On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
Jesus’ disciples said to him,
“Where do you want us to go
and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
He sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the city and a man will meet you,
carrying a jar of water.
Follow him.
Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,
‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”‘
Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.
Make the preparations for us there.”
The disciples then went off, entered the city,
and found it just as he had told them;
and they prepared the Passover.
While they were eating,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them, and said,
“Take it; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.
Amen, I say to you,
I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Then, after singing a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.
Today’s reading recounts for us the institution of the holy eucharist. The eucharist is truly the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know…? Because Jesus said so. He is God and he cannot lie. The word of the Lord is not only descriptive, but it is creative. When god says something, it is so. Not only is true…, but it becomes so. But beyond that incredible miracle, there is something else happening here that is utterly astounding…, a sacrificial offering of God Himself, to us.
The sacrifice in question goes back to the Old Testament, and the covenants that God made with man. A covenant is not a contract, it is a complete and total exchange of persons…, “I am yours and you are mine.” In the chapter 7 of the book of Leviticus the Lord defines what a covenant is. First, It requires a blood sacrifice, shared blood is a metaphor for family, and the bonding of peoples by something greater than their own inclinations, bonding them by shared blood. But even more the blood represents a pledge that I will die before I ever break this covenant. Second is a an oath, or an exchange of persons, a complete and total gift of themselves and a promise to always be faithful. And finally a shared meal, the blood sacrifice is consumed, to signify that the new union is complete. And this union is not just two persons that simply share an affinity with each other, it is a new creation, two bodies fused together in an inseparable bond.
We see this laid out in today’s first reading, Exodus 24:3-8. This is the Mosaic covenant that God makes with the jews in the desert after he brought them out of Egypt. We see all three elements of the covenant here, the sacrifice of the young bulls, and the spreading of the blood first on the altar (representing God), and then on the people. Second Moses reads Gods law and the people make an oath to follow it, and then they share the sacrificial meal, They burn part of the offering on the altar for God, and they eat the rest of it. From that moment the jewish people are completely and totally united to God in an inseparable bond.
But we know that there are 6 covenants in the old testament, why is not one good enough. Well the answer is simply sin. We humans break the covenants, over & over, and so it must be reestablished. God is always faithful, He never breaks His covenants, we are the ones that fall short. But it is more than just that. Leviticus 17 also tells us what it means to break a covenant. Breaking a covenant is not the same as breaking a contract, and walking away from your agreement. It is the tearing apart of that new creation. Taking something that was bonded and fused together in an inseparable way, and tearing it apart. It is literally a bloody destruction, and so the only way to repair this destruction is with a new covenant. Which means a new blood sacrifice, a new oath, and a new shared meal. And because we people constantly sin, we constantly break our covenantal promises, and we have to reestablish that bond with Him.
Each of the 6 covenants of the old testament were a progression of God’s will for us in this world. Moving us along the path of salvation to the point where we could understand is ultimate will for our lives, to be in perfect covenantal relationship with Him for all eternity. And that is the point of today’s Gospel. Jesus, in instituting the Holy Eucharist is creating His 7th and final covenant with us. All of the elements of the old testament covenant are there, We have the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we have the promise from the God in John 6 that if you eat my body and drink my blood that you will have eternal life, and we have the shared meal, but in this case the shared meal is the body of God Himself. When we attend mass, and participate in the holy eucharist, we are reestablishing this covenant with God. By drinking the blood of the sacrifice, we are sharing in the one blood of God, and we are bonded to Him as family. When we eat the body, we are sealing the covenant in the shared meal, but this shared meal, this sacrifice, is God Himself. WOW!
Let’s be honest…! We all fall short of our covenantal promises to God, we are constantly breaking our promises and tearing apart that bond that God wants to have with us. And God knows that too, That is why he progressed us from having a one time covenant that we could never keep, to offering himself as the the sacrifice, and offering Himself as the meal, and offering it to us every day at mass, so that we could reestablish that covenant every time we sin. God in His infinite wisdom shows us that He knows us better that we know ourselves, and knows what we need, even when we don’t. We only need to submit to His wisdom, and take Him up on His offer.
