The Fourth Cup: Eucharist & Transubstantiation
“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” Revelation 5:6.
A Lamb as though it had been slain. Hearkening back to the Old Testament, in the time of Pharaoh’s rule over God’s children, the Jews of Egypt, we see the establishment of the long held Passover feast. As most Christians can tell you, this foreshadowed the sacrifice of Calvary. As we go through the Holy Writ of Exodus, we find in chapter 12 the tradition of Passover. To ensure the safety of all the children, specifically the firstborns, we understood that a price of blood had to be paid. Lambs blood was used, having been smeared on the door-posts of each home. As we read further, we see that this was not all that was to be done to save the children. Had anyone smeared the lamb’s blood and foregone the consumption of the unblemished sacrificial lamb, many would have awoken to a morning filled with grief over deceased firstborn sons.
We must understand, as an utterly undeniable truth, that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). In light of this verse, we also must stand with full consent to the conviction that Christ, in His declaration, came not to change the law but fulfill it [Mt 5:17]. As we read over Exodus chapter 12, we see that the establishment of the Passover wasn’t just a gracious invitation for us to dispose of if we should so please, but a vital part not only of a physical well being but of spiritual nourishment. Anyone who chose to neglect this most sacred feast was to be cutoff and considered a foreigner. This feast was to carry on for all generations. And so it was.
Delving into the New Testament, we find that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ upheld this long given tradition. If we look closely, we see that the time of Passover fell on the day of the Last Supper. Coincidence? Not exactly. We see Christ, mind you that He was a devout Jew, fulfilling all the laws given to the Jews by our Father. At the Last Supper, we see a breaking of unleavened bread, but a key component is missing in the meal. The Passover Lamb. We understand Christ to be the Lamb, for not only did St. John through divine revelation see Jesus, saying that He was the Lamb that would pay for the sin of the world [Jn 1:29], but also we understand Jesus to do His Father’s will. For Jesus had not been sent on His own accord, but on that of the Father’s; to accomplish all that the Father had given, including the feast of Passover. Back to the Last Supper. Christ is the Lamb of God Whose blood would expiate all the sin of the world. But for this sacrifice of Passover [which is one in the same with the sacrifice of Calvary], the Lamb had to be eaten. As we read on, Christ promulgates in John 6 the literal consumption of His Flesh and Blood. As a result, we see that many of His disciples had told Jesus it was too hard to accept and abandoned Him [Jn 6:60, 66]. Interesting enough, nowhere in scripture did Christ use a parable or metaphor and not explain its true meaning. John 6 begged reasoning, and Christ could only commit to truth, that His Flesh set on the Cross of Calvary and the bread and Blood of life are one in the same. Even more interesting is that nowhere in scripture save John 6 do we find Christ abandoned due to doctrinal issues.
Many left because they understood exactly that Christ’s words were not symbolic.
Of course, many refer to the following scripture in which Christ states that the flesh is of no avail but the words spoken are Spirit and life. If we read in the gospels, we see that Christ states that He is the way, truth, and life; and by other Scripture, inseparable from the Spirit.
How does this fit in, the flesh being of no avail and the words being spirit and life?
Of course this cannot be symbolic or metaphorical. If this were symbolic and the analogy used to understand Christ’s esoteric speaking was the Holy Spirit, than the Blessed Trinity and all other Scripture regarding the Holy Spirit would have to be considered analogous too. Not once and never can the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, be considered a symbol. Jesus is saying mortal men’s flesh is of no profit. If Jesus’ Flesh were of no profit, than His Incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are all a hoax. To understand what Christ meant by flesh in this, brush up on 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4.
In John 6, Christ carefully choses the word, “trogon”; the verb trogon implies a continuous consumption. In Greek, it means to literally “chew”, “gnaw”, “masticate” – used for the munching of feed by animals! And aren’t we called the sheep and goats? The only other time this word is used, is when God sent the enemies of Israel to be “grievously injured” or “accused falsely” or “slandered”. The other understanding of this verb trogon, besides literally eating, is to grievously injure or revile (Job 19:22; Psalms 27:2; Ecclesiastes 4:5, Isaiah 9:20, 49:26; Micah 3:1-3; Revelation 16:6, 16). Would it make sense that the only way to receive Christ and His life is by grievously injuring and reviling Him? Impossible.
