Sat 22 Dec 2007
The New Testament and the Eucharist
Posted by Giuseppe under Faith Sharing, Scripture Study
When I started growing in the faith something strange happened. I found out more and more that I am wrong and the Church is right. This is true in her moral teachings but also in her doctrines. I have stopped now reading what people or the media say the Church teachings are. It’s very simple really, we need to read the Church documents for ourselves. The pope’s encyclicals are usually not hard to read and they are very short. The Church has 2000 years of wisdom and even if I had wisdom I don’t have 2000 years worth. So here it goes.
Remember the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). I have always wondered what Jesus said to the two disciples. What were those scriptures in the Old Testament that concerned Him? We obviously know some prophecies like the "virgin birth" and the "stripes that heal" what else is there? Where can we find all of those prophecies?
Believe it or not there is a book that does that. All one billion plus Catholics in the world have access to it and It’s free. It’s called the missal. Every day we read a prophecy in the Old Testament and it’s fulfillment in the New Testament. Last year in June these were the readings.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. But this is the covenant, which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
John 6:43-48 Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring 18 among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ’They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
When I went to my Bible this was also cross-referenced to:
Isaiah 54:13 All your sons shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.
What is Jesus talking about in the John 6? His followers just asked Him what they should do to do God’s work. He tells them He is the bread come from Heaven. His listeners cannot believe Him. How can He say He comes from Heaven? Jesus replies by referring them back to Jeremiah and Isaiah by reminding them that this is a prophecy of the last days when God will teach them directly. This implies He is God and His teaching is true if they want to have eternal life.
But this is not all. We need to go back to Jeremiah to understand the context. Jeremiah is speaking of a New Covenant that God will establish with His people. The amazing thing is that the phrase "new covenant" is very seldom used in the Bible. It only appears here in Jeremiah and in the accounts of the Last Supper. In Hebrews (chapters 8, 9 and 12) it is used to compare and contrast the new and the old, the new being superior to the old.
What is the connection between all of this?
Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant that God will make with His people. Jesus establishes the new covenant at the Last Supper. In John 6 Jesus teaches we must eat His flesh if we want to have eternal life. This is happening at the Passover (John 6:4). At the Last Supper Jesus gives His disciples His body and blood to eat and drink. The Last Supper happens at the Passover. If Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant that will be established by God, if Jesus establishes the new covenant at the Last Supper, if Jesus equates eating His body and drinking His blood as the new covenant then Jeremiah is referring to the Eucharist.
Even if this is as simple as if A=B and B=C then A=C it seems too far-fetched. Or is it? If you believe that Holy Communion is only a symbol you are right, although logical this is far-fetched, but then what makes the New Testament better than the Old? I am Italian and we don’t mess with food. If Communion is only a piece of bread and a sip of grape juice, I am sorry but I would rather have a rack of lamb and a bottle of red wine instead. If we are talking about symbols only I would rather have the Old Covenant rather than the New.
But if you believe that Holy Communion is truly the body and blood of Christ then it is not far-fetched. What does the Catholic Church teach about the Eucharist? It is God really and truly present, in the tabernacle, dwelling among His people (John 1:14).
What is Jeremiah’s point and for that matter what is the point of the whole Bible? If we read the prophets and especially Isaiah and Jeremiah we find that the prophets keep accusing the Hebrews of idolatry, injustice, everything from intermarrying with the Gentiles and making child sacrifices, to liturgical abuses and mistreatment of immigrants. In other words Israel and Judah stopped obeying God’s commandments. God is going to punish them by destroying Jerusalem, the Temple and sending them to exile in Babylon. Jeremiah keeps warning the destruction of his country over and over again. Then at the end, after prophesizing destruction he prophesizes the restoration of the covenant.
What was the greatest wonder that Israel had that no other people had? The Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle. This is where God would come down from Heaven to dwell among His people (Exodus 25:8; John 1:14). When Adam was in Eden God was present to him (Gen 3:8). Among the things that Adam and Eve lost was the Presence of God. But God promised a savior. From all the people of the earth God chose the Israelites and He promised them He would be with them as long as they kept His commandments. But they did not and God left them. God was really and truly present in one place only, in the Tabernacle, in the Temple, in Jerusalem and could only be seen by one person only, the high priest. The destruction of the Temple is not the loss of one of the Seven Architectural Wonders of the World. It is the loss of the Presence of God, the Shekinah Glory. [1]
That’s what the Old Testament is all about. Israel and Judah lost the Presence of God in the Shekinah. The Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians but even after the restoration of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, God was never present in the Tabernacle again. [2]
To understand the above we must think about the Jewish religion of the Old Testament not the Jewish religion of today because even today the Jewish people do not have the Presence of God in their Tabernacle because there is no Temple. Yes, today, individual, faithful, pious Jewish people know God is present in their hearts but how is this different from Christianity?
