The New Sarah and Abraham

“I thank you, Father, for you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little ones.” (Matthew 11:25)

“In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word became flesh . . .” (John 1)

“So shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void; it shall not return to me until it accomplishes all for which it was sent.” (Isaiah 55:11)

In the beginning of the third millennium, the corruption and incompetence of some bishops drew great attention; many committees met, synods deliberated, pastoral letters were written. Many people questioned whether or not the bishops themselves are capable of removing the disease in the body.

During the same years — yet with practically no public awareness — scripture scholars have carefully and thoroughly documented a deadly disease in scripture exegesis, a serious disease that has infected the body for centuries. Many people wonder if professional scripture scholars (scribes and Pharisees) themselves are capable of removing the disease in the body.

Fr. Paul Quay, SJ, (the son of Effie Quay) in his great work published in 1995 (the same year he died), identified the disease and valiantly proposed a remedy. The lengthy volume, The Mystery Hidden for Ages in God (Peter Lang, 1995, 1997), offered (in the title of the last chapter) a name for the disease: “Marcion’s Revenge: The Disappearance of the Old Testament” (Chapter 20; pages 396-422). Father Quay warned us that we are all victims — more or less — of “Marcion’s Revenge.”

Marcion was a second-century bishop who proposed that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New Testament, and Old Testament studies were unnecessary. Marcion’s teachings were condemned immediately; but many others continued to promote his heretical ideas. The disciples faithful to the original Apostles taught unequivocally that “the New Testament is hidden in the Old; and the Old Testament is revealed in the New”; Jesus came to perfect and fulfill the Old Testament, not to “replace” it. Every true follower of Jesus has roots in the Sacred History of Israel.

For 1900 years, the Truth has not changed; however, many who “do not have ears to hear” (see Matthew 13:14, Romans 11:8) have “not tolerated sound doctrine, but with itching ears have gathered around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:3) Father Paul Quay and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger have made valuable contributions to help us remove the spiritual “earwax,” even though the body has shown very little improvement.

More recently, Drs. Scott Hahn, Benjamin Wiker, and Jeffrey Morrow made a significant contribution, in two volumes, toward healing this spiritual disease — though this new contribution is still mostly unnoticed outside a small academic circle. (Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture (1300-1700), by Hahn and Wiker, Herder and Herder, 2013; Modern Biblical Criticism: As a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900), by Hahn and Morrow, Emmaus Academic, 2020)

I became more aware of this “disease” through personal conversations with Dr. William R. Farmer months before he died. Dr. Farmer showed me that everything Jesus taught flows out from the Suffering Servant, from Isaiah. In Dr. Farmer’s honor, I offer this short essay as a radically effective — and surprisingly simple — remedy. This remedy recognizes the disease as a form of “Marcion’s Revenge” — a cultural “spiritual amnesia.” The first chapter of the New Testament tells us that “God is with us” — Immanuel — as He promises us in the last verse of Matthew: “I am with you.” I repeat frequently: Jesus, I trust in you. Acting with the confidence from the Sacrament of Confirmation, I trust that Divine Providence left sufficient “bread crumbs” to find my way back to the basic Truths that Jesus taught to uneducated Galileans.

This trail of divine “bread crumbs” — given to us like Bread from Heaven — together with the work (mentioned above) of Quay, Ratzinger, Farmer, Hahn, Wiker, Morrow, and many others, illuminates a progressive deception, a centuries-long far-reaching effort to discredit the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This deception also discredits the three books attributed to Isaiah (First Isaiah, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah) as another unreliable collection of “oracles” from one of many competing Hebrew cults.

The ancient enemy of Truth plants half-truths and ambiguities in our hearts, so that: wise and learned people gradually come to see the Gospel of John as a “mystical” book with much beautiful text, but not an accurate historical record of what Jesus said and did; wise and learned people gradually come to see the Book of Genesis as a “mystical” book with much beautiful text, but not an accurate historical record of creation and human life before Moses. In recent centuries, people who claim to be rational — in the name of “science” — “see” the Gospel of Matthew more like John and the Books of Genesis and Isaiah; Matthew is seen as a “book” with much beautiful text, but not an accurate historical record of what Jesus said and did.

These statements may appear to be an oversimplification, but the results are real: in laymen’s terms, we don’t understand the first two chapters of the New Testament! We don’t read the first two chapters of Matthew through Apostolic eyes because we are victim’s of “Marcion’s Revenge”: we have forgotten the important stories of our Family History, especially in the Books of Genesis and Isaiah; we don’t see John and Matthew — together with Mark and Luke — as one coherent Gospel of Jesus, the Son of Joseph of Nazareth (see John 1:45). In the first two chapters of the New Testament, Matthew repeatedly cites Genesis and Isaiah. I will discuss this in more detail later in this essay.

