The Body and Blood of Christ Given for Us
Old Testament Symbols
St. Augustine wrote that “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” For example, when we read of the priesthood of Christ in the New Testament Book of Hebrews 5-7, it notes that Christ is an eternal priest-king according to the order of Melchizedek. Who is Melchizekek? He is the one to whom the Patriarch Abraham after a military victory (about 1800 B.C.) brought his tithe. He is a “a priest of God most high” and a king who brought out an offering of bread and wine and gave Abraham a blessing (Gen 14:18). Because Melchizedek is a type of Christ, his offering of bread and wine is seen as a type of the Thanksgiving offering (Todah in Hebrew), of the same type which Jesus offers to the Father at the Last Supper.
During the forty years of wandering in the desert, Moses said God “fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The manna was considered holy and was kept in the ark of the Covenant, but Jesus spoke of this manna of 1000 years earlier comparing with the bread he was to give the world: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6: 49-51) This is not the bread which was offered in the temple every day by the priests. It is not the holy bread of the Presence which David fed his men (Matthew 12:1) on the Sabbath, exercising priestly authority. What is this bread that Jesus spoke of in the New Covenant?
Bread from Heaven
Could God Almighty, whose Son took on human flesh to save us, a great mystery of our redemption, actually offer us that flesh [body, blood, soul and divinity] as a saving banquet? Those with faith believe God’s word in the New Testament which narrates how he changed water into wine at Cana, fed thousands from a few fish and loaves of bread, and raised others from the dead and then, Himself. Still, this would certainly be a stupendous and miraculous gift from the God who created the world out of nothing and whose word is life-giving. This “bread from heaven” or manna (Ps 78:24), some of which was kept in the ark of the covenant in a gold jar (Heb 9:4), was a form of divine assistance for God’s people. The Passover meal, which the Jews celebrated each year to commemorate the sparing of the first-born sons of Israel ( who were supposed to be priests and spiritual leaders of the family-- Exodus 19:6 and Hebrews 11:28; 12:23) in the great drama of the exodus from Egyptian slavery to freedom, had to be consumed for the first-born to live. The Passover was the occasion for Jesus to offer his Apostles the Bread of Life, but not just his life-saving word which He had been giving to them throughout His three year ministry, but His own Body and Blood, soul and divinity--Himself.
Can this be so or have Catholic Christians gone off the deep end? Is it worth noting that Jesus was born in a manger, which is a feeding trough, in the town of Bethlehem, which means “house of bread?” Or that the Passover meal, which Jesus celebrated with His disciples in the Upper Room, known as the “Last Supper,” is a form of Todah, a thanks offering of food and drink (usually bread and wine), a form of sacrificial offering. Like the other Old Covenant sacrifices, namely the sin, peace and burnt offerings, it is a prototype of the New Covenant sacrifice of the Cross. God instituted both and designed the first as a foreshadowing of the second. These are not mere coincidences for all of history is Christocentric, that is, all history is centered on Christ, our Savior.
The New Testament Eucharist In The Bread of Life Discourse (John 6)
What if anything does the New Testament teach us about the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ received by Catholics and Orthodox Christians at Mass and referred to as the “Eucharist?” The Gospel of John was the last one written and is theologically the most sophisticated. This is reflected in John’s treatment of the Holy Eucharist in chapter six of his Gospel. John pointedly introduces the subject after the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand. It was the time of the Passover celebration [a thanks offering or Todah], one year before the Last Supper, also a Passover meal, and hence easily recalled at that time. In the famous “bread of life” discourse, Jesus contrasts the bread which perishes or the manna (John 6:27) with the bread from heaven which gives life to the world (John 6:33). Just as death came into the world by eating the forbidden fruit so eternal life (which Adam and Eve lost because of their sin) is restored by eating the Bread of Life. Jesus is clear in His message:
I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
When the Jews, who took him at His word, began quarreling about the problem of offering one’s flesh, Jesus said:
Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who feeds [trogon in Greek] on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink. The man who feeds [trogon] on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the Father who has life sent me and I have life because of the Father so the man who feeds [trogon] on me will have life because of me. . . (John 6:53-57)
Jesus gives us his solemn assurance (some translations say “amen, amen I say to you” which is a Hebrew oath formula) that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, but some argue this is symbolic language as when Jesus describes himself as “the door” or “the way”. But the word John uses for the Greek verb “to eat or feed” [trogon] is not the regular Greek verb for eating, phagon. Trogon means “to munch or gnaw” and is no doubt a deliberate device employed by John to underline the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus. The tense of the verb trogon implies continuous action and a word study shows this verb is never used in a symbolic fashion in the Bible.