Yet, some claim that Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, formally known as Golgotha, was a one time event never to be repeated.
If this were so, how could God the Father’s commandment for continuing the feast of Passover for all generations uphold without becoming blasphemous and sacrilegious to the sacrifice of Calvary? Why would St. John see, as stated in Revelation, a Lamb as though it had been slain? We know the kingdom of God is unchanging. We see this Lamb sitting on a throne, which we know to be at the right hand of the Father, acquired after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s ascension. But still, to some, this does not answer the question of how can a ‘one time’ event be re-offered, since Christ’s died but once for all times?
Hebrews 10:26 might help us clarify any misconceptions, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” No sacrifice for sins is left? Did St. Paul understand that The Sacrifice had come and gone, never to be resubmitted to our Father? That couldn’t be, for if it were so, that no sacrifice could be offered, than St. Paul’s outcry, “Death, where is your victory” and the gospel’s promise, “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” would become null and void. St. Paul understood that Christ’s sacrifice is a perpetual offering, based off Malachi 1:11 which reads, “For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.” The only time we see Jesus fulfilling this prophecy from Malachi about Melchizedek is in the Last Supper, where Christ took bread and the cup of wine, consecrated to Blood. Malachi said it would be a pure offering, and Christ calls this offering pure by claiming that it is His literal Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Rising and setting of the sun is an idiom meaning for all time. We know that Christ was and is the only one Who can defeat sin. We know Christ was/is the only one able to be sacrificed (an offering) for the expiation of all sins. Yet why did St. Paul continue with the notion that there continued a sacrifice for sins, lest he understood that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, would continually offer Himself, to the Father, on our behalf? He does so in heaven and on earth. For in our Lord’s prayer of Matthew 6:9-14, we see that Jesus states, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is why St. John, in Revelation, saw the Lamb as though slain. Jesus offers us, “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28). Remember, Christ is the Pascal Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), and the Pascal Lamb has to be eaten (Exodus 12:8, 46). St. Paul confirms this continual sacrifice in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” St. Paul promulgates that the feast is continually celebrated.
But for all times? Would Christ really perpetuate the offering [not crucifixion] of Calvary to the end of times?
Yes. For Christ knew His calling, and in understanding His vocation, He fulfills His priestly vestments as being ordained in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:5–6, 10; 6:19–20; 7:1–3, 17, 20–28; 8:1–3, 9:24, et cetera.) who offered as a sacrifice bread and wine from sunup to sundown to righteous kings. Sunup to sundown is an idiom for all times. Take note to Jesus’ three teachings in John 6, where He united the Old Covenant to the New Covenant through the breaking of the bread. First, Jesus shows He has authority over the pretense and multiplicity bread. This is in His discourse where He feeds five thousand [Jn 6:1-15]. Following, St. John shows that Jesus moves onto another multiplication of bread, also by God’s power. This is cited when Jesus teaches of the manna in the desert with Moses [Jn 22-59; Ex 16]. Both instances tell a truth in which God will always supply the means of the bread, despite all physically natural impossibilities. But the concluding sermon is that, “’For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ So they said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst’” [Jn 16:33-35]. Jesus is saying that the bread that God the Father gives and Jesus are one in the same; Jesus is the living consumable Bread of Life. Jesus goes further to say, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” [Jn 6:48-51]. People will suggest in ignorance, “So Jesus is saying if you eat this so called ‘Eucharist’, you will be immortal? Yet Catholics die. Explain that.” My response is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” With the same mindset, are you telling me that all “who believe in Him” will be immortal and “not perish?” Than why are Christians, Catholic and Protestant alike, dying? People make grand hermeneutic errs.
Back to Hebrews 10; we know the only sacrifice sufficient for the atonement of sins is Christ. Yet St. Paul equates the gathering together of the Passover and how it should not be forsaken (as is the habit of some to the sacrifice of Christ) to His works which supersede all offerings and sins incurred. He does rightfully so, for the Holy Communion and Christ’s Flesh on the Redeeming Cross of Calvary are one in the same; established by Jesus, we have the one and only Sacrifice, and without it, we are left with no means to offer for the remission of our sins.
