Maundy Thursday: Eucharist in Scripture

On this day when we commemorate the institution of the Lord's Supper, all I want to say is found within the bounds of holy scripture.  Let's take a tour in chronological order.  An initial reference is found in Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, penned around 54 CE.  He passes on what has been revealed to him, namely that Jesus instituted the Eucharist on the night before he was betrayed, with the intention that the ritual be perpetuated.  But then Paul also makes the remarkable statement that the person who receives the consecrated bread and wine without perceiving the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ commits sacrilege.  And, dramatically, he says that those who have treated this rite only as a memorial meal have become ill, and some have even died, from trivializing of the Sacrament!  This is a strong early statement on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Next we find the narratives of institution in the three synoptic gospels -- Mark, Matthew, and Luke.  Varying in detail, they nonetheless are in agreement as to the ritual.  Jesus takes bread, blesses it, declares it to be his Body, and gives it to his successors.  Then he takes the chalice of wine, blesses it, declares it his Blood, and gives it out.  Then he empowers those present to repeat the ritual exactly as he has performed it.  I and priests all over the world, ordained in the Apostolic Succession, still do that every Sunday, almost two thousand years later.

By the time John's late, reflective gospel is written, the Eucharist has long been established and so the institution narrative is omitted.  What we have instead are two significant passages.  First, in the sixth chapter Jesus delivers a long, detailed sermon about his Real Presence in the Eucharist.  The language could not be clearer: "My flesh is real food.  My blood is real drink.  The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (v. 55)   At the conclusion of this vignette, the crowd (representing mainstream Judaism) simply can't wrap their heads around the concept and abandon the Jesus Movement.  Second, the Lord's Supper narrative picks up after the meal, with Jesus taking on the role of a slave by washing the apostles' feet.  The message is clearly that the Eucharist is divine fuel giving us the strength to go out to do and support Jesus' servant ministry in the world.