Jesus Said it Four Times (John 6)!
When his disciples began murmuring about how impossible it was to take Jesus seriously, he responded in John 6: 62-65:
What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before. . .? It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words I spoke to you are spirit and life. Yet among you are some who do not believe. . . This is why I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
Flesh alone, human flesh, is of no avail, but Christ’s resurrected, glorified flesh is united to and an instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Protestant interpretation that “flesh and blood” are merely a Hebrew idiom for “life” might make sense if Jesus had not taken the trouble to clarify his meaning for his disciples. He has repeated his message four times (John 6: 51-58) fully aware that the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood was prohibited by Levitical law (e.g., Leviticus 3:17) with the severe penalty of being cut off from your people. Nowhere else in Scripture does Jesus say anything four times to emphasize and insure its understanding.
Moreover, even after “many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer” unable to accept this apparent gross violation of Mosaic law, Jesus did not change His meaning! This is the only time in the New Testament that the message of Jesus caused such a mass exodus of his followers. Just as the announcement that Jesus was going to be taken and crucified scandalized them, so too did Jesus teaching about the Eucharist. He does not run after them claiming they misunderstood him. Thus, both the Cross and the Eucharist are stumbling blocks which can only be overcome with the help of the Holy Spirit. “Will you also go away?” Jesus asked the twelve.
Or could it be that Jesus meant what He said? But some protest, He said that “it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is useless.” Truly, the Spirit gives life and there is no life without Him and life is a supernatural gift, but Jesus just said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:53-54).
So how can He now say “the flesh is useless.” Have we caught the Messiah in a contradiction? No, because in the first instance He is talking about divine flesh without which there is no eternal life, and in the second instance He is referring to human flesh, which is, indeed, useless to save man.
The Medicine of Immortality
The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ, has always taught that these words are to be taken literally and this is evident if you study the words of the early Church Fathers, like St. Ignatius of Antioch, who provided the first written evidence that the Church called itself “catholic’ which means “universal” and who referred to the Eucharist in the following terms in his letter to the Ephesians written before 110 A.D.:
Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ.
The institution of the Eucharist is found in the synoptic Gospels accounts of the Last Supper (Luke. 22:14-20; Mt.26:26-30; Mk.14:22-26). In the Gospel of Matthew, for example, we read:
During the meal Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples ‘Take this and eat it,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. ‘All of you must drink from it,’ he said, ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Matthew.26: 26-30)
Notice that Jesus does not say this is a symbol of my body or this represents my blood, but He is very literal in his description. The gift of himself, was symbolized by the “breaking of the bread,” and it was “this expression that the first Christians used to designate their Eucharistic assemblies.” As St. Paul testifies, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Cor 10:17). This is the fulfillment of the words of Jesus, when he said, “. . .I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew. 28: 20). The Church, taking Christ at His word, teaches that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of Christian life” and that Christ gave it to us, “to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Pascal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.334, para.1323). What more powerful and loving gift could our Lord have given than the gift of himself?
St. Paul and the Eucharist
What does Paul say on the subject? In his first letter to the Corinthians he urges them to shun the worship of idols and asks pointedly, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation [Greek: Koinounia–participation or communion] in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not a participation [Koinounia] in the body of Christ?”(1 Corinthians 10:16). St. Paul’s words underline the sublime mystery of the Eucharist, namely its sacrificial character and the real presence of Christ. Because Jesus is really present in the meal they share “in remembrance of me.” St. Paul scolds them concerning the agape meal they ate before the Eucharistic sacrifice we call the Mass:
When you assemble it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for every one is in haste to eat his own supper. One person gets hungry while another gets drunk. Do you not have homes where you can eat and drink? Would you have contempt for the church of God. . .?
He then reminds them how he had taught them about the institution of the Eucharist:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26).
Do This in Remembrance of Me!
St. Luke quotes the same words of our Savior (Luke 22: 19) in his account of the Last Supper. The Greek word used for remembrance, in both passages is anamnesis, which includes not only the English meaning of the word (i.e., to recall or remember) but also implies that the thing to be “remembered” is “an otherworldly reality that is made present to the one ‘remembering.’” Thus when Jesus says “Do this in remembrance of me,” he is asking for more than mere recall, but rather re-enactment with the assurance that he will be with them just as he was with the Apostles at the Last Supper in the transformed sacrificial bread and wine. Paul instructs us:
This means that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and the of the Lord. A man should examine himself first; only then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28).