Some still say that Christ didn’t intend to say His Flesh and Blood would literally come about through the consecration of bread and wine, manifesting into His Incarnate Body. But in all four counts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s gospels, we are given an insight into the Last Supper. Christ takes the cup and declares it the new covenant. Before we progress, one thing must be made clear: the Bible is written by those of Jewish descent, in a Jewish culture, following Jewish custom. We must also follow along, read, and understand as did the Jews back then to gather the full encompass of what Christ was expressing. We see that in all of Christ’s pontiffs, never before had He used the word “covenant”, except this one solemn time during the feast of Passover, held at the Last Supper. The idea of a covenant, to the Jews, was more than we understand it to be. It wasn’t just a contract between two parties, negotiating a man’s possessions or work. It was a contract binding two living, not inanimate things, but beings into a communion. It would not be a contract in which a man negotiates that he can exchange his toaster for his neighbors wrench or that he would mow his neighbors grass in exchange for an oil change; that could not possibly be considered a covenant for it neglected the living being. A covenant was understood as making a pact that a father would offer his daughter in gaining another families son, or that a mother would offer her son in turn receiving a servant. A covenant was a contract, a promise in the exchange of living persons. And yet Jesus, knowing all things, declares the cup of the Last Supper, the new covenant [a living human]. He equates it to Himself, Who we know to be The Covenant. How peculiar that Christ would claim that the cup of Blood [He never calls it wine in any of the four Gospels] and bread of the the Last Supper be no different than His divine Self. This is unless He truly was the Bread of Life, in Whom we partake of His flesh and blood, receiving eternal life. It is of no coincidence that Jesus was born in a manger, which is a storage shed for animal food, including sheep (us), placed in a trow which is a container for food for animals like sheep (us), and He was born in Bethlehem, which means bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life.
St. Paul confirms the Blood in of the New Covenant in the cup of thanksgiving [blessings/Todah/Eucharistas]; “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? So what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, I mean that what they sacrifice, (they sacrifice) to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons” [1 Cor 10:16-22].
As we read further into the New Testament, we come upon an interesting passage written by St. Paul to the Corinthians. He begins by consenting that communion was established and to be carried on; Christ’s commandment. He goes on that upon consumption we continue to claim the death of our Lord. If that isn’t shrilling enough, St. Paul goes further to enlighten our readers, “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that 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 death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying” [1 Cor 11:23-30]. Just as Jesus, St. Paul never claims that wine is in the cup but Jesus’ Blood.
Pretty poignant words!
Ill? Infirm? And Dying?
Who has ever been gravely ill or afflicted by doing something solely in remembrance of Christ? Every time I pray, I do it in remembrance of our Lord who said pray ceaselessly. Every time I fast I do it in remembrance of our Lord who fasted forty days and commanded us to also fast, within measure. Even the actions of charity and services that I commit myself to are in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, as I try to follow His lead. But how can a man incur illness and death by doing a good deed commanded by Christ, even if this man is doing the deed in remembrance, just the way Christ said it to be done? God does not smite a man due to an inability to have every action done in remembrance. Man is not judged for his remembrance, but for his discernment. Discerning it as the body of Christ. Lest man do this, blasphemously receiving the Holy Communion Eucharist, he will have to answer for the Body and blood of our Lord. If Christ paid for our sins once and for all, than why is man having to answer for a sin, especially a sin physically committed against the physical Blood and Flesh of the Incarnate Body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
Yet some still say, St. Paul said, quoting after Christ, that it is done just in remembrance.
