First, the linking of Jesus (His body) with the sacrificial, saving meal of Passover:
John 1:29-30 – The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”
John links Jesus with the victorious apocalyptic lamb who would destroy evil in the world; the paschal lamb whose blood saved Israel. This ties in with Moses, who says in the 12th chapter of Exodus that the flesh of the sacrificial paschal lamb had to be eaten by Jews on the first night of Passover.
Agreement, and further development, from St. Paul:
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7 – “… for our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.”
Also, in 1 Corinthians 10:16 – “… The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
And further, in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 – “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 is the new covenant of 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.”
How about back to the gospels? What did Jesus say to his disciples at the Last (Lord’s) Supper?
Mark writes, 14:22-25, describing that night in the Upper Room – While they were eating, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”
Luke writes similarly, in 22:14-20 – When the hour came, He took His place at table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then He took the bread, and the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which will be given for you; do this is memory of Me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which will be shed for you.”
Matthew, in a somewhat surprisingly concise telling, also writes, in 26:26-28 – While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to His disciples said, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then He took a cup, gave thanks, 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 behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.”
But perhaps the strongest biblical evidence for the Eucharist is found in the very words of Jesus Himself, in the sixth chapter of the gospel of John, verses 22-58 (kinda lengthy, but stay with it and read it slowly …) –
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found Him across the sea they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for Me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give You. For on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
So they said to Him, “What sign can You do, that we may see and believe in You? What can You do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 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 with never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen Me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to Me, because I came down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me. And this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave Me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
…
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 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.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “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. Just as the living Father sent Me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Rhetorical question: Now, if these are the very words of Jesus Himself, how else are we to interpret them if not the way that the Church has?
Also, note the proliferance of the double-Amens in John 6. It seems to me that this is His way of grabbing us by the shoulders and shaking us up: this is truly something we need to listen to, to understand, and to grasp.
[Thanks to Where Is That In the Bible? by Patrick Madrid...]
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