Clearly Paul is not talking about just a memorial of the Last Supper, because to underline the holiness of the Eucharist he adds (in the same solemn tone Jesus used to explain the Eucharist to the unbelieving disciples in the synagogue in John 6): "He who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks a judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Paul is clear that the Eucharist requires Christian believers to believe, to have a clear conscience and act accordingly and attributes illness and even deaths among them to their lack of charity in this regard. When Paul tells them, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons” (1 Corinthians 10: 21), he is saying the union with one Lord in the Eucharist prohibits participation in the rituals of other gods (the cup of demons).
The Breaking of the Bread
This “breaking of the bread” is the central feature of the Church’s life and is a real communion with Christ. Just as Israelites participated in the Old Covenant sacrifices by eating the animal or food offered (burnt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings and the Todah, a food/drink offering--usually bread and wine) so too Christians are called upon to consume the Body and Blood of Christ and unite themselves to Him and to the sacrifice of the Cross. So it is not so surprising that Paul emphasizes that this action makes the Church one body (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13). But how do we diverse people become one body? Paul explains, “Since there is one bread, we though many are actually one body because we all share in the one bread.” Is eating bread and remembering that powerful? No! Could this be symbolic of say, God’s word? If that were the case why are there approximately 26,000 different Christian denominations, when they all share essentially the same Bible? It is, as St. Paul reveals, the consuming of the one body of Jesus Christ (the Eucharist) that transforms us into one body! Can a mere symbol create unity? No! As St. John tells in his Gospel, Jesus is the true Lamb of God and just as the Israelites would not have celebrated the Passover of the angel of death had they not consumed the sacrificial lamb during the Exodus (Genesis 12), so Christians are called by Jesus himself to consume the Bread of Life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 6). The unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17: 26 is made possible, as Jesus said,
. . .and I will make it known, that the love which thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus said it plainly, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6: 56).
In 1 John he uses the term “abide” over and over; we must abide in Him by our belief and obedience but something more is meant by this term. Jesus himself tells us how we can abide in Him by receiving His Body and Blood and Catholics [and the Orthodox] are called upon to do so worthily at the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharistic banquet, the Mass, is not only our Passover to eternal life, but it is the ultimate Hebrew Todah or thanksgiving sacrifice. Israel used the Todah as a most holy and great thanksgiving after deliverance from great peril. There was a rabbinic saying that stated that in the coming age of the Messiah all sacrifice would cease except for the Todah. As in the Todah, we Christians are called on to give thanks and to consume the offering of the great Todah instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, the new Passover, to receive our Holy Savior.
The Arcane Discipline: Silence on the Eucharist
The Church was faithful to the Lord’s commands from the beginning as is noted in the Acts of the Apostles:
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts ( Acts 2:42, 46).
The references to the “breaking of the bread” in the Acts of the Apostles refers to the celebration of the Eucharist that took place on the first day of the week. Why did the inspired writers of Scripture use this symbol to describe the Lord’s Body and Blood? Remember that early Christians were for three centuries an underground Church, celebrating in secret mostly in their homes, often persecuted by both the Jews and the Romans. Christians were sometimes accused of cannibalism and participating in “Thyestean feasts,” after a certain Thyestes who was served his brother’s dead children for dinner. Thus concern over pagan misunderstanding of this mystery of the faith (the Eucharist) compounded by the reticence they had in revealing their home celebrations led to the adoption by many Christians of the disciplina arcani or arcane discipline, which was a self-imposed secrecy, even from catechumens (those studying to join the Church). As James T. O’Connor writes in his book The Hidden Manna, “It is for this reason that many of our early references to the Eucharist are found in catechetical instructions given to the newly baptized only at the Easter Vigil, when they were about to receive the Eucharist for the first time.” St. Augustine makes references to this discipline in his catechetical sermons, showing that this practice was around even in the fifth century. Remember also that the Apostles recognized the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus in the “breaking of the bread” (Luke. 24:13-35). As one scholar notes, “The tombs of the Martyrs, the paintings on the walls of the catacombs and the custom of reserving the Blessed Sacrament in the homes of the first Christians in the years of [Roman] persecution show the unity of faith in the first centuries of Christianity in the doctrine that is the Eucharist, Christ is really contained, offered and received.”