Yes, but again, we must think like the authors, from the Jewish perspective. All three times that the word ‘remembrance’ is used in the Old Testament, it had to due with the feast of Passover and offering in the Dwelling before the Ark of the Covenant. We know that commanding to do something in remembrance wasn’t just an intellectual thing, but a real tangible thing, that if neglected, had severe repercussions. Also, the five times remembrance is used in the New Testament, they are commandments to do something literally, not just to have a state of mind. God tells us when He instituted the Passover Feast, “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution” [Ex 12:14]. How can it be “memorial/in memory” yet “perpetually instituted”? The Jews understood that the Passover memorial [remembrance] feast wasn’t something done just in memory but an actual bringing to realization or reliving. People easily look over that when Jesus says, “do this”, those words are a commandment. Whenever Jesus says to do something, it’s not a symbolic. This is why in the book of Exodus, it is called a “perpetual institution”, meaning it wasn’t instated as a one time event then just remembered, but literally relived and kept perpetually alive only through the recurrence of the literal feast. This is why God said, “The whole community of Israel must keep this feast” [Ex 12:47]. It isn’t a one time event that’s just only remembered afterwards, but a feast “which all generations shall celebrate… as a perpetual institution” [Ex 12:14]. A Jew could not become banned from something that’s a symbol, but only from a literal transgression against the actual activity. An example would be, I cannot offend a mental memory of a person, but I can offend the actual person. Or, I cannot go to jail over thinking harm against a person but only over actual tort. There is no offense incurred over symbols and memories, but over present and actualized events. This is why St. Paul confirms that the Passover Feast continues, “For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast” [1 Cor 5:7-8]. This is also why St. Paul warns us that it’s not a past but present oblation, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying” [1 Cor 11:26-30]. We see that Christ came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17), this includes the commandment to keep the Passover feast. How could St. Paul say that we offend the literally Body and Blood of Christ if He isn’t physically present? St. Paul doesn’t say we offend the symbol of the Body, nor the works that Christ gave us through the Body, nor does he say we offend the intangible meaning or memory of the Body. St. Paul says we offend the tangible Body of Christ if we partake of it without discernment. A symbol or memory can’t cause illness, infirmity, or death, but a real and tangible existence of being can.
We see that Christ came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17), this includes the commandment to keep Passover (Exodus 12). The law of Passover was set around a feast in which those of Jewish lineage and the slaves and servants serving under the Jews may partake. Passover was set specifically for the Jewish people, that no foreigner or outcast may receive anything of the banquet feast. Christ came that He might unite all Man, and still uphold the feast of Passover without continuing its division. This is done through the sacrament of Holy Communion, the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the new Lamb of the Passover, indiscriminate of lineage or ancestry. Christ united all Man in His works and gathered all to an ecumenical feast. Such was accomplished by Christ and recognized in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Eucharist unified all where the original Passover had segregated.
Eucharist. Coming from the Greek word eucharistēsas, meaning to give thanks. Christ held up the cup of His wine made blood and offered thanks, as was the law of the Old Testament in the establishment of Passover; a celebration that gave thanks to God the Father for the purchase of lives and expiation of slavery [sin].
Some will continue and quote from three books against the consumption of blood: Genesis 9:4, “Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat”; Leviticus 3:17, 17:10, 19:26, “You shall not partake of…any blood. And if anyone…partakes of any blood, I will set myself against that one who partakes of blood and will cut him off. Do not eat meat with blood still in it”; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23, 24, 27, “you shall not partake of the blood”. Many will say that God is explicitly saying that Christ is not offering His blood for drink because of this rule. But their understanding of the Bible is out of context.
If we read why we cannot drink the blood of an animal, the Bible will tell us: Leviticus 17:11-12, 14, “the life of a living body is in its blood, it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement. That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may partake of blood. Since the life of every living body is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You shall not partake of the blood of any meat. The life of every living body is its blood”; Deuteronomy 12:23, “For blood is life… the seat of life.” God is telling us that life is in the blood. This is why Jesus tells us not to consume animal blood, because animals cannot give us life. But Jesus is life, and can give us life. According to God, Jesus, life is in the blood, His Blood. And if we want that life, we must do as He says when He said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” [Jn 6:53-56]. The Jews that Jesus was talking to understood the Pentateuch when it said that life is in the blood, the blood is the seat of life. So when Jesus said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you”, they understood that to be literal, because Jesus was saying He will give them life, which is in blood, His Blood, His Blood to drink.