The New Sarah and Abraham

In Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI begins with this biblical symbolism: “Jesus is the new Moses.” Benedict does not claim this symbolic approach to the Person of the Messiah to be exclusive; Benedict is aware of another traditional symbolism, based on chapter 5 of the Epistle to the Romans, “Jesus is the new Adam.” Divine Revelation has always used symbolism to communicate divine realities in human language. We say, “Jesus is the new Adam,” and “Jesus is the new Moses,” without contradiction: these types are not mathematical formulas but are useful to give us insight into revealed mysteries of our Faith.

Jesus completes and perfects all the biblical types; the one Holy Sacrifice on Calvary fulfills and perfects all the previous sacrifices offered by the People of God. The Incarnation completes, fulfills, and perfects the entire history of God’s People. Several years before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Paul writes to the Galatians:

Abraham had two sons . . . this is an allegory. . . . Hagar represents Sinai . . . it corresponds to the present Jerusalem . . . but the Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother. . . . Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise. . . . Therefore, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman but of the freeborn woman. (Galatians 4:22-31)

Paul names Abraham, Hagar, and Isaac in this “allegory”; the “freeborn woman” refers to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, the mother of Isaac. This allegory is not exclusive; Catholics have always believed that the Blessed Virgin is our true mother in Faith (given to us by Jesus from the Cross, cf. John 19:27). This “allegory” is fulfilled and perfected in the Mother of Jesus. The “Jerusalem above” (verse 26) is another biblical type of Jesus’ Virgin Mother. (See also “the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven,” Revelations 3:12 and 21:2, 10.)

The ancient Roman Canon of the Mass identifies Abraham, our Father in Faith. Today, the Church exhorts us to renew our familiarity with the Book of Genesis and the Book of Exodus to gain deeper insight into the biblical types used by Jesus and the Apostles to teach the mysteries of our Faith. Abraham and Moses are historical persons and biblical types (physical, historical realities and signs of a greater reality). The husband of Sarah and father of Isaac, Abraham our “Father in Faith,” is the Patriarch of all God’s People, Father of a multitude of nations.

Joseph is the new Abraham

In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul uses biblical symbolism to present “Isaac” as a type of Jesus (the “son of Abraham”; cf. Matthew 1:1). God did not allow Abraham to complete the sacrifice of Isaac; and more than 3000 years later, God accepts the Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary: the definitive fulfillment, the Sacrifice offered once and for all. The freeborn woman, “the Jerusalem above,” is a type of Mary, the mother of the new Isaac; and Abraham is a type of Joseph.

Chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews states: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac.” (Heb 11:17) Abraham “reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.” (Heb 11:19) Here and in Galatians, the use of biblical types is not exclusive. Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac are historical persons; the Epistle describes historical events that are also signs or “symbols” of a greater reality. In this biblical sense, Sarah is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin; Isaac prefigures Jesus; and Abraham prefigures Joseph of Nazareth.

Again, biblical symbolism is not exclusive; when I go deeper into the Book of Genesis, I see Abel prefiguring Isaac, and Eve and Adam prefiguring Sarah and Abraham. The human family develops from the beginning of creation to the “fullness of time” when human life is perfected in the Holy Family of Nazareth. Some say the first Passover and Exodus was the primary event in the history of God’s People before the coming of the Messiah, and “Jesus is the new Moses.” Again, this biblical typology is not exclusive. When I go deeper into the mystery of Salvation, I see the One Holy Sacrifice as the central event, and it is prefigured by Abraham offering his beloved son (Genesis 22:1-18). Isaac was old enough to give consent, and did consent, to the sacrifice. In this sense — and in the sense of chapter 4 of Galatians — “Jesus is the new Isaac.”

The deeper insight for the Third Millennium proclaims the role of Joseph and Mary in offering the Son to the Father. “Jesus is the new Moses” detracts from God’s unexpected condescension. “Jesus is the new Isaac” suggests a deeper reality: the miraculous son given to Sarah and Abraham after they passed the age of bearing children prefigures the eternal miraculous Divine Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wife of Joseph. At the same time, “Jesus is the new Abel” suggests a new creation; the Promised One comes in the mortal flesh of David’s Lineage, and is an entirely new creation. “Jesus is the new Moses” — it seems to me — implies a one-dimensional human event rather than an entirely new creation.

The Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40) is necessary in God’s Mysterious Providence, and reveals that Joseph and Mary freely offer their Son to the Father. Of course, the consent of Joseph and Mary is secondary to the consent of Jesus Himself. On Calvary, the Blessed Mother is present when this offering is completed. She visibly — and tacitly — actively consents to the will of the Father; Mary’s will and Jesus’ will are united in doing the will of the Father. Joseph is not physically present on Calvary, but he is present morally and spiritually: the sacred, chaste, immaculate, matrimonial covenant union of Joseph and Mary never ends. The woman who is never touched by any stain of corruption remains in eternal communion with her husband, Joseph.

The unbroken sacred, chaste, covenant communion of Joseph and Mary shows how Joseph’s consent is united with Mary’s on Calvary. The entire Family of Nazareth — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — are united in a holy communion, doing the will of the Father from the moment of Mary’s Fiat. This holy communion of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is manifest in the Presentation as the Son is offered to the Father by the Family United. This holy communion grows deeper and stronger as the Child grows. On Calvary, it is stronger and deeper than it was in the Presentation in the Temple; it is perfected on Calvary.

Creation begins with a married husband and wife, the first Eve and Adam; redemption begins with a married husband and wife, the new Eve and Adam: this is God’s Plan from all eternity. In the One Eternal Holy Sacrifice offered daily on altars throughout the world, the communion of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — the Holy Family — continues to grow as more members are added to the Family of God. Proclaiming that “Mary is our Mother in Faith, the new Sarah, and Joseph is our Father in Faith, the new Abraham” draws us into more profound participation in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus is our Brother, and we are members of the Family of Nazareth united in offering the One Holy Sacrifice. This Holy Communion with Jesus, Mary and Joseph is the source and center of our Faith.

Abraham (Genesis) and Moses (Exodus) in the Year of Joseph

Jesus said: “This is the New Covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25) God’s Covenant with the Jewish People has never been revoked. The Book of Genesis describes the Covenant with Abraham. The Book of Exodus describes the Covenant with Moses. Historically, the Covenant with Abraham precedes the Covenant with Moses by several centuries. Theologically, the Covenant with Abraham includes a “multitude of nations,” while the Covenant with Moses is limited to one nation (Israel).

Jesus breaks open the provisional Covenant with Moses when He offers the universal eternal Covenant in His Blood, completing, fulfilling, and perfecting the universal Covenant with Abraham. From the Cross, Jesus gives His Immaculate Virgin Mother and Joseph her husband — the new Sarah and Abraham — to be the Mother and father of all God’s children.

God promised to raise up a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-20). “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers [the Twelve Tribes of Israel]. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I will command him.” (verse 18) God raised up Peter from among the Twelve [Galileans] and put words in his mouth. Unlike Moses and Peter, “Immanuel” — God with us — is born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25). Allegorically, we are children of Abraham and Sarah; in the Eternal Covenant, we are children of Joseph and Mary.

“Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac” are the Old Testament types of “Joseph, Mary and Jesus”! We are adopted into the Holy Family of Nazareth with Peter and the Apostles! In the third millennium, the Holy Spirit reveals a deeper understanding of the two basic types of the Old Testament, Abraham and Moses. Joseph of Nazareth is the new Abraham, and Simon Peter is the new Moses. The Book of Genesis reports the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the twelve sons of Jacob: and Abraham is the Patriarch. The Book of Exodus, then reports the temporary and provisional mission of Moses. The following two propositions are inseparable: (one) Teaching that “Jesus is the new Moses”; (two) Teaching that the first Passover-and-Exodus was the primary event before the Incarnation. In a narrow sense, we may say “Jesus is the new Moses,” but this typology obscures the Book of Genesis by giving primary emphasis to the Book of Exodus (and the Levitical Priesthood and Levitical Statutes).

After centuries of teaching that “Jesus is the new Moses,” many have forgotten our primary history in the Book of Genesis — our Sacred Family History; perhaps the most important example is the widespread, almost universal ignorance regarding Matthew’s references in the first two chapters. In the first two chapters, Matthew cites First Isaiah three times, Jeremiah 31, and Hosea: in each citation, the Hebrew Prophet speaks explicitly of Ephraim returning. Yet, very few people today know anything about Ephraim: whose son is he? Where is he returning from? And why is Matthew citing these prophecies?

Who is Ephraim? Ephraim is the son of Joseph!