The Testimony of St. Justin Martyr
Writing to the pagan emperor Antoninus in about 155 A.D., St. Justin Martyr, who later died for his faith as his name suggests, wrote of the Christian celebration of the Eucharist in the terms present day Catholics can easily recognize from the Mass:
When the prayers and thanksgiving are completed, all the people present call out their consent, saying 'Amen!' 'Amen' in the Hebrew language signifies 'so be it.' After the president [priest or presider] has given thanks, and all the people have shouted their assent, those whom we call deacons give to each one present to partake of the Eucharistic bread and wine and water; and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
"We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who has been washed in the washing [baptism] which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [2 Pet 3:21], and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread or common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer [epiclesis or prayer of supplication to the Holy Spirit] set down by Him [see 1Corinthians 11: 23-26; Luke 22: 19] and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished is both the flesh and blood of the incarnated Jesus (First Apology of Justin, chapter 128).
St. Paul pointedly reminded the Hebrew Christians that, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tent [Jewish priests] have no right to eat” (Heb 13:10). This was so because they had not professed belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and entered the Church by receiving the Holy Spirit in Baptism and accepting the body of Apostolic teaching which the Church calls the deposit of faith.
St. Justin addresses the sacrificial aspects of the Eucharist in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, writing:
"Concerning the sacrifices once offered by you Jews, God, as I have already said, has spoken through Malachi the prophet, who was one of the Twelve [minor prophets--he wrote after the return from Babylonian captivity about 445 B.C.]: ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ says the Lord, 'and I do not accept your sacrifices from your hands, because from the rising of the sun to its setting my Name has been glorified among the Gentiles. And in every place incense and a pure sacrifice are offered to my Name, because my Name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord, while you have profaned it’ (Malachi 1: 10-12).
Already, then, did he prophesy about those sacrifices that are offered to him in every place by us Gentiles, speaking, that is, about the Bread of the Eucharist and the cup of the Eucharist. And he added that his Name is glorified by us and profaned by you." The quotation from Malachi was used by many of the Early Church Fathers as a prophecy of the Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ in an unbloody manner.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a memorial of his death and Resurrection and by commanding his apostles to offer this “in remembrance of me”(anamnesis) until his return, by ordering its perpetual celebration he made them priests of the New Covenant. This was a measure of his love which made them sharers of his Passover, which is anticipated in the Last Supper, and celebrated in the Eucharist, the New Covenant sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus transformed the Last Supper into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of all men. He said, this is my body which is given for you” and “This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood” (Lk 22: 19-20; 1 Cor 11: 24-25).
In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which replaced the temple sacrifice of the Jews, the Church daily takes to heart the words of Jesus to the Apostles, “Do this as a remembrance of me.” The Mass is celebrated approximately 300,000 times each day so that at any given moment, somewhere in the world, our Lord’s great Passover is being celebrated, remembered and consumed with reverence. The message to the Church in Laodicea in the Book of Revelation might well be addressed to us all, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” As the Church notes in the Catechism, “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”
Since God is not bounded by time, his acts have an eternal significance. He gave us His Son in the Eucharist! Unlike the unbloody food/drink offerings of the Old Covenant, the Todah, which could only be consumed by the Levitical priests, the unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist can be consumed by the “priesthood of all believers.” This is the principal act of worship of the Church, which offers itself as a total offering with Christ at each Mass. As St. Paul reminds us Christians are to offer themselves as a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom 12: 1). Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is the ultimate communion, a personal relationship of great intimacy, holy and profound, and as Catholics say at every Mass before communion, we must say “Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Let us give thanks to God as we approach this great mystery of our redemption!
The Testimony of St. Augustine
Although we are highlighting the testimony of St. Augustine, the record of the Early Church Fathers is unanimous. There is not a single document suggesting that any Christian doubted the interpretation of the Church. (Examples of this truth can be seen by clicking here. Let’s end as we started with a quotation from St. Augustine, who reminds us that the Christians and Jews both had what he called “sacraments” (for example, the manna versus the Eucharist), but the Christian received the reality while the Jew only a figure. “The manna was a shadow, this is the truth.” In a sermon to newly baptized Christians he said:
You should understand what you have received, what you will receive, indeed what you should receive daily. That bread that you see on the altar and that has been sanctified by the word of God is the Body of Christ. That chalice–rather, that which the chalice contains–has been sanctified by the word of God and is the Blood of Christ. Through these things the Lord Christ wished to entrust to us His Body and his Blood, which he shed for us unto the remission of sins. If you receive them well, you are that which you receive. The Apostle says, ‘One bread and we, the many, are one body (1Corinthians 10:17). [Sermons CCXXVII: On Easter Sunday; PL, 38, 1099]
He also wrote, “He walked on earth in that same Flesh to us to be eaten for our salvation. Moreover, no one eats that Flesh unless he has first adored it . . . and we sin by not adoring it.” (Ennar. In Ps. 99, 9].
