The Lord’s Portmanteau
By David Faust
Years ago, I coined the word idrealism to describe someone who is idealistic and realistic at the same time. I use my made-up word to explain what it means to live by faith. Idrealism is an example of a literary device known as a portmanteau.
The word portmanteau originally meant a large trunk or suitcase that opens into two equal parts. In time, writers used it for terms that combine two other words, like motel (from motor and hotel), brunch (breakfast combined with lunch), podcast (an iPod broadcast), and smog (smoke mingled with fog). At dinner you can experience two portmanteaus at once by using a spork (a spoon combined with a fork) to eat turducken (a turkey stuffed with duck and chicken). Do you ever fasten something with Velcro? That’s a portmanteau derived from velvet and crochet.
TV portmanteaus include sitcoms, infomercials, mockumentaries (fictional stories told in documentary style), romcoms (romantic comedies) and telethons (television marathons). Pop culture gives portmanteau nicknames to couples like Bennifer (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez), Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), and Billary (Bill and Hillary Clinton). Someone quipped that if Natalie Portman married Jacques Cousteau, they could be called Portmanteau.
The Sacrifice and the Sacrificer
God puts together some unexpected combinations. Lions and lambs don’t have much in common, but Scripture uses both to illustrate the glory of Jesus Christ. The twelve apostles included an unlikely combination of personalities, like Matthew the tax collector (whose work required collaborating with the Romans) and Simon the zealot (who most likely despised the Romans). First-century Jews and Gentiles seemed irreconcilable, but the Lord brought them together as one body.
The incarnation required a mysterious intermingling of divinity and humanity. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9), yet, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity” (Hebrews 2:14). Revelation 7:17 says “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.” As the Lamb, Christ acts like a member of the flock who identifies with the sheep; yet simultaneously, as the Good Shepherd, he is the leader who guides and protects the flock.
A fascinating combination appears in the book of Hebrews, which portrays Christ as both the ultimate sacrifice for sin and the high priest who stands before the altar. Christ is both the sacrifice and the sacrificer—the offering and the offerer—the gift and the giver at the same time. As the priest, he serves as our intermediary. As the sacrifice, his own precious blood (not the blood of animals) atones for our sins. He came “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26).
It took incredible ingenuity and sacrificial love to secure our salvation! How could sinful people like us stand in the presence of the holy God? How could God uphold his justice while showing mercy and lavishing his grace upon us? Why was the sinless high priest willing to lay his own life on the altar as the sacrifice for our sin? How could “love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10)?
Somehow God brought it all together at Calvary, like two wooden beams coming together to form a cross.
Personal Challenge: Think about the personal and theological significance of Jesus’ death on the cross. What did his sacrifice mean for the world? What does it mean for you as an individual? Write or say aloud a prayer expressing praise for the great high priest who sacrificed himself for your sin.
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