The difference is this: what Judaism had and then lost Christianity now has. God is actually present in the Tabernacles of the Catholic Church. [3]
The promise that God made through Jeremiah that He will restore His people and that He will make a new covenant with them. The reason why the book is called the "New Testament." The meaning of the whole Bible, the reason why the New Testament is superior to the Old is the Eucharist.
And there is more.
This can only be true if the Eucharist is real. In the Old Testament, the Shekinah of God was real. He was present in the "cloud." Today, the presence of God is real. He is present in flesh and blood in the Eucharist. Only the High Priest was allowed to be in the Presence of God and only one time in the whole year. Today, anyone can go to adoration and be in the Presence of God, anytime. When walking to church and entering the chapel it’s like going up to Mount Zion and entering the Holy of Holies. Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist.
[1] Note how the Jewish Encyclopedia defines the Shekinah (see http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=588&letter=S&search=shekinah): "The majestic presence or manifestation of God which has descended to "dwell" among men. Like
[2] The same article also points out: "The Shekinah was one of the five things lacking in the Second Temple (Targ. to Hag. i. 8; Yer. Ta’an. 65a, and parallel passages)."
[3] The same article also points out: "The Tabernacle was erected in order that the Shekinah might dwell on earth (Num. R. xii.); and it actually entered the Holy of Holies (Sanh. 103b)." Yes, our faithful Jewish and Protestant brothers do have the spiritual presence of God among them and God loves them like He loves all His children. But we must acknowledge that the Presence of God in the Shekinah was not a spiritual presence but an actual manifestation of God.
December 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I would like to clarify some of the text above.
When I use the term Jew or Jewish I mean it, not as a derogatory term, but in their proper original meaning. When speaking of the Jews of the Old Testament those are the people of the Kingdom of the South, the Kingdom of Judah who are distinct from the Israelites who are the people of the Kingdom of the North, the Kingdom of Israel. The term is appropriate because the Temple of Jerusalem is in Judea. When speaking of the Jewish people today these are our brothers who practice Rabbinical Judaism as it developed after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
When I say “Jewish people still do not have the Presence of God in their Tabernacle because there is no Temple” this is not a reflection on their faith or their relationship with God or their standing in salvation. This simply means that today what Jewish people consider their Tabernacle is the place where they house the Scripture scrolls. This is different from the original meaning of the Tabernacle. Originally the Tabernacle (Temple, Holy of Holies) was build in order that the Shekinah Glory of God may dwell on earth:
What I called the “real presence” of God is to make the comparison with the Eucharist. To be for sure our Jewish and Protestant brothers know that God is real and that He is really present to them. He is really present spiritually in their soul, in their hearts, in their life and all those who have faith know the presence of God. This is the usual meaning of “real” and “presence.” On the other hand when I use the word “real” I mean it in its etymological sense: that reality that is, not just present to our spirit, but, present in a tangible way through our five physical senses.
A metaphor might help here. My mother lives in France, 3000 miles away. When I speak to her on the phone she is readily accessible and I can speak with her anytime I pick up the phone. When I hear her she is really present to me and our relationship is real. Even if I went to the moon, I could still establish a phone relay and speak to her immediately and she would be really present to me. This is a real relationship to be sure. But this real presence and relationship we enjoy is nonetheless different from the real presence we would have if I visited her in France.
This is the “real presence” that I mean when speaking of the Shekinah and the Eucharist. The terms we use for the Shekinah can be used for the Eucharist and vice-versa and if we believe that the Shekinah was real (not a symbol) then it follows that the Eucharist is real (not a symbol). The Shekinah could be seen; the Eucharist can be seen, touched, smelled and tasted. As the verses above show the Shekinah (God) was always present, not only in Heaven and in the believers’ hearts but also at the Temple in Jerusalem of Judea. Similarly Jesus (God) was always present, not only in Heaven and in the believers’ hearts but also to His Apostles in Nazareth of Galilee. Just as my mother is always present, not only in my heart but also at her house in Paray of France. Using the word “presence” with the same meaning we can say that God (the Eucharist) is always present, not only in Heaven and in the believers’ hearts but also at St Eleanor in Collegeville of Pennsylvania.