St. Augustine wrote that “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” For example, when we read of the priesthood of Christ in the New Testament Book of Hebrews 5-7, it notes that Christ is an eternal priest-king according to the order of Melchizedek. Who is Melchizekek? He is the one to whom the Patriarch Abraham after a military victory (about 1800 B.C.) brought his tithe. He is a “a priest of God most high” and a king who brought out an offering of bread and wine and gave Abraham a blessing (Gen 14:18). Because Melchizedek is a type of Christ, his offering of bread and wine is seen as a type of the Thanksgiving offering (Todah in Hebrew), of the same type which Jesus offers to the Father at the Last Supper.
During the forty years of wandering in the desert, Moses said God “fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The manna was considered holy and was kept in the ark of the Covenant, but Jesus spoke of this manna of 1000 years earlier comparing with the bread he was to give the world: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6: 49-51) This is not the bread which was offered in the temple every day by the priests. It is not the holy bread of the Presence which David fed his men (Matthew 12:1) on the Sabbath, exercising priestly authority. What is this bread that Jesus spoke of in the New Covenant?
Bread from Heaven
Could God Almighty, whose Son took on human flesh to save us, a great mystery of our redemption, actually offer us that flesh [body, blood, soul and divinity] as a saving banquet? Those with faith believe God’s word in the New Testament which narrates how he changed water into wine at Cana, fed thousands from a few fish and loaves of bread, and raised others from the dead and then, Himself. Still, this would certainly be a stupendous and miraculous gift from the God who created the world out of nothing and whose word is life-giving. This “bread from heaven” or manna (Ps 78:24), some of which was kept in the ark of the covenant in a gold jar (Heb 9:4), was a form of divine assistance for God’s people. The Passover meal, which the Jews celebrated each year to commemorate the sparing of the first-born sons of Israel ( who were supposed to be priests and spiritual leaders of the family-- Exodus 19:6 and Hebrews 11:28; 12:23) in the great drama of the exodus from Egyptian slavery to freedom, had to be consumed for the first-born to live. The Passover was the occasion for Jesus to offer his Apostles the Bread of Life, but not just his life-saving word which He had been giving to them throughout His three year ministry, but His own Body and Blood, soul and divinity--Himself.
Can this be so or have Catholic Christians gone off the deep end? Is it worth noting that Jesus was born in a manger, which is a feeding trough, in the town of Bethlehem, which means “house of bread?” Or that the Passover meal, which Jesus celebrated with His disciples in the Upper Room, known as the “Last Supper,” is a form of Todah, a thanks offering of food and drink (usually bread and wine), a form of sacrificial offering. Like the other Old Covenant sacrifices, namely the sin, peace and burnt offerings, it is a prototype of the New Covenant sacrifice of the Cross. God instituted both and designed the first as a foreshadowing of the second. These are not mere coincidences for all of history is Christocentric, that is, all history is centered on Christ, our Savior.
The New Testament Eucharist In The Bread of Life Discourse (John 6)
What if anything does the New Testament teach us about the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ received by Catholics and Orthodox Christians at Mass and referred to as the “Eucharist?” The Gospel of John was the last one written and is theologically the most sophisticated. This is reflected in John’s treatment of the Holy Eucharist in chapter six of his Gospel. John pointedly introduces the subject after the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand. It was the time of the Passover celebration [a thanks offering or Todah], one year before the Last Supper, also a Passover meal, and hence easily recalled at that time. In the famous “bread of life” discourse, Jesus contrasts the bread which perishes or the manna (John 6:27) with the bread from heaven which gives life to the world (John 6:33). Just as death came into the world by eating the forbidden fruit so eternal life (which Adam and Eve lost because of their sin) is restored by eating the Bread of Life. Jesus is clear in His message:
I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
When the Jews, who took him at His word, began quarreling about the problem of offering one’s flesh, Jesus said:
Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who feeds [trogon in Greek] on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink. The man who feeds [trogon] on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the Father who has life sent me and I have life because of the Father so the man who feeds [trogon] on me will have life because of me. . . (John 6:53-57)
Jesus gives us his solemn assurance (some translations say “amen, amen I say to you” which is a Hebrew oath formula) that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, but some argue this is symbolic language as when Jesus describes himself as “the door” or “the way”. But the word John uses for the Greek verb “to eat or feed” [trogon] is not the regular Greek verb for eating, phagon. Trogon means “to munch or gnaw” and is no doubt a deliberate device employed by John to underline the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus. The tense of the verb trogon implies continuous action and a word study shows this verb is never used in a symbolic fashion in the Bible.