The Fourth Cup at the Last Supper:
καὶ λαβὼν ποτήριον καὶ εὐχαριστήσας [eucharistēsas] ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· πίετε ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες – “Then he took the cup, gave thanks [eucharistēsas] and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.” This word εὐχαριστήσας [eucharistēsas, or Todah in Hebrew which is then translated in Greek as eucharistēsas] is the fourth cup in the Jewish feast of the Passover (found in Lk 22:17, Mt 26:28, Mk 14:22). This eucharistēsas (meaning to give thanks) cup is the fourth and final cup that finishes the ritual of the Passover Seder. What is interesting is that in all three accounts, Jesus never completes the Passover with the last cup of thanks (eucharistēsas); Luke 22:7-39 shows Jesus never partook of that cup of thanks (eucharistēsas). Jesus confirms this when He says, “Then he took the cup, gave thanks [eucharistēsas] and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom’.” [Mt 26:27-29; Mk 14:24-25]. So here we see the fourth cup (eucharistēsas) and Jesus saying that He will not finish the sacrifice of the Passover, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine” until He Himself, the Paschal Lamb [Passover Seder] is crucified, “until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” That day is a hermeneutic terming meaning the day of His death. He is saying He will not complete the drinking of the cup of thanks (eucharistēsas) until the Paschal Lamb (Jesus) has been sacrificed on “that day”. “That day” has always been an idiom meaning the day of a person’s death.
Since Jesus didn’t partake of the fourth cup of thanks (eucharistēsas), the Passover Feast continued through His Passion on Calvary; the Passover ends only after the final cup is drunk, and Jesus did not drink it at the Last Supper so the Feast would continue until it was drunk. Jesus tastes the sour wine soaked into a sponge, set on a hyssop stick (hyssop stick was used in Exodus to smear the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the door-posts at the institution of Passover). Jesus then said, “It is finished” meaning, the work of the Passover Sacrifice is now finished (Jesus on the cross receiving at last the wine which is the fourth and final cup- the eucharistēsas). When Jesus said, “it is finished”, it doesn’t mean His work of redemption and justification are complete because St. Paul tells us, “[Jesus] was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification” [Rom 4:25]. St. Paul is clearly stating that Jesus works of justifying us were complete only after Jesus was raised from the dead. Again, when Jesus said, “it is finished”, He is speaking of completing the Passover Feast- on the cross. Jesus tells us that the Fourth Cup will not be used to complete the Passover Feast until He is on the cross; “Then he took a cup, gave thanks [eucharistēsas- fourth cup], and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed [on the cross on Golgotha] on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” [Mt 17:27-28; Mk 14:23-24; Lk 22:19-20]. We see the shedding of blood for atonement [Lev 17:11] and the consequent consumption of this atonement [Ex 12; Jn 22-59]. As Jesus said before, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine [the fourth cup-eucharistēsas] until that day [His death on the cross] when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
This is why St. John tells us the specific time, “It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon (the sixth hour)” [Jn 19:14] when describing the day and time for Jesus’ Passion. It was at the sixth hour that the Passover Lamb was slaughtered by the high priest. Yet, Jesus is that high priest. St. John conveys with exact terminology that Jesus seamless garbs are one in the same with the high priest who first offered up the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. So not only is Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb but also the High Priest [from which we get our word Pontiff from the Greek word pontifex, for great bridge builder and high priest]. Jesus bridged the gap that Original Sin created became the high priest.
The offering of the Passover Seder Feast is one in the same with the sacrifice on Calvary.
How it was prophesied as in the order of Melchizedek, the offering of bread from sunup to sundown, and Jesus’ prayer, give us this day our daily bread, St. Peter tells us is fulfilled in Acts by the Christian Church; “Peter (said) to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.’ He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” [Acts 2:38-47].
It is of no coincidence that Jesus, fully present in the Eucharist, is recognized in the breaking of the bread. It was worth quoting in full. “Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, ‘What are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?’ And he replied to them, ‘What sort of things?’ They said to him, ‘The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.’ And he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?’ So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, ‘The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!’ Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” [Lk 24:13-35].
Jesus Christ is truly the Rabbi. He taught us that life is in the blood [Lev 17:11-12, 14; Dt 12:23] and teaches that He is life [Jn 14:6], therefore His Blood is Life [Jn 6:53-58]. He also taught that whom tries to keep his life will lose it and he who gives his life will keep it [Mt 10:39; 16:25; Lk 17:33]. Jesus lives His teachings. He gave all His life [remember, life is in the blood]- He gave all His most precious Blood to the point that He bled water [Jn 19:34]. He gave all His Blood, which is the seat of life, and in return He was given life [the fourth cup, eucharistēsas] from a sponge set on a hyssop stick just before He died on the cross [hyssop was used in Exodus 12:22 to distribute the Passover Lambs blood]. Because Christ gave all His Blood, which is life, He was able to receive life, which was His blood [the fourth cup, the Blood of the New Covenant, the Eucharist].
