First Reading for Mass on May 9, 2010

Reading 1
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,
“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,
you cannot be saved.”

Circumcision -- the Jewish bris -- is a Jewish rite foreshadowing Christ. How in Heaven's holy name does a circumcision, of all things, foreshadow Christ?

In Bible typology -- Bible symbols -- the Man Type symbolizes (1) God; (2) representative of God; and (3) empowered by God.

The male organ is the epitome of the Man Type. Though it is our humblest organ, it oddly functions as the symbol of the Most High. As Paul observes, God gives greater honor to the lowly members. I Corinthians 12:24.

And what do we see in the circumcision rite? We see that the God figure is stripped and bloodied -- just as Christ was!

So, in the circumcision rite, Jewish men were "Christed" with a "ritual picture" of the stripped-and-bloodied Christ for centuries!

Because there arose no little dissension and debate
by Paul and Barnabas with them,

Paul and Barnabas, Apostles to the Gentiles, know that there will be zero support for the new Faith among the Gentiles they are going to if the men all have to be circumcized. Why ask this of them if Christ has come, thus fulfilling the foreshadowing so that foreshadowing is not longer necessary?

it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others
should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders
about this question.

The apostles and elders, in agreement with the whole church,
decided to choose representatives
and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas,
and Silas, leaders among the brothers.
This is the letter delivered by them:
“The apostles and the elders, your brothers,
to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia
of Gentile origin: greetings.
Since we have heard that some of our number
who went out without any mandate from us
have upset you with their teachings
and disturbed your peace of mind,
we have with one accord decided to choose representatives
and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we are sending Judas and Silas
who will also convey this same message by word of mouth:
‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us
not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities,
namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols,

Because such is blasphemous, right?

from blood, from meats of strangled animals,

Apparently because we now have the Eucharist, which blood and the meat of strangled animals foreshadowed.

and from unlawful marriage.
If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’”

So, Paul won this one.

Though the Jewish rituals concerning meat and strangled animals were still preserved by this First Council of Jerusalem, Paul says of Christ, in his subsequent letter to the Ephesians, that "in his Own flesh He abolished the law with its commands and precepts." I.e., none of the Old Testament rituals foreshadowing Christ are necessary anymore, because they foreshadow, and the Foreshadoed One has come!

Some might nastily answer, "BUT YOU ARE CONTRADICTING INSPIRED SCRIPTURE! WHEN GOD ESTABLISHED CIRCUMCISION AS A REQUIRED RITUAL, HE CLEARLY SAD THAT THIS HAD TO BE DONE 'THROUGHOUT THE AGES.'" SEE GENESIS 17:9, 12.

The Catholic Church actually agrees with this. "Thoughout the ages," to join the perpetually-valid Old Covenant of Judaism, one must be circumcized if one is male.

But just because Judaism is still a valid covenant does not mean that that of Christ is not also valid.