Jesus Said it Four Times (John 6)!
When his disciples began murmuring about how impossible it was to take Jesus seriously, he responded in John 6: 62-65:
What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before. . .? It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words I spoke to you are spirit and life. Yet among you are some who do not believe. . . This is why I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
Flesh alone, human flesh, is of no avail, but Christ’s resurrected, glorified flesh is united to and an instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Protestant interpretation that “flesh and blood” are merely a Hebrew idiom for “life” might make sense if Jesus had not taken the trouble to clarify his meaning for his disciples. He has repeated his message four times (John 6: 51-58) fully aware that the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood was prohibited by Levitical law (e.g., Leviticus 3:17) with the severe penalty of being cut off from your people. Nowhere else in Scripture does Jesus say anything four times to emphasize and insure its understanding.
Moreover, even after “many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer” unable to accept this apparent gross violation of Mosaic law, Jesus did not change His meaning! This is the only time in the New Testament that the message of Jesus caused such a mass exodus of his followers. Just as the announcement that Jesus was going to be taken and crucified scandalized them, so too did Jesus teaching about the Eucharist. He does not run after them claiming they misunderstood him. Thus, both the Cross and the Eucharist are stumbling blocks which can only be overcome with the help of the Holy Spirit. “Will you also go away?” Jesus asked the twelve.
Or could it be that Jesus meant what He said? But some protest, He said that “it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is useless.” Truly, the Spirit gives life and there is no life without Him and life is a supernatural gift, but Jesus just said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:53-54).
So how can He now say “the flesh is useless.” Have we caught the Messiah in a contradiction? No, because in the first instance He is talking about divine flesh without which there is no eternal life, and in the second instance He is referring to human flesh, which is, indeed, useless to save man.
The Medicine of Immortality
The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ, has always taught that these words are to be taken literally and this is evident if you study the words of the early Church Fathers, like St. Ignatius of Antioch, who provided the first written evidence that the Church called itself “catholic’ which means “universal” and who referred to the Eucharist in the following terms in his letter to the Ephesians written before 110 A.D.:
Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ.
The institution of the Eucharist is found in the synoptic Gospels accounts of the Last Supper (Luke. 22:14-20; Mt.26:26-30; Mk.14:22-26). In the Gospel of Matthew, for example, we read:
During the meal Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples ‘Take this and eat it,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. ‘All of you must drink from it,’ he said, ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Matthew.26: 26-30)
Notice that Jesus does not say this is a symbol of my body or this represents my blood, but He is very literal in his description. The gift of himself, was symbolized by the “breaking of the bread,” and it was “this expression that the first Christians used to designate their Eucharistic assemblies.” As St. Paul testifies, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Cor 10:17). This is the fulfillment of the words of Jesus, when he said, “. . .I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew. 28: 20). The Church, taking Christ at His word, teaches that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of Christian life” and that Christ gave it to us, “to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Pascal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.334, para.1323). What more powerful and loving gift could our Lord have given than the gift of himself?
St. Paul and the Eucharist
What does Paul say on the subject? In his first letter to the Corinthians he urges them to shun the worship of idols and asks pointedly, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation [Greek: Koinounia–participation or communion] in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not a participation [Koinounia] in the body of Christ?”(1 Corinthians 10:16). St. Paul’s words underline the sublime mystery of the Eucharist, namely its sacrificial character and the real presence of Christ. Because Jesus is really present in the meal they share “in remembrance of me.” St. Paul scolds them concerning the agape meal they ate before the Eucharistic sacrifice we call the Mass:
When you assemble it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for every one is in haste to eat his own supper. One person gets hungry while another gets drunk. Do you not have homes where you can eat and drink? Would you have contempt for the church of God. . .?
He then reminds them how he had taught them about the institution of the Eucharist:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26).
Do This in Remembrance of Me!
St. Luke quotes the same words of our Savior (Luke 22: 19) in his account of the Last Supper. The Greek word used for remembrance, in both passages is anamnesis, which includes not only the English meaning of the word (i.e., to recall or remember) but also implies that the thing to be “remembered” is “an otherworldly reality that is made present to the one ‘remembering.’” Thus when Jesus says “Do this in remembrance of me,” he is asking for more than mere recall, but rather re-enactment with the assurance that he will be with them just as he was with the Apostles at the Last Supper in the transformed sacrificial bread and wine. Paul instructs us:
This means that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and the of the Lord. A man should examine himself first; only then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28).
