The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture

EWTN ^ | unknown | Scott Hahn

[Mad Dawg]

Be nice.

[frogjerk]

1 Corinitians 11:23-29 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke and said: Take and eat: This is my body, which shall be delivered for you. This do for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood. This do, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until he come. Therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice. For he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.

1 Corinthians was written in about AD 56 and is prior to all four Gospels. The Eucharistic Liturgy precedes the Gospel.

[Judith Anne]

I always appreciate Hahn’s clarity. Thanks for posting.

[Mad Dawg]

It certainly seems to to me. Paul seems to quote many rites and hymns in my opinion.

[DouglasKC]

No wonder St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 5, "Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us." Therefore, what? Therefore we don't have any more sacrificial offerings or ceremonies or feasts and so on to celebrate because all those ceremonies are outdated and done with? No. He says, "Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; therefore, let us keep the feast."

Generally pretty good article. This is spot on.

However, most churches today don't actually observe the feast of Passover and Unleavened bread as Jesus Christ himself did in the pages of the bible. It's also evident that since Christ partook of the wine and bread on Passover and that Passover is a yearly observance that he intended his followers to do the same.

Paul said "Let us keep the feast". The feast was Passover and Unleavened Bread.

[Lev 23:4 KJV] - These [are] the feasts of the LORD, [even] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
[Lev 23:5 KJV] - In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at even [is] the LORD'S passover.
[Lev 23:6 KJV] - And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

These are the Lord Jesus Christ's days.

[Mad Dawg]

It's also evident that since Christ partook of the wine and bread on Passover and that Passover is a yearly observance that he intended his followers to do the same.

Things are rarely evident, when it comes to Scripture, or to life in general, IMHO.

I think the usual reading of "They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." is generally thought to refer to celebrating the Eucharist. I would say that those who want to assert that the Mass should only be celebrated on 14 Nissan would want to explain how in fewer than 100 years that notion was lost, and how, once lost, it was recovered by the Jehovah's Witnesses and others 1800 years (give or take) later.

[maryz]

What an appropriate post for the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, in view of his great Eucharistic hymns! :)

[xone]

Well, He insists on the fact that His life is not being taken away from Him. He is laying it down. Now in the trial, in the passion, it's being taken away; but in the Upper Room, prior to all of that, Jesus lays it down. He says, "This is my body. This cup is the blood of the New Covenant."

Jesus laid down His life at the trial as well, it was never and could never be taken from Him.

[DouglasKC]

I think the usual reading of "They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." is generally thought to refer to celebrating the Eucharist. I would say that those who want to assert that the Mass should only be celebrated on 14 Nissan would want to explain how in fewer than 100 years that notion was lost, and how, once lost, it was recovered by the Jehovah's Witnesses and others 1800 years (give or take) later.

Following the Lord's instructions in scripture was never "lost". However there was a movement by the traditional church away from practices that resembled Judaism due to anti-semitism generated by the Jewish revolts of the 1st century. Those who continued to observe the feast days of the Lord Jesus Christ were eventually branded as heretics by those who didn't. The history of those who observe these days isn't prominent for understandable reasons.

But the bottom line (at least to me) it that Jesus observed it on Passover, one of his feast days that was created through him. As Christians, followers of Christ, we should do the same.

[RobbyS]

Celebration in place of the sacrifices in the temple.

[RobbyS]

I think what you are saying only makes sense in the context of when to celebrate Easter. There was a dispute for many years about that. In the end, the decision was to focus on Friday as the day on the cross and Sunday as the day of resurrection. The text itself leaves the matter open.

[Salvation]

For a fantastic look at the Liturgy of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist — read Hahn’s book “The Lamb’s Supper.”

