For a Catholic-Christian, the Eucharist holds the key to unlocking the Gospel on so many different levels. When you read the early Church fathers, who both Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians agree are the Apostolic fathers of our faith, they share something mind blowing about the Eucharist that is so beautiful it is hard to put into words. They make the point that if you or I had been at Calvary and watched Jesus crucified on the cross, we would not have run home and told people that we just witnessed a "sacrifice" but and execution. Because for the Jews in the first century, a sacrifice had to take place on an alter in Jerusalem within the walls of the Temple. Jesus died outside the walls, far from Jerusalem where there was no alter so there was no way to relate what He was going through was a sacrifice, and a Holy one at that. What the bystanders would have gone home and relayed to their friends and family is that they witnessed a Roman execution, not a sacrifice, and a very bloody one at that.
So following the rubrics of the Jewish law at that time, the death of Jesus was just a bloody execution.
So what our Apostolic founding fathers ask us is, "How in the world does a bloody Roman execution get changed into the Holiest of Holies sacrifice?" And not just any sacrifice, but the supreme sacrifice of all times! The fathers teach us that the ONLY way to illuminate what happened to Jesus on Good Friday is to rewind back to the day before and focus on what happened in the upper room with his Apostles on Holy Thursday, during The Last Supper. Jesus was not just celebrating a meal or sharing a normal supper. He was celebrating the passover of the old covenant one last time. But that is not all He was doing, He was fulfilling it as the Lamb of God. He wasn't fulfilling it as the Lamb of God for purposes of terminating it, He was fulfilling it as the Lamb of God for purpose of transforming the passover of the old covenant into the passover of the new covenant. And we know how he does this because the Gospels tell us exactly how He did it.
In the beginning of the meal Christ did something different from the normal feast. Christ took the unleavened bread and spoke the words, "This is My Body which will be given up for you." The Apostles were confused by these words but listened intently. They recognized that Christ had just deviated from the normal liturgical rubrics. And then near the end of the meal, Christ again takes the cup and says, "This chalice is the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, poured out for many for the remission of sins, do this in remembrance of Me." So the chalice is now a cup of His blood to be poured out for the remission of sins. The Apostles were still bewildered at this new ritual Christ had just established with them. They then went out into the night to go to the garden of Gethsemane after the last supper.
The Apostolic founding fathers also teach us that it was not until later that next day when everything came together and the last supper as well as the crucifixion could be completely understood. Christ was not just adding a new ritual gesture when He said those things at the last supper. When he said. "This is My Body which will be given up for you." Christ proved He said what He meant on Good Friday because His body was given up for us. Likewise the cup after the last supper when Christ speaks the sacred words saying, "This cup is the new testament and everlasting covenant." The very next day He did what He said and poured out His blood for the forgiveness of sins as He was crucified.
The passover is the key, because in the old covenant the passover was never merely a meal, it always started off as a sacrifice with a lamb, which is what we refer to Christ as, "The Lamb of God". But the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb was then culminated into the sacrificial meal, known as the passover. And since that was true of the old covenant, it was MORE true of the new. Because Jesus comes as the Lamb not just to feed us but to die for us. He transfers the old into the new acting as the passover Lamb at the last supper.
If the Eucharist that Jesus instituted on Holy Thursday was just a meal, then the death he suffered and died on Good Friday was nothing more than a Roman execution. But on the other hand, if and ONLY IF, Jesus' institution of the Holy Eucharist was nothing less than the sacrifice of the new covenant passover, then what He instituted on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper was precisely what was CONSUMMATED on Good Friday. He didn't loose His life on Friday becauase He already had freely given it to us by instituting the Eucharist as the passover of the new covenant on Holy Thursday. He wasn't the victim of Roman violence and justice, He was the victim of Divine love. He made His life a gift which He freely laid down for us before anyone laid their hands on him and began his physical torture on Good Friday.