Jesus, being the type of the new Adam [Rom 5:14], reconciled the world to Himself through the fruit of the cursed tree. Romans 5:14 reads, “Adam, who was a type [Greek tupos] of the one who was to come.” As the old Adam ate the fruit of death and bore destruction from the cursed tree [Gen 2:16-17], Jesus the new Adam took the cursed tree [Dt 21:23; Gal 3:13] and from it fed us the fruit of life [Jn 6:22-71; 1 Cor 10:16, 11:27-30]. Another type [tupos] we find is in Jesus legal name, Jesus, son of Joseph. In Rabbinic culture, a man is known by his father. This is why Jesus is also called Son of David. How interesting that Jesus’ technical name, according to the culture of His time is Jesus, Son of Joseph. It is of no coincidence that Joseph was a son of Jacob [from which the nation of Israel and Christ is to come]. Joseph was sold at a slaves wages [Gen 37:28], as was Christ [Mt 26:15]. Joseph through his service became the king of his people, as would Christ come as a servant then to become King. Because Joseph was sold into slavery, later to become king, he was able to save all his people by providing them with bread, as would Jesus in the Eucharist.
How beautiful is the fulfillment of the Judaic Old Covenant. Both the Talmud and the Mishnah prophesied, not just concerning the yoma, that once the Messiah came, all but one offering would cease; the Todah [Eucharist]. What awe that both the Talmud and the Zohar [pseudo-epigrapia] record of yoma that during the Rosh Hashanah, the cord remained scarlet after the immolation of consecrated sacrifices since 30 Anno Domini. The miracle of Rash Hashanah ceased for 40 years till the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. during the Jerusalem-Rome War. Biblical Judaism ended with the destruction of the temple for the Urim and Thummin [Ex 28] were lost. During Rosh Hashanah the scarlet thread which hung from the temple door and turned white as a sign from God that the oblation of the high priest was accepted. This beautiful miracle was a gift of God, modeled after Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” So great is God’s goodness that as Jesus Christ began His ministry as the sacrifice in 30 Anno Domini, the temple sacrifices were accepted no more by God, thus during Rosh Hashanah the cord remained scarlet. Truly this is the fulfillment of the Sh’ma [Shema Yisrael], which in its extension claims, “Boruch dayen emess”, “Blessed is the righteous judge.” We see the word “dayen” from the Hebrew dayenu which means, “it would have been enough for us”. The Dayenu is among the central songs of Passover.
The Dayenu:
“Had He brought us out from Egypt and not executed judgment against them,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He executed judgment against them and not destroyed their idols,
It would been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He destroyed their idols and not slain their firstborn,
It would been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He slain their first born and not given us their possessions,
It would have been enough for us!, Dayenu!
Had He given us their possessions and not divided the sea for us,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He divided the sea for us and not brought us through it dry-shod,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He brought us through it dry-shod and not drowned our oppressors in it,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He drowned our oppressors in it and not sustained us in the wilderness for forty years,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He sustained us in the wilderness for forty years and not fed us manna,
It would have been enough for us Dayenu!
Had He fed us manna and not given us the Sabbath,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He given us the Sabbath and not brought us to mount Sinai,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had he brought us to Mount Sinai, and not given us the Torah,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had he given us the Torah and not brought us in the land of Israel,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!
Had He brought us into the Land of Israel and not built the temple for us,
It would have been enough for us! Dayenu!”
Dayenu is the continual cry of the heart of Christianity. We beggars made adopted children of God rise as one voice, calling out the mercies of God in the dayenu. Archbishop Fulton Sheen reiterates the dayenu by saying, “The simple words ‘Thank you’ will always stand out as a refutation of determinism, for they imply something which was done could possibly have been left undone”, The Life of All Living.
God didn’t have to, dayenu, but He did; Thank You.
“Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
What did the earliest fathers of the church believe?
- St. Peter and St. John’s student, Ignatius of Antioch, wrote to the Smyrneans in 110 A.D., “those who hold heterodox opinions, they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again” (Epistle to the Smyreans).
- Justin Martyr in 150 wrote, “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor 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 set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology of Justin).