[annalex]

we have reason to believe that this sacrifice of the New Covenant Passover begun in the Upper Room and consummated on Calvary and ultimately as 1st Corinthians 5 suggests continued and celebrated as a climactic communion on the altars of the Church around the world when we receive the Eucharist in Communion

[DouglasKC]

I think what you are saying only makes sense in the context of when to celebrate Easter. There was a dispute for many years about that. In the end, the decision was to focus on Friday as the day on the cross and Sunday as the day of resurrection. The text itself leaves the matter open

I think you're correct that those are the decisions that were made. But I think the text speaks for itself when put into the context of the early Christian church observing the biblical holy days.

[Mad Dawg]

Yep. Read it. Very good.

[Mad Dawg]

. But I think the text speaks for itself when put into the context of the early Christian church observing the biblical holy days.

I always get hooked by stuff like that.

How is that any different from saying, "I think the text says what I think it says?"

Some of us DON'T think the text says, suggests, or implies that the Mass is to be celebrated only once a year. So what in the texts can we turn to, in your opinion?

Or should we look outside the text to determine the practice of the early Church?

And two questions follow:
(1) are there texts which describe the Church's practice before the accommodation with the Gentiles of Acts 15?
(2)Is there any reason the practice of the early Church, especially that before the events of Acts 15, should be a standard to which we should conform? Where shall we find that recommendation or rule?

[Salvation]

The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture
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Beginning Catholic: Receiving the Lord in Holy Communion [Ecumenical]
The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas THE HOLY EUCHARIST
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[DouglasKC]

I always get hooked by stuff like that. How is that any different from saying, "I think the text says what I think it says?"
Some of us DON'T think the text says, suggests, or implies that the Mass is to be celebrated only once a year. So what in the texts can we turn to, in your opinion?

Lev 23:4 'These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Lev 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover.

Once a year for thousands of years. Christ comes:

Luk 2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
Luk 2:42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

The custom was once a year every year.

Luk 22:14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.
Luk 22:15 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

God arranged it so Christ died on the Passover. The hour had come, the day of the Passover. Once a year.

1Co 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed on Passover, which was observed once a year. What feast was kept by Paul and the first Christians? The feasts of God, the Passover and unleavened bread.

1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Co 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
1Co 11:25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
1Co 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

The ceremony is a memorial to the death of Christ. Memorials in all human cultures are nearly always observed on a yearly basis. In this case once a year on Passover.

I would suggest that the only reason people don't think they did it once a year on Passover is that they ignore the thousands of years before this occurrence and focus on the post biblical traditions of the last several hundred years.

I think the standard is in the bible. The Passover is a yearly festival. Christ waited until the Passover to institute the ceremony of the bread and wine. The Passover had and has a significance to Christ because it was a day he created.

[RobbyS]

In that context and in the context of two thousand years.

[roamer_1]

Sorry Dawg. The point is missed.

What those unfamiliar with the Passover feast are ignorant of, is that Jesus used the 3rd cup, and the hidden half of the center matzah (the Afikomen) to perform the first Communion. He REVEALED HIMSELF in these two pieces symbolically, revealing their purpose.

But their presence within the Passover has been from time immemorial - right back to it's institution in Egypt.

The third cup is The Redemption Cup... The Fourth, The Cup of Thanksgiving is taken later... There is more to come. The Passover feast must still have relevance, as it has not yet been perfectly revealed.

Christ instituted nothing new, but only revealed the Communion within the Passover - He is the promised "Redemption". It is part and parcel of Gods appointed Holy Days.

I am still learning, so I may not be speaking with perfect accuracy, but without investigating the Passover as instituted by God (and all the other appointed Holy Days), one cannot see the truth.

I encourage you to research the Passover, and wonder why Jehovah would have left it undone - substituting a different ceremony in the context of the Eucharist or Communion.

The answer, ultimately, must be that He wouldn't. His Holy days are "shadows of things to come". They are part and parcel, part of the Prophecy. Those who reject them do so at their peril.

Ergo, the entire scheme of the Eucharist/Communion are anti-Christ... "replacement" for the real thing. To say otherwise, one must first explain the fulfillment of every single action and symbol of the Passover, and that cannot be done.