May 29, 2012 Notes for Knights of Columbus Bible Study at 7 pm at KC Hall - Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
Knights of Columbus Bible Study
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
29 May 2012
Opening Prayer: Psalm 113
Scripture: St. John 6: 48-64
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
The First Exodus:
New Exodus:
New Exodus:
1. Deliverer: Moses
1. New Deliverer: Messiah
1. New Deliverer: Messiah
2. Israel: Released from Egypt
2. Israel/Gentiles: Released from sin/death
2. Israel/Gentiles: Released from sin/death
3. Journey to Promise Land
3. Journey: New Eden/Heaven
3. Journey: New Eden/Heaven
4. Worship God: Tabernacle/Temple
4. Worship: New Temple
4. Worship: New Temple
5. Ultimate Destination: Jerusalem
5. Ultimate Destination: New Jerusalem
5. Ultimate Destination: New Jerusalem
The Old Passover
In order to have a New Exodus, one must have a NEW PASSOVER
1. Old Testament Passover (Exodus 12)
a. Father was priest over his family (Exodus 24)
b. Unblemished Male Lamb taken and scarified; blood poured into bowl
c. Dip hyssop branch in blood
d. Spread blood on the doorposts of the house
e. Eat the Lamb
Later Jewish Passover
1. Passover Night: Child would ask the father:
2. “Why is this night different from other nights?”
3. “Why do we eat unleavened bread and roast lamb?”
4. Father’s answer: “It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt (Ex13:8)
5. Passover Liturgy: spiritually brought them back to participate in First Passover”
“In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it is written… (Ex. 13:8). Therefore we are bound to give thanks… (Mishnah Pesahim 10)
The New Passover
1. The Last Supper: (Mark 14; Matt 24; Luke 22)
a. Lamb is not the focus
b. Jesus speaks of “pouring out” blood; only priest can do that (Lv. 4:5-7)
2. No Ordinary Passover:
a. New Priest: Jesus and 12 Apostles (representing 12 Tribes)
b. New Lamb: Jesus replaces lamb with himself
c. New Sacrifice: Unleavened Bread (Body) and Wine (Blood) offered
3. Why did Jewish Christians believe Eucharist was Jesus’ body and blood?
a. Eucharist, like the Old Passover: is a participation in the New Passover of Jesus
b. You have to eat the Lamb to complete the sacrifice
c. St. Paul: Jesus is the New Lamb – “Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast!” (1Cor 5:7-8)
The Old Manna
1. If Jesus inaugurates a New Exodus, what food is given for the journey?
2. The Manna in the Wilderness (Ex. 16)
a. Israel cries out for food; they want to go back to Egypt
b. The Lord say; “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you?
c. In the morning: “Bread” from heaven (Manna)
d. In the evening: “Flesh” from heaven (Quail)
e. Manna: white, tasted “like wafers made with honey” (a foretaste of the promised land: “milk and honey”)
f. “The Grain of Heaven” and “The Bread of Angels” (Ps 78: 21-25)
3. The Manna in the Tabernacle: Placed in a Golden Urn in the Tabernacle (Ex. 16:33-34; Heb. 9:6)
Later Jewish Tradition
1. The Messiah will bring the Manna from Heaven: And it will happen that…the Messiah will begin to be reveled…And those who are hungry will enjoy themselves and they will, moreover, see marvel every day…And it will happen at that time that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high, and they will eat of it in those years because these are they who will have arrived at the consummation of time: (2Baruch 29:3-8)
The New Manna
1. The Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11; Luke 11:3)
a. “Give us this day our “epi-ousious” bread”
b. Greek: epi (“on, upon, above”)
Ousios (“substance, being, nature”)
c. St. Jerome: “Give us this day our supersubstantial bread” (Douay-Rheims)
d. Both daily and supernatural: just like the Manna
“Taken literally (epiousious - superessential)…refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2837)
2. The Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:48-64)
Jesus said: “I am the bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This bread which comes down from heaven that a man might eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no live in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink…This is the bread which comes down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?”
3. Why did Jewish Christians believe the Eucharist was Jesus’ body and blood?
a. They knew it is supernatural bread from heaven
b. They knew it is his risen body and blood