The answer is simple: it is revealed to little ones and hidden from the professional scholars (Matthew 11:25). Ephraim is the son of the first Joseph in the Book of Genesis. After the Exodus from Egypt, when the Tribes of Israel settled in the Promised Land, Ephraim became synonymous with Israel and rebelled against Judah. When all the tribes that followed Ephraim were taken captive by Assyria, they became the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.” (See my book, Atheist. Socialist. Jew. Catholic.; soon to be published.) Matthew’s references in the first two chapters refer to these “Lost Tribes” — refer to “Ephraim” in exile and foretell their “return to the Lord.”

Ephraim represents the lost sheep of the House of Israel; the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke is a generic parable about Ephraim returning. Jesus proclaims that He came only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Most people today are ignorant of these references to Ephraim, the son of Joseph, the exile of these tribes, and their prophesied “return.” Consequently, very few people today recognize the fundamental importance of the first two chapters of the New Testament.

When modern victims of “Marcion’s Revenge” read, in the second chapter of Matthew, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matthew 2:15 citing Hosea 11:1), they easily conclude that Matthew is making an explicit reference to Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt, and they look no further. Rather, any beginner who turns to Hosea 11, will see that Hosea — and all the other citations in chapter two of Matthew — refers to Ephraim, the son of Joseph returning from exile. Yes, of course, Sacred Scripture has multiple references and this verse has a secondary — or tertiary — reference to Moses and Exodus. The primary reference consistent with Matthew’s entire Gospel, directs us to Ephraim and the Return of the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Matthew paints a great word-portrait showing us the “new Joseph” who is also the new Abraham and the new Adam: the gospel portrait shows the new creation, the “new Eve, Adam, and Abel,” the “new Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac.” The new Son of Man born under the law with virgin human parents.

In the Third Millennium, the Holy Spirit calls us to go back to “the beginning” — calls us to go back to the beginning of the New Testament and “discover anew” the apostolic message of the first two chapters of Matthew. In the beginning of Matthew, the Holy Spirit records our “Sacred Family History”: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical on St. Joseph, provides the important insight for reading this first chapter of the New Testament: “The divine household which Joseph governed with paternal authority, contained the beginnings of the Church.” (Quamquam Pluries, 15 August 1889; #3)

It bears repeating: biblical types are not mathematical formulas; certainly, there are valid reasons to identify Jesus as the “new Moses.” The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, in one sense, presents Jesus as the “new Moses” giving the “new Law.” This biblical symbolism is not exclusive; all the Old Testament types are fulfilled in the Incarnation. More fundamentally, Jesus is fully human, like us in everything but sin. We may enter more deeply into personal communion with Jesus by embracing the fullness of the Incarnation: together as one in eternal Holy Communion, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are the image and likeness of the divine, uncreated Holy Family (the Blessed Trinity). Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are the human, created Holy Family.

In the third millennium, the Holy Spirit is drawing us into deeper and more personal Communion with the uncreated divine Trinity (the divine Holy Family), and the image and likeness of the divine Holy Family (the human Holy Family). In light of the new movement of the Holy Spirit to make Joseph known, I believe it is helpful for everyone to become more familiar with the “new Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac”: Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. God called Abraham to be the Patriarch of all God’s children, to be the Father of a multitude of nations. This call is forever and has never been revoked. Moses, in contrast, was called for a temporary assignment: to return to Egypt (from Arabia) and lead the Tribes of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses accomplished this mission and was dismissed before Israel entered the Promised Land! He did not enter.

During the archetypal pilgrimage from Egypt to the Promised Land, the people do not obey Moses and God institutes temporary detention monitors (the Levitical Priesthood) with remedial regulations to enforce proper worship (Levitical Statutes). (Note: The Ten Commandments, recorded in the Book of Exodus, are universal and permanent. The Levitical Statutes — recorded in the Book of Leviticus — are temporary and remedial.) After the Israelites enter the Promised Land, God extends these disciplinary Statutes to regulate the Temple worship in a Temple made by human hands (see Acts 7:48; 17:24; and 2 Cor 5:1).

The Letter to the Hebrews explains that the temporary Levitical Priesthood and Statutes will end when the eternal Covenant Priesthood and Sacrifice is established. Jesus and the Holy Spirit establish a new and unique Priesthood — a priesthood foretold and prefigured by Melchizedek’s interaction with Abraham, and fully instituted after the Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Spirit. Abraham and Moses may be seen as the two primary figures in Judaism, both speak directly — and repeatedly — with God; one is the main subject of Genesis, the other is the main subject of Exodus. Abraham and Moses may be seen as types of Joseph of Nazareth and Simon Peter; the gospels begin with Joseph of Nazareth (first chapter of Matthew) and end with Simon Peter (last chapter of John).

