I just finished reading Ignatius Press’s Worthy is the Lamb by Thomas J. Nash and I would highly recommend it. The book takes a look at Jesus’ sacrificial death and delves deeply into the Old Testament prefiguring of the Mass. If you have read the Church Fathers or authors like Scott Hahn you will find some of the information familiar, but Thomas Nash weaves it all together in an excellent presentation of the subject. There is a lot of information on Abraham and his offering of his son for sacrifice which starts with the Bible and also uses insights to reflect on this from the Jewish writing called "Targums." The book is heavily footnoted and includes a "Questions for reflections or group discussion" at the end of each chapter. These questions provided are excellent in bringing out though on was was just covered. There is much information in this book to reflect on and some of it I found helpful in Rosary meditations.
I love reading and seeing how God progressively revealed himself to us. To see the connections between God and the Jewish people and how the old covenant came to be replaced by new covenant intended for everybody. How signs and prefigurings became sacramental realities of grace to bring us closer to God. The book includes a quote by Pope Pius the XI when he said "Anti-Semitism is inadmissible, spiritually we are all Semites." It is great seeing the roots of the faith and how our forebears in the faith were used by God to bring salvation to all of us.
There is just so much complexity and intertwining of the Old and the New Testaments and it reminds me of what St. Augustine said "“The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” It is sad that people flock to books like the Da Vinci Code where entertainment in fake puzzles that if believed leave you with less faith. This book shows you the many real puzzles and clues that God left for us so that we might love him more and to grow stronger in the faith. That salvation history is a true history rooted in the Old Testament and blossoming to fulfillment in the new.
