Kolo, the proper context of this must be sought in the story of Exodus and the role played by the Paschal lamb. It is a conflation with the story of the Yom Kippur goat, and some strange and unusual (cultist) practices.
What was salvific about the Paschal lamb is that its blood marked the Jewish homes, leading the Spirit of God (understood in Judaism as the power of God) to spare or bypass their households, and in that sense, the blood of the lamb "saved" the Jews. Never mind the naive notion that God needed a marker..it was a one time event. No one in commemoration of the Passover kills lambs and places its bloody mark over their doors!
The lamb is eaten, as part of the commemorative remembrance of the event, which has no salvific effect. Nothing in the Seder implies that the sins are taken away by eating it. The Passover lamb was not slaughtered to take away the sins but to get its blood to mark the homes so the wrath of God would not befall the Hebrews, but only the Egyptians.
Also, nothing in the act of eating of the lamb implicitly imparts eternal life on anyone.
The idea of an animal taking away the sins is associated with the goat of Yom Kippur. By laying one's hands on the goat's head, your sins are believed to be transferred onto the goat, which is then either killed (and thus "takes" away your sins) or, more commonly, allowed to run away (with your sins).
The "strange customs" part is the cultist drinking of the blood (strictly forbidden in Judaism) and eating of the flesh (likewise not allowed)! The NT even mentions the disgust of the Jews upon hearing that eating Jesus' flesh will give them eternal life... In fact one of the bad raps of early Christians was that they worship a dead man on a tree, eat his flesh and drink his blood, i.e. a mixture of necrophilia and cannibalism, otherwise known to cause a specific disease known as kuru, which has been practiced throughout ages in many societies.
The conflation of the stories and the cultist flavor was possible because, remember, the NT was written for the pagan Greeks who were not turned off by blood, and in Greek, who knew nothing of the Jewish law, customs or the Old Testament God and would therefore be much more open to such teachings.
“Kolo, the proper context of this must be sought in the story of Exodus and the role played by the Paschal lamb. It is a conflation with the story of the Yom Kippur goat, and some strange and unusual (cultist) practices.”
I know the history, Kosta. :)
“What was salvific about the Paschal lamb is that its blood marked the Jewish homes, leading the Spirit of God (understood in Judaism as the power of God) to spare or bypass their households, and in that sense, the blood of the lamb “saved” the Jews. Never mind the naive notion that God needed a marker..it was a one time event. No one in commemoration of the Passover kills lambs and places its bloody mark over their doors!”
We are not Jews, Kosta.
“The conflation of the stories and the cultist flavor was possible because, remember, the NT was written for the pagan Greeks who were not turned off by blood, and in Greek, who knew nothing of the Jewish law, customs or the Old Testament God and would therefore be much more open to such teachings.”
I know, Kosta. We are a lucky people.