The Last Supper
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after
blessing it he broke it, gave it
to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this
is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after
giving thanks he gave it to them,
saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of
the covenant, which
is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will
never
again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with
you in my
Father’s kingdom.
Matthew 26, 26-29
The
cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 10, 16
The event of Christ offering Himself as the paschal lamb during the Last Supper is the foundation for the celebration of the Eucharist for New Covenant believers. On that night of the Jewish Passover, Jesus transformed the traditional sacrificial meal of the Passover lamb. To understand this transformation, we must examine the course of our Lord’s Supper in its traditional context.
Jesus was celebrating the Passover Seder meal with His apostles, which involved drinking four cups of wine. However, Matthew begins his narrative at the serving of the third cup (Berekah), also known as the "Cup of Salvation," because our Lord was anticipating His own sacrifice as the Passover lamb (Matt 26:29; Mark 14:25). 1 Paul also refers to this cup as the "Cup of Blessing" (Berekah) in the context of the Eucharist, thereby connecting the Seder meal to the Eucharistic sacrifice (1 Cor 10:16). The third cup presents the Paschal sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb who was slain for our sins (Isa 53:7; Jn 1:29).
Yet Jesus omits serving the fourth cup (Hallel) or “Cup of Consummation.” This significant omission joins the Eucharistic sacrifice offered in the Seder meal to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. In other words, they comprise one single sacrifice. Therefore, the Last Supper is a pre-presentation of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross, which is present in the Seder meal. This one and the same sacrifice isn’t completed until Jesus partakes of the fourth cup of wine just before he dies on the cross after saying, “It is consummated” (Jn 19:29, 30; cf. Mt 27:48; Mk 15:36). 2
Jesus was given sour wine on a “hyssop” branch, which was used to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the doorposts on the night of the first Passover (Ex 12:22) and by the priests in the sacrificial offerings of the Old Covenant. 3 This joins Christ’s sacrifice of himself to the lambs that were slaughtered and consumed by the Jews in the Seder meal which was ceremonially completed by drinking the wine in the Cup of Consummation. Thus, Christ’s sacrifice began in the upper room and was completed on Mount Golgotha.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Catholic Church is a re-presentation of the singular sacrifice of Christ. It is known as the Lord’s Supper or Seder meal of the New Covenant, making Christ’s sacrifice on the cross perpetually present as a visible sign of the marriage feast in heaven (Rev 19:9). St. Paul encourages us to celebrate the Eucharistic feast by stating, “Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8). In essence, we must worthily partake in the flesh of the Lamb of God and drink His blood in the Blessed Sacrament to maintain holy communion with God and receive the blessings of Our Lord’s sacrifice (1 Cor 11:17-22).
Hence, the Lord’s Supper isn’t just a symbolic memorial meal, as most Protestants contend, but a marriage feast that marks God’s establishment of the New Covenant in which the Eucharist makes Christ’s one eternal sacrifice present. Scripture confirms this truth in the words of consecration – “Do this in remembrance of me” – used by Jesus in the Last Supper: touto poieite tan eman anamnasin (Lk 22:19; cf. 1 Cor 11:24-25). Our Lord says, “Offer this as a memorial sacrifice.” The Greek verb poiein (ποιεῖν) or “do” is used in the context of offering a sacrifice where, for instance, in the Septuagint, God uses the same word poieseis (ποιέω) regarding the sacrifice of the lambs on the altar (Ex 29:38-39). The noun anamnesis (ἀνάμνησις) or “remembrance” also refers to a sacrifice that is really or actually made present in real-time by the power of God in the Holy Spirit, as it reminds us of the actual event (Heb 10:3; Num 10:10). 4
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not merely a memorial of a past event; it is a past event made present in our time. Christ's Eucharistic sacrifice serves as a reminder of what our Lord has accomplished for us and continues to accomplish through his single sacrifice. Unlike the crucifixion itself, which remains a historical event, Christ's sacrifice on the cross is always present in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
We read in Leviticus 24:7: ‘By each stack put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the LORD.’ The word “memorial” in Hebrew in the sacrificial sense is the feminine noun azkarah ( אַזְכָּרָה ), which means “to actually make present.” There are many instances in the Old Testament where azkarah refers to sacrifices currently being offered, and so are present in time (Lev 2:2,9, 6:5; 16; 5-12; Num 5:26; 10:10). 5 These are one and the same sacrifices that are memorially being offered in time. Jesus’ command for us to offer the bread and wine (transubstantiated into his body and blood) as a memorial offering shows that the sacrificial offering of his body and blood is made present in time over and over again while serving as a reminder of what he has accomplished for us through his one, single sacrifice of himself. Thus, the Holy sacrifice of the Mass is sacramentally a re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that began at the Last Supper and historically occurred on Calvary.