Clearly Paul is not talking about just a memorial of the Last Supper, because to underline the holiness of the Eucharist he adds (in the same solemn tone Jesus used to explain the Eucharist to the unbelieving disciples in the synagogue in John 6): "He who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks a judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Paul is clear that the Eucharist requires Christian believers to believe, to have a clear conscience and act accordingly and attributes illness and even deaths among them to their lack of charity in this regard. When Paul tells them, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons” (1 Corinthians 10: 21), he is saying the union with one Lord in the Eucharist prohibits participation in the rituals of other gods (the cup of demons).
The Breaking of the Bread
This “breaking of the bread” is the central feature of the Church’s life and is a real communion with Christ. Just as Israelites participated in the Old Covenant sacrifices by eating the animal or food offered (burnt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings and the Todah, a food/drink offering--usually bread and wine) so too Christians are called upon to consume the Body and Blood of Christ and unite themselves to Him and to the sacrifice of the Cross. So it is not so surprising that Paul emphasizes that this action makes the Church one body (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13). But how do we diverse people become one body? Paul explains, “Since there is one bread, we though many are actually one body because we all share in the one bread.” Is eating bread and remembering that powerful? No! Could this be symbolic of say, God’s word? If that were the case why are there approximately 26,000 different Christian denominations, when they all share essentially the same Bible? It is, as St. Paul reveals, the consuming of the one body of Jesus Christ (the Eucharist) that transforms us into one body! Can a mere symbol create unity? No! As St. John tells in his Gospel, Jesus is the true Lamb of God and just as the Israelites would not have celebrated the Passover of the angel of death had they not consumed the sacrificial lamb during the Exodus (Genesis 12), so Christians are called by Jesus himself to consume the Bread of Life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 6). The unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17: 26 is made possible, as Jesus said,
. . .and I will make it known, that the love which thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus said it plainly, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6: 56).
In 1 John he uses the term “abide” over and over; we must abide in Him by our belief and obedience but something more is meant by this term. Jesus himself tells us how we can abide in Him by receiving His Body and Blood and Catholics [and the Orthodox] are called upon to do so worthily at the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharistic banquet, the Mass, is not only our Passover to eternal life, but it is the ultimate Hebrew Todah or thanksgiving sacrifice. Israel used the Todah as a most holy and great thanksgiving after deliverance from great peril. There was a rabbinic saying that stated that in the coming age of the Messiah all sacrifice would cease except for the Todah. As in the Todah, we Christians are called on to give thanks and to consume the offering of the great Todah instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, the new Passover, to receive our Holy Savior.
The Arcane Discipline: Silence on the Eucharist
The Church was faithful to the Lord’s commands from the beginning as is noted in the Acts of the Apostles:
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts ( Acts 2:42, 46).
The references to the “breaking of the bread” in the Acts of the Apostles refers to the celebration of the Eucharist that took place on the first day of the week. Why did the inspired writers of Scripture use this symbol to describe the Lord’s Body and Blood? Remember that early Christians were for three centuries an underground Church, celebrating in secret mostly in their homes, often persecuted by both the Jews and the Romans. Christians were sometimes accused of cannibalism and participating in “Thyestean feasts,” after a certain Thyestes who was served his brother’s dead children for dinner. Thus concern over pagan misunderstanding of this mystery of the faith (the Eucharist) compounded by the reticence they had in revealing their home celebrations led to the adoption by many Christians of the disciplina arcani or arcane discipline, which was a self-imposed secrecy, even from catechumens (those studying to join the Church). As James T. O’Connor writes in his book The Hidden Manna, “It is for this reason that many of our early references to the Eucharist are found in catechetical instructions given to the newly baptized only at the Easter Vigil, when they were about to receive the Eucharist for the first time.” St. Augustine makes references to this discipline in his catechetical sermons, showing that this practice was around even in the fifth century. Remember also that the Apostles recognized the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus in the “breaking of the bread” (Luke. 24:13-35). As one scholar notes, “The tombs of the Martyrs, the paintings on the walls of the catacombs and the custom of reserving the Blessed Sacrament in the homes of the first Christians in the years of [Roman] persecution show the unity of faith in the first centuries of Christianity in the doctrine that is the Eucharist, Christ is really contained, offered and received.”