Therefore, if the Eucharist was just a meal at the Last Supper, then Calvary was just an execution. BUT if the Eucharist at the Last Supper was the sacrifice of the new covenant, then and only then, do we see that Calvary is more than an execution and that it is the consummation of the sacrifice of the new covenant passover Lamb (The Eucharist) He instituted on Holy Thursday.
(This teaching and ideal was taken from one of our Church Apostolic Writers, Melito of Sardis, of the first century, who was agreed by all Christians to have great authority on the early Church's teachings)
This entire teaching is also proven by the bible in First Corinthians 5:7 when Paul says, "Christ our passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast." Paul was talking about the feast of the new covenant as Christ instituted at the last supper, the Eucharist. And Paul goes on to explain this more fully than all of the other epistles put together as we read on in First Corinthians Chapters 10 and 11. It is a covenant relationship that takes interpersonal communion between God and man. Falling in love is not over and done in a day. Falling in love is done over a lifetime but it has to go through stages of growth and development. The Eucharist which Jesus instituted on Holy Thursday at the last supper, is not only what illuminates the mystery of His suffering on Good Friday, it also clarifies the importance of His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Because if the Eucharist is what transformed Jesus suffering from being an execution into a true and holy sacrifice, then the Resurrection is what transformed that sacrifice into a sacrament, that we can now do in remembrance of Him. Because the Resurrection of the Lord's body is precisely what makes that body not only come back alive, it's more, the Resurrection is the glorification of His sacred humanity. The Resurrection is what makes that GLORIFIED body eatable by us who believe in Him. It is His all holy and glorified perfect eternal body we receive, not worldly flesh which Christ said will profit nothing. This is not just a reward for our righteousness, but a remedy for our sin and our failures. We are not worthy but we sure are needing for Him.
So where in the new testament do we find the Catholic sacrifice of the mass? It is when Jesus takes the chalice at the end of the Last Supper and speaks the words, "This is the cup of My blood, the blood of the NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT, poured out for the remission of sins do this in remembrance of Me." Notice what Christ said. This is the blood of the New Testament. So therefore the new testament is the Eucharist … according to the new testament. (Luke 22:20 and First Corinthians chapter 11)
Christ said DO THIS in remembrance of me. Not write this. All the apostles went out and did exactly what Christ did in that upper room, but only half of them ever wrote anything about it. So when you read these words of Christ, the Apostolic Fathers teach us that the new testament was a sacrament long before it ever started to become a document as scripture ….. according to the document. The early Church, the Apostles, went out preaching, baptizing and celebrating the new testament and the Holy Eucharist for years, in all directions. The books of the new testament weren't really completed till the end of the first century. But as a matter of historical fact it is interesting to notice that these documents that were being read in the Church were never referred to as the "new testament" until the second half of the second century. And why were these scriptures suddenly being called the "new testament" at the end of the second century? Because of their liturgical proximity to what had been called the new testament since the first half of the first century, WHICH WAS …. the Eucharist that Jesus called Himself the new testament. Jesus did not use those words anywhere else in the bible except for this special place, when he instituted the Eucharist.
Not only is the Eucharist the new testament before it became a document, but it also answers the question, "Where is the Catholic Mass found in the new testament?" The answer is, the sacrifice of the Mass IS the new testament …. according to the new testament. "This chalice is the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, poured out for many for the remission of sins, do this in remembrance of Me."
This is the reality of Catholic faith and the truth that God left us. This is also why the Church was not sitting around wondering and waiting until decades later when fibally the bibles began to be circulated because they already had the new testament, the Eucharist. From about 380 AD to about 397AD is when the Church actually canonized the scriptures to what we know as the bible today, through the Popes and bishops of the councils of Hippo and Carthage.
John 6 - "Eat My body and drink My blood."
Everything we do matters for all eternity and the Eucharist as the sacrifice that Christ offered and gives us is precisely what makes it possible for us to enter into a life that is Divine, a love that is not finite but infinite. And to embrace the crosses that come our way and discover the inter-logic of God's love is what calls us to suffer like Christ. Christ is intent on reproducing His life in us, along with His death and Resurrection and Glory.
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