A Letter About The Body and Blood

Sunday School 4th Sunday of Lent 03/14/2010


Hey All,

I'm sorry I've been out of the loop for so long. It's going to be a little while before I can find the right balance again. I hope you have all been continuing the gospel assignment, and have been maintaining a personal daily devotion as I wrote about at the beginning of these emails.

Because we are fast approaching Holy Week, I wanted to take the time and look at the doctrine of the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist just a little bit more. Specifically, I wanted to provide a good foundation for an understanding, not only of the Church's teaching on the subject, but also why Christ must be truly present in the Eucharist, and why, from the standpoint of the Bible and the writings of the Early Church it can't be merely a symbol as many of our Evangelical Protestant cousins insist on.

First, let's go back to the sacrifices in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Law and try to understand what was required for a valid sacrifice.

Concerning the Passover Sacrifice:

Exodus 12:8-11

“They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.”

One of the principle requirements of a valid Passover sacrifice, was that it be eaten, and whatever was not eaten had to be burned to ashes. We see the same requirements later on in the book of Leviticus regarding other sacrifices:

Leviticus 6: 24-26

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before Yahweh. It is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the Tent of Meeting.”

Leviticus 7:7-17

“‘As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with them shall have it. The priest who offers any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered. Every meal offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the pan, and on the griddle, shall be the priest’s who offers it. Every meal offering, mixed with oil or dry, belongs to all the sons of Aaron, one as well as another. ‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer to Yahweh. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mixed with oil. With cakes of leavened bread he shall offer his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving. Of it he shall offer one out of each offering for a heave offering to Yahweh. It shall be the priest’s who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings. The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. ‘But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow, or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice; and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten: but what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.”

The seriousness of completing the sacrifice by eating it can be seen in another passage in Leviticus 10:1-2, 12-19:

“Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.”

“Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar; for it is most holy; and you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion, and your sons’ portion, of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire: for so I am commanded. The waved breast and the heaved thigh you shall eat in a clean place, you, and your sons, and your daughters with you: for they are given as your portion, and your sons’ portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the children of Israel. The heaved thigh and the waved breast they shall bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before Yahweh: and it shall be yours, and your sons’ with you, as a portion forever; as Yahweh has commanded.” Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burned: and he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, “Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is most holy, and he has given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary: you certainly should have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded. Aaron spoke to Moses, “Behold, this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before Yahweh; and such things as these have happened to me: and if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing in the sight of Yahweh?”

This was the understanding of the laws regarding the sacrifices is that they were to be eaten, and then whatever was left was to be burned to ashes. Now this understanding of sacrifice wasn't particular to just Israel. The Greeks also understood sacrifices in the same way. A sacrifice made to one of the Greek gods, especially the twelve Olympians, wasn't considered valid or effective unless it was eaten.

It is the express teaching of Holy Scripture and sacred tradition that Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice under the law for our sins. In the Gospels one of the first ways He is addressed is as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). A lamb which takes away sin in this cultural understanding is and can only be a sacrifice.

The letter to the Hebrews is far more explicit:

Hebrews 9:11-15

“But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh: how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

Hebrews 10:8-12

“Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;”

In order for the body of Jesus Christ to be considered a valid sacrifice under the law, two requirements must be met: it has to be eaten, and whatever is left over must be incinerated. In John 6:51-58, Jesus states very clearly that his body and blood must be consumed:

“I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus therefore said to them, "“Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. 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 food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

It can be argued that His dead body satisfied the second requirement of being fully consumed or incinerated in the resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:40-49). The question then arises, how do you make a sacrifice, especially a human sacrifice, available to be eaten repeatedly for an extended indefinite period of time?

In all three Synoptic Gospels is recorded the same words at the last supper:

Matthew 26:26-29

“As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, "“Take, eat; this is my body.” He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, "“All of you drink it, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

Mark 14:22-25

“As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, "“Take, eat. This is my body.” He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it. He said to them, "“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. Most certainly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 22:17-20

“He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, "“Take this, and share it among yourselves,
for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God comes.” He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, "“This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

In order to make His sacrifice available for everyone to partake of He took regular, unleavened bread and regular wine and declared them to be His body and His blood. In some, unknown and unknowable way He linked the bread and wine with His own sacrificial death so that they became inseparable. That this was never understood to be merely in a symbolic way is revealed by St. Paul's understanding in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 where he very clearly equates the Holy Eucharist with a sacrifice in contrast to the sacrifices made to idols, and that you cannot validate both by partaking of both:

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons. You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

He says also later in the same letter that those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord:

“For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "“Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.”

The early leaders of the Church always, and without question considered the Eucharist to be the real presence of Jesus Christ:

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, c. 105

“Take heed then, to have only one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to the unity of His blood.”

“They [the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not believe the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ. … Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death.”

Justin Martyr, Christian evangelist and apologist, c. 160

“We do not receive these as common bread and common drink. Rather, Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation. So, likewise, we have 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.”

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, c. 180

“Our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and in turn, the Eucharist establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and spirit. For the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist—consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly. So also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection of eternity.”

Tertullian, Presbyter, c. 207

“He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed in His blood, affirmed the reality of His body.”

When the Eucharist is celebrated, it is not a separate sacrifice, or a re-sacrificing of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is linked in some way which is never explained, nor should it be, to His one sacrifice so that His sacrifice could be partaken throughout the centuries until all was fulfilled and brought to completion. It has always been the teaching of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in when the bread and wine. The teaching that it is merely symbolic floated around the heretical sects, such as the Gnostics, but was not widespread until the Reformation when the backlash against the Roman Church was so great that the reformers threw out almost all teaching which they even associated with the Roman Church not understanding that the Roman Church itself had broken from the Apostolic Faith.

Let us never be afraid to proclaim our faith in the Holy Eucharist as nothing less than the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Fr. Allen+