Sadly, Protestants argue in disbelief that Jesus is speaking metaphorically about eating his flesh and that the bread only symbolizes his body. However, the Greek verbs used in John 6 (The Bread of Life Discourse) render their interpretation implausible. Throughout John 6:23-53, the Greek text uses the verb phago (φάγω) nine times. This verb means to literally “eat” or physically “consume.” Jesus repeated himself this often because of the Jews’ disbelief. In a sense, he was challenging their faith in him while driving an important point home. In fact, many of his disciples deserted him since they knew he was speaking literally and thought he was mad. For this reason, Jesus uses an even more literal verb describing the food consumption process (Jn 6: 54, 55, 56, 57). This is the verb trogo (τρώγω), which means to “gnaw,” “chew,” or “crunch.” Though phago may be used in a metaphorical sense, trogo is never applied symbolically. 6
Anyway, for further clarification, Jesus says, “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (Jn 6:55). Jesus is responding to those who refused to believe in what he was saying. Also, when Jesus institutes the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, he says, “This is my body and blood” (Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22; Lk 22:19-20). The Greek phrase is “Touto estin to soma mou.” So, what our Lord means to say is, “This is really or actually my body and blood.” St. Paul uses the same phraseology in his First Letter to the Corinthians 11:24. Paul does reaffirm that “the cup of blessing” and “the bread of which [the Corinthians] partake” is “actual” participation in Christ’s body and blood” (1 Cor 10:16). The Greek noun koinonia (κοινωνία) denotes a “participation” that isn’t merely symbolic. 7
Moreover, the Greek text in John’s Gospel uses sarx (σάρξ), which literally means “flesh.” The phrases “real food” and “real drink” contain the adjective alethes (ἀληθής), which means “really” or “truly” (Jn 6:55). This adjective is used on occasion when there is doubt concerning the reality of something, in this case, which is Jesus’ flesh really being food to eat and his blood really being something to drink for everlasting life. 8 Jesus is assuring his doubters that what he is literally saying is, in fact, true. The Apostles refused to desert Jesus after listening to their Master’s discourse. They attended the Seder meal with him, on which occasion, they (except Judas) consumed the flesh of the sacrificed Lamb of God and drank his blood just as the Jewish people ate the flesh of the sacrificed lamb and were sprinkled with its blood for the forgiveness of sin (Ex 12:5-8; 24:8).
Early Sacred Tradition
“They abstain from the Eucharist and
from prayer, because they confess not the
Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our
sins, and
which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again.”
Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Smyrnaeans, 7,1
(c. A.D. 110)
“For not as common bread and common
drink do we receive these; but in like
manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh and blood for our
salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by
the
prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are
nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 66
(A.D. 155 )
“He acknowledged the cup (which is a
part of the creation) as his own blood,
from which he bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of creation) he
affirmed to be his own body, from which he gives increase to our bodies.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, V:2,2
(c. A.D. 190)
“It is good and beneficial to
communicate every day, and to partake of the holy
body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, ‘He that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood hath eternal life.’ And who doubts that to share frequently
in
life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four
times a
week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on
the
other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint.”
St. Basil, To Patrician Caesaria, Epistle 93
(A.D. 372)
“Perhaps you will say, ‘I see
something else, how is it that you assert that I receive
the Body of Christ?’ And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And
what
evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made,
but
what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that
of
nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed…The Lord Jesus Himself
proclaims: ‘This is My Body.’ Before the blessing of the heavenly words another
nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself
speaks
of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called
Blood.
And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the
mouth
utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.
St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries, 9:50
(A.D. 390-391)
“I am
the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6, 35
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[1-3] Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist (New York: Doubleday, 2011)
[4-8] John Salza, The Biblical Basis for the Eucharist (Huntington, Ill: Our Sunday Visitor, 2008)
