Friday, December 03, 2004

Of a Mystery Multiplied (More Sexy Stuff)

Forgive me; I can't resist.

It suddenly seems remarkable to me that the author of Hebrews, in 10:20, speaks of Christ's flesh as a veil. Now I don't think this is really the point of the passage, but such a reference to a veil of flesh suggests a sexual connotation, and I find upon closer examination that out of this a pattern seems to emerge. I don't know how useful (or orthodox) this train of thought is, but bear with me. You may offer criticism in the comments.

Throughout the Old Testament, the unfaithfulness of Israel is often portrayed as the dalliances of an adulterous wife. Her rejection of Yahveh takes the form of harlotry; she goes "a-whoring after other gods." In Ezekiel 23, we are told that the sister cities of Samaria and Jerusalem even went so far as to give up their maidenhead to their lovers among the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans. Israel had lost the purity of her youth, her spiritual virginity, to foreign gods ("While she was mine," Yahveh bitterly remarks in v. 5).

In the New Testament, Christ comes to stand in the place of an impure humanity before the Father. May I suggest that in so doing, he becomes a renewed spiritual virginity for the elect, supplying a new veil, "that is to say, his flesh"? And that when that veil which is his flesh is torn, what has has happened is none other than the reunion-in-consummation of God and man?

And what in fact follows this but the entry of the Spirit, the Lifegiver, into the world, impregnating it (if I may be allowed the term) with a new creation, the kingdom of heaven? It seems to me that this pattern in not wholly in my imagination. And if that initial sacrifice of Christ on Calvary can be seen (in a sense) as the opening act of a marriage between God and man, could not the symbolic repetition of it in the eucharist be likened to the continued (bloodless, after initial consummation) sexual communion of a husband and wife?

I'm not sure any of this is very compelling. Comments are certainly welcome.

posted by Jeremy at 3:59 PM

4 Marginalia:

You've been reading feminist criticism haven't you? That might be one of my guilty pleasures. Ovary-brained theologians are big on phallics, blood cycles, and reading sex into everything. If that weren't so dern'd true I'd have to make a hissy.

I'm glad you subtly let people know you have a blog. At least, first time I've heard about it.


Remy

By  Anonymous, at 7:03 PM  

Tank,

Good to see you online.

I like your post, particularly the imagery of the virginity of Christ as it relates to the new bride. A few questions:

1. Is Israel the Bride of YHWH and the Church the Bride of Christ? (Methinks: Yes on both)

2. Is Christ also the new Bride to YHWH? (Smacks of heresy to me, but sounds like a logical conclusion of some spots of your post)

3. Since Christ is the Husband and we are the Bride, does that make the Crucifixion our wedding night?

4. If 3 is correct, what does that say about communion?

W~

By  Richard, at 10:49 AM  

1. I don't really think it is useful to speak of two husband/wife relationships here, but rather of two perspectives (macro/micro) on what is essentially one union. From the macro (general) perspective, we see the marriage-union between Yahveh (Creator) and man (creation). From the micro (particular) perspective, we see more specifically the marriage-union between Christ and his church.

2. I'm not trying to get at Christ-as-bride (which certainly does sound heretical), but rather at Christ as humanity's purity (maidenhead) in the macro marriage described above. After all, Christ on Calvary was showing most profoundly his identification with humanity (by standing for us), and so it seems appropriate that in that moment he should most fully embody mankind's femininity toward God (even though he is essentially masculine--wherein perhaps lies some of the offense of the cross).

4. It think it is more like the wedding night of Yahveh and his people. The more general perspective seems appropriate here.

5. That eucharist is, in a sense, the continuation of marital relations.

By  Jeremy, at 4:39 PM  

Tank,
Good to see you online. Any connections in your mind with the veil/head covering of I Corinthians 11?

By  return home gnome, at 11:01 PM  

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