The Testimony of St. Justin Martyr
Writing to the pagan emperor Antoninus in about 155 A.D., St. Justin Martyr, who later died for his faith as his name suggests, wrote of the Christian celebration of the Eucharist in the terms present day Catholics can easily recognize from the Mass:
When the prayers and thanksgiving are completed, all the people present call out their consent, saying 'Amen!' 'Amen' in the Hebrew language signifies 'so be it.' After the president [priest or presider] has given thanks, and all the people have shouted their assent, those whom we call deacons give to each one present to partake of the Eucharistic bread and wine and water; and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
"We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who has been washed in the washing [baptism] which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [2 Pet 3:21], and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread or common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer [epiclesis or prayer of supplication to the Holy Spirit] set down by Him [see 1Corinthians 11: 23-26; Luke 22: 19] and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished is both the flesh and blood of the incarnated Jesus (First Apology of Justin, chapter 128).
St. Paul pointedly reminded the Hebrew Christians that, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tent [Jewish priests] have no right to eat” (Heb 13:10). This was so because they had not professed belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and entered the Church by receiving the Holy Spirit in Baptism and accepting the body of Apostolic teaching which the Church calls the deposit of faith.
St. Justin addresses the sacrificial aspects of the Eucharist in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, writing:
"Concerning the sacrifices once offered by you Jews, God, as I have already said, has spoken through Malachi the prophet, who was one of the Twelve [minor prophets--he wrote after the return from Babylonian captivity about 445 B.C.]: ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ says the Lord, 'and I do not accept your sacrifices from your hands, because from the rising of the sun to its setting my Name has been glorified among the Gentiles. And in every place incense and a pure sacrifice are offered to my Name, because my Name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord, while you have profaned it’ (Malachi 1: 10-12).
Already, then, did he prophesy about those sacrifices that are offered to him in every place by us Gentiles, speaking, that is, about the Bread of the Eucharist and the cup of the Eucharist. And he added that his Name is glorified by us and profaned by you." The quotation from Malachi was used by many of the Early Church Fathers as a prophecy of the Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ in an unbloody manner.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a memorial of his death and Resurrection and by commanding his apostles to offer this “in remembrance of me”(anamnesis) until his return, by ordering its perpetual celebration he made them priests of the New Covenant. This was a measure of his love which made them sharers of his Passover, which is anticipated in the Last Supper, and celebrated in the Eucharist, the New Covenant sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus transformed the Last Supper into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of all men. He said, this is my body which is given for you” and “This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood” (Lk 22: 19-20; 1 Cor 11: 24-25).
In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which replaced the temple sacrifice of the Jews, the Church daily takes to heart the words of Jesus to the Apostles, “Do this as a remembrance of me.” The Mass is celebrated approximately 300,000 times each day so that at any given moment, somewhere in the world, our Lord’s great Passover is being celebrated, remembered and consumed with reverence. The message to the Church in Laodicea in the Book of Revelation might well be addressed to us all, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” As the Church notes in the Catechism, “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”
Since God is not bounded by time, his acts have an eternal significance. He gave us His Son in the Eucharist! Unlike the unbloody food/drink offerings of the Old Covenant, the Todah, which could only be consumed by the Levitical priests, the unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist can be consumed by the “priesthood of all believers.” This is the principal act of worship of the Church, which offers itself as a total offering with Christ at each Mass. As St. Paul reminds us Christians are to offer themselves as a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom 12: 1). Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is the ultimate communion, a personal relationship of great intimacy, holy and profound, and as Catholics say at every Mass before communion, we must say “Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Let us give thanks to God as we approach this great mystery of our redemption!
The Testimony of St. Augustine
Although we are highlighting the testimony of St. Augustine, the record of the Early Church Fathers is unanimous. There is not a single document suggesting that any Christian doubted the interpretation of the Church. (Examples of this truth can be seen by clicking here. Let’s end as we started with a quotation from St. Augustine, who reminds us that the Christians and Jews both had what he called “sacraments” (for example, the manna versus the Eucharist), but the Christian received the reality while the Jew only a figure. “The manna was a shadow, this is the truth.” In a sermon to newly baptized Christians he said:
You should understand what you have received, what you will receive, indeed what you should receive daily. That bread that you see on the altar and that has been sanctified by the word of God is the Body of Christ. That chalice–rather, that which the chalice contains–has been sanctified by the word of God and is the Blood of Christ. Through these things the Lord Christ wished to entrust to us His Body and his Blood, which he shed for us unto the remission of sins. If you receive them well, you are that which you receive. The Apostle says, ‘One bread and we, the many, are one body (1Corinthians 10:17). [Sermons CCXXVII: On Easter Sunday; PL, 38, 1099]
He also wrote, “He walked on earth in that same Flesh to us to be eaten for our salvation. Moreover, no one eats that Flesh unless he has first adored it . . . and we sin by not adoring it.” (Ennar. In Ps. 99, 9].