- Irenaeus of Lyons in 190 wrote, “Christ has declared the cup… to be his own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies. If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?” (Against Heresies Book V).
- These are but many fathers of the early church who concurred with scriptural teaching. Others were Pope Clement of Rome [80 AD]; the Didache [65 AD]; St Ignatius of Antioch in his letters to Ephesians, Romans, Philedelphians [110 AD]; Clement of Alexandria [200 AD]; Origen of 244 A.D. in Exodum homiliae; Athasasius, bishop of Alexandria, in his Sermon to the New Baptized, 373 A.D.; Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechetical Lectures in 350 A.D.; Tertullian; Ambrose who wrote a treatise advocating the Real Presence of the Eucharist in 390 A.D.; Jerome; Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, and all the believers of Christendom. Every Christian believed and promulgated in Jesus Christ’s teaching of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. The Church still carries this doctrine faithfully and will continue for all times, because the Holy Spirit was promised its protection and guidance.
Martin Luther (founder of Protestantism and Lutheranism), wrote:
- “It is not enough for me that Christ’s blood is present; let it be with the wine as God wills. Before I would drink mere wine with the Enthusiasts, I would rather have pure blood with the Pope (early 1500s; in Althaus, 376; LW. 37, 317).
- “The Glory of our God is precisely that for our sakes he comes down to the very depths, into human flesh, into the bread, into our mouth, our heart, our body (in Althaus, 398; LW, 37, 77 ff.).
- “[T]his word of Luke and Paul is clearer than sunlight and more overpowering than thunder. First, no one can deny that he speaks of the cup, since he says, “This is the cup.” Secondly, he calls it the cup of the New Testament. This is overwhelming, for it could not be a new testament by means and on account of wine alone (Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments, 1525; LW, 40, 217).
- “He thinks one does not see that out of the word of Christ he makes a pure commandment and law which accomplishes nothing more than to tell and bid us to remember and acknowledge him. Furthermore, he makes this acknowledgement nothing else than a work that we do, while we receive nothing else than bread and wine (Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments, 1525; LW, 40, 206).”
- Martin Luther is insinuating that man has demeaned a Holy Sacrament, Holy Communion, from something God given and divine to just a work of man.
Martin Luther most clearly states:
- “It is not sound reasoning arbitrarily to associate the sin which Paul attributes to eating with remembrance of Christ, of which Paul does not speak. For he does not say, “Who unworthily holds the Lord in remembrance,” but “Who unworthily eats and drinks” (Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments, 1525; LW, 40, 183-184).”
Martin Luther is referring the scripture,
“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.” 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:27-30.
How beautiful it is that our Liturgy is broken into two forms; first the Liturgy of the Word, then the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Let he who has eyes see and he who has ears hear this, the Sanctus, “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.” This is the proclamation of the Liturgy found in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. This is the profession before receiving our Lord and Savior in the most Blessed and Holy Host, the Eucharist. This cry of the Sanctus is the fulfillment of Jesus’ teaching, “I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord‘” [Mt 23:29; Lk 13:35].
And when the Lord calls unto us, “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb” [Rev 19:9], with a humble and loving heart, approach the Lord, prostrate, and pray, “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” As we are welcomed to the nuptial of the wedding feast, we cry forth to the Lamb of God the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.”
When we have received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus’ Incarnate Flesh, we exalt the blessing that God graciously gave when we proclaim in worship, “I received the living God, and my heart is full of joy.”
But why under the pretense of bread and wine? Because it is a feast which unites all peoples as one family through the wedding of Jesus Christ. I personally believe that God extends His wisdom and humbleness, “Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong” 1 Corinthians 1:27.
For those who long for His most Holy dwelling, be with Him not only at Mass, in which we receive our daily Bread and Blood of Life, but at Adoration. What better place to be then to go to Adoration to commune with Jesus Christ. Was it not our Divine Brother and Lord Jesus Christ who said to us, “could you not stay with me for an hour?” [Mt 26:40; Mk 14:37].
For those who know our Lord, to see Him in this most Holy and Blessed Sacrament, I beg you in the words of our Savior Jesus,
“Be not afraid.”
Amen. Amen.
Your’s,
Drew Castel.
Very informative!
God bless you
Michael
Thank you.
God bless.
Yours,
Drew Castel.