Readings Between the Lines

Reflections

Eucharist, sacrificial meal

Readings Between the Lines

Father Glenn LeCompte

“While they were eating, (Jesus) took bread; he blessed, broke and gave it to them and said, ‘Take (it), this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, offered thanks, gave (it) to them and they all drank of it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many. Amen, I say to you, no longer, absolutely not, shall I drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God’” (Mark 14:22-26, translation by Father Glenn LeCompte).

In the foregoing passage from Mark’s Gospel, the evangelist narrates Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper with his disciples. As I comment on this passage, I intend to point out a particular aspect of the Eucharist—that it is a sacrificial meal. In last month’s article, you may recall that I spoke about the Eucharist as a symbol and source of unity.

In the context of Mark’s narrative, the meal described in 14:22-26 is a Passover meal. Jesus and his disciples are gathered as a family with Jesus taking the role of the paterfamilias presiding over the meal. The Passover meal is celebrated methodically, with each member eating the same elements simultaneously as the father relates the significance of each to the Exodus event. The unleavened bread represented the bread of people in flight, since the leavening process is not done. Bitter herbs recall the harsh experience of the Hebrews as slaves. The lamb recalls the lamb whose blood God commands the Hebrews to spread on the lintels of their homes. The firstborn of the Egyptians, who do not have the blood applied to their doorposts, die, whereas those of the Hebrews live. All this symbolizes the breaking of the Egyptians’ power over the Hebrews and the preservation of life for the latter, who are rescued from Pharaoh’s intended genocide (Exodus 1:8-22). In the Exodus story, God acts as gô,ēl, (redeemer) of the people. In Leviticus 25:47-55, during the Jubilee Year, the next of kin is to buy back the freedom of people who have become indentured slaves. This role of God looms large over the Passover. In addition, the Passover meal enables Israelites of later generations to identify with the Exodus experience of their ancestors. If they are able to celebrate the Passover in the present, it is because God rescued their ancestors from annihilation. Therefore, the Passover meal creates an experience which transcends time. Eating the Passover foods is what enables them to connect with their ancestors’ experience.

All of this is important to understand the meal depicted in Mark 14:22-26 as a sacrificial meal, and what the effective significance of that meal is. While Jesus and his disciples are partaking of a Passover meal, only two of the Passover foods, bread and wine, are mentioned. Jesus identifies the bread, which in the Passover represented the Israelites escape from Egyptian slavery, with his body. Three times in the course of Mark’s story Jesus predicts his passion, death and resurrection (8:31; 9:30-31; 10:32-34), and in 10:45 he says that he will give his life as a “ransom” for “many.” By giving his life on the cross, Jesus acts as the gô,ēl, redeeming people from the slavery of sin.

Whereas in the traditional Passover meal three cups of wine are drunk, Mark’s Jesus only refers to one cup. Jesus identifies the cup with his blood. Whereas the Israelites’ firstborn are saved by the blood of the Passover lamb, so Jesus’ blood, poured out, saves people from sin. More specifically, Jesus identifies the cup of wine as his “blood of the covenant.” This is a reference to Exodus 24:1-8, where Moses takes the blood of sacrificed young bulls, puts it in bowls, splashes half of it on an altar he builds and the other half he sprinkles on the people. He announces to the people that this blood is the blood of the covenant. And since life is perceived to be in the blood (Leviticus 17:14), the people who have blood sprinkled upon them share God’s life. Jesus’ blood is now the covenant blood through which people share in the life-giving aspects of the covenant relationship with God. By identifying his blood shed on the cross with the Passover wine, Jesus’ blood takes on, in an even greater way, the a

Reflections

saving aspects of the Passover lamb’s blood. The Passover lamb is sacrificed, its blood applied to the doorposts and its flesh eaten. Jesus’ blood is poured out as a result of his crucifixion, in which his body is sacrificed. Thus just as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb meant and means salvation for Jews, so the sacrifice of Jesus means salvation, to an even greater degree, for “many.”

While in English the word “many” might seem to imply that Jesus’ sacrifice is for some and not others, we must understand this phrase properly. It echoes Isaiah 53:11, thus identifying Jesus with the suffering servant of Isaiah’s poem (52:13-53:12). The word “many” is a relational concept: The many as opposed to the few, which in essence means “all.”

Jesus identifies the Passover elements of bread and wine with his sacrificial death on the cross. Just as by eating the Passover meal Jews of all ages share in the saving benefits first experienced by their ancestors, so those who partake of Jesus’ body and blood in the eucharistic meal share in the saving benefits of his sacrifice. Thus, there is an essential connection between meal and sacrifice here. Jesus’ death is a sacrificial death that has achieved salvation for all. People participate in the saving benefits of his sacrifice through all the sacraments, and in particular through the Eucharist. Eating is a form of sense experience, and by eating of the consecrated bread and wine, which Jesus identifies with his body broken and blood poured out on the cross, we experience the saving benefits of that sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice was offered once-for-all, but the Eucharist, every time we celebrate it, enables us to participate in Jesus’ saving death.

The sacrament of the holy Eucharist has a real effect upon our lives with regard to salvation. This is why the “meal” and “sacrificial” aspects of the Eucharist are inseparable. The bread and wine at Mass become Christ’s body broken and blood poured out, and we participate in the saving significance of his sacrifice by partaking of the eucharistic meal. BC

Reflection Questions

v How do banquets in everyday life connect us with special remembrances? v How would you describe your experience of participating in the saving benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death through participation in the sacrament of the holy Eucharist? v Of all the ways Jesus might have chosen to have us effectively remember his life-giving sacrifice, why a meal?

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