Following the last chapter of John, the Book of Acts describes the mission of Peter, our temporary Head directing us along the Way to the eternal Sacrifice (illustrated in the Book of Revelation). Our permanent “resting place” is where the “Woman clothed with the sun” is honored as the Queen Mother next to her Divine Son, the Universal Messiah. The Queen Mother’s husband, Joseph, is our human Holy Father forever: we call this the “Patronage of Joseph” as it was declared by Pius IX on December 8, 1870.

Marriage and Family

Human life is created — and redeemed — in marriage and family: “It is not good for humans to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) I want to emphasize the unity (Covenant Union) of husbands and wives, Abraham and Sarah (the type), and Joseph and Mary (the fulfillment); husbands and wives acting together as one doing the Will of God. In contrast, the wife of Moses, and the wife of Simon Peter, both remain mostly in the background while their husbands perform specific temporary ministries. This reflection follows from the marital union of Sarah and Abraham (as the type), and Mary and Joseph (as the fulfillment), and their children — the fruit of their Covenant Union. Simply, Sarah and Abraham, as also Mary and Joseph, serve God and do God’s will in marriage and family as wives, husbands, mothers and fathers.

From the perspective of our eternal salvation, the central event in the Old Testament is Abraham’s obedient willingness (with his wife’s implicit consent) to do God’s Will by giving his beloved son back to God (to sacrifice Isaac). This primal event in Genesis includes Sarah, who is Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother. Ignorance of the Book of Genesis is so widespread that it is necessary to repeat explicitly, the “test of Abraham” is the sacrifice of Sarah and Abraham’s beloved son. The central event in the New Testament is the one Holy Sacrifice on Calvary of Mary and Joseph’s beloved son; this one Holy Sacrifice (prefigured by the Sacrifice of Isaac) is initiated in the Presentation in the Temple and perfected on Calvary. In the third millennium, it is helpful — and eye-opening — to see Sarah and Abraham as types of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth (and to see Moses as a type of Simon Peter).

In “the fullness of time” — when a human wife and husband are perfectly one body in virginal, immaculate covenant union, perfectly united in mind, heart, and will — God blesses their holy union with a Son. Because marriage and family are under attack as never before, in the third decade of the third millennium, it is necessary to repeat explicitly: God emphasizes the cooperation, the covenant union, of wives and husbands acting together to do God’s Will. It is not good for humans to be alone. “Where two are together in my Name, I am with them.” (Matthew 18:20) The vital importance of wives and husbands acting together as one helps us to see Mary and Joseph together reversing the original “independent” disobedience of Eve and her husband.

In contrast, God gives a narrow, unique, and specialized office to Moses and Simon Peter — a specifically liturgical and legal office. (Moses’ office is temporary, and Moses stops outside the Promised Land; this may be seen as prefiguring the tradition of Peter exercising his office “outside” the gate of heaven. Of course, Moses and Peter are both saints in heaven.)

In the third Christian millennium — and specifically during the “Year of Joseph,” the Holy Spirit calls us to go to Mary and Joseph (see Consecration to Saint Joseph, by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC). The New Covenant is written in the hearts of Mary and Joseph before the Incarnation. It is not written in hearts of Levitical priests until after Jesus establishes the Everlasting Priesthood according to the Order of Melchisedek; then, we are told in the Book of Acts, the New Covenant was written on the hearts of many (Levitical) priests (Acts 6:7). The New Covenant is sealed in the hearts of the Apostles on Pentecost when, with their Virgin Mother present, they are overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and born again.

Biblical types are extremely helpful when we recognize the difference between biblical typology and mathematical “mapping”; biblical types are not exclusive, many Old Testament types prefigure the Blessed Virgin, and many Old Testament types prefigure the Messiah. The new Sarah and Abraham — Mary and Joseph — are truly parents of a multitude of nations! God calls Simon Peter — the new Moses — to be a Holy Legislator and Prophet serving Mary and Joseph and all their children. For a short interval (a few hundred years), many Christians said, “ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia” (“Where Peter is, there is the Church”). It was not universal for very long — schisms happen.

In this Third Millennium, the Holy Spirit speaks universally and without exception: go to Jesus through Mary and Joseph. We still need good bishops and priests to serve by administering the Sacraments and teaching truth. In the Mystery of Divine Providence, Jesus ordained priests according to the Order of Melchisedek to serve at the altar and preside over the one, holy, acceptable, living, eternal Thanksgiving Sacrifice on Calvary made present on the altar and given to us in the Eucharist. This Year of Joseph celebrates the 150th anniversary of the definition of the dogma of Joseph’s universal Patronage — the Head and Father — of all the People of God.