The Order of Melchezidek, Christ our High Priest, the Eucharist
Mark 14-22/26 “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 when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Matthew 26-26
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread,and said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it all of you, for this my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the Kingdom of my Father.”
(Mark uses the term “blood” as the seat of life which placed on the altar makes atonement.)
The Eucharist is not simply the bread alone. It is a sacrament that is so many other things besides. Because it is the eve of the Passion, it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.
At the breaking of the bread, the disciples will once again recognize Jesus when he is present with them at the supper when he appears to them to them after His Resurrection on the road to Emmaus.
Luke 24-28/3 “As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. Buth 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.”
It is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies. By doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form one body with him.
It is the Memorial. It is the Holy Sacrifice because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ and includes the Churches offering.
It is the offering of bread and wine that was prefigured by King Melchizedek. The multiplication of the loaves to feed the multitude, and the wine at the wedding in Cana all lead to the hour of Glorification of our Lord.
But above all, it is His Body and His Blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
“Do this in memory of me” the command of Jesus to repeat His actions and words “until He comes again” does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what He did, It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection. From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord’s command. Acts 2-42/46
Our great truth is “Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.”
But those who did not understand his teaching walked away from the Bread of Life.
Those disciples who detested the teaching of Body and Blood of Christ and walked away,
John 6-24/71 When the crowd saw the neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him, 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 menot because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled (multiplication of the loaves). 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 can we do to accomplish the works of God.” And Jesus answered:
“This is the work of God that you believe in the one he sent.”
So they asked him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
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 heaven 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. 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.
The Jews murmured about him......I am the living bread from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world......unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you....As a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
(The greek verb to eat was to gnaw or munch and it was more indicative of the concept of eating food. The verb changed over time to to eat.) It doesn’t mean Word or knowledge. It means eating.
We are gathered together for the Paschal mystery that is Christ present in the Eucharist Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is His memorial and His command. It is not a re-inactment, or a re-sacrifice it is not something happening over and over. It happened once for all time.