Jesus receives all those who are given to Him. And since all those who are given to Him are given to Him by God the Father, none that the Father intends to make right with Himself – save – reconcile – justify – none of these will be lost.
Jesus moves from praying about how He has received us from His Father just as we have received Him and His Salvation to praying for three things:
Jesus prays that we will be one as He is One with the Father. How are Jesus and the Father One? They are One in the sense of having One Being. And here we start to talk about the Doctrine of the Trinity again – Jesus and the Father are two distinct Persons, but they are the same One God. They are united in Being in all those things that make God, God, and make God worthy of worship and able to save.
Jesus is not saying that we all should like the same movies and the same type of ice cream. What He is saying is that we should be united – of one mind and understanding and will – with regards to those things which are essential – necessary. For example, we – as Christians – are to be one in confessing that all those who the Father draws to Jesus – and only those who the Father draws to Jesus – will come to faith in Him. And Jesus is both at the same time one hundred percent Human and one hundred percent God, the Only Savior. These are things which are clearly taught in the Scripture.
Second, Jesus prays that we will have joy because He has gone back to the Father. Why will we have joy – (especially when in the next verse He says we will be hated?) – because in Jesus’ return to the Father, He finishes His Work and secures us as His people – eternally. We have joy because we know how much greater the Kingdom is than what we have now. The best and the worst we experience are both nothing compared to the glory we will be received into – there is our joy.
Third, Jesus says in the verse where we ended, “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
Like the Wave Offering, Jesus was consecrated – that is, set apart – He descended to earth, ascended to the cross, descended to the grave, and ascended back to His Throne at the Right Hand of the Father as a confirmation that all we have and our Only Hope is from God Alone.
Like the Wave Offering – Jesus was consecrated – God the Son now lives in the Person of Jesus, a Real Human Being, Who, two thousand years ago lived among us. Do we remember, He is called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us”?
Jesus gave Himself up as the Final Sacrifice – as He tells us in this verse – that we might be sanctified in the truth – that is, that we might be made holy in the Truth of Jesus. This, we will remember, happens through God the Holy Spirit working in and through us.
So, as we remember the first Maundy Thursday, let us understand as we receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, that Jesus gave Himself as a wave offering to the Father. As we lift the bread and the cup, let us understand that everything we have, and especially our salvation, comes to us only through Jesus Alone. And as we share the bread and the cup with one another, let us understand that Jesus is here now among us, working in and through us, ministering to us with and by His Grace.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, “great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: [God] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory” (I Timothy 3:16, ESV). We pray that we would humbly recognize that everything we have and are is from You and through Your Sacrifice. Make us one. Fill us with joy. Sanctify us in the Word of Truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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