JOHN PAUL THE GREAT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal:

Exploring its biblical roots and development through history

SUBMITTED TO PROF LUKE HEINTSCHEL

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

LITURGICAL THEOLOGY AND SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY (THEO 511)

BY

JUDE THADDEUS LANGEH

March 9, 2018
The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ 2

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 3

1. Definition and Biblical Roots of the Eucharist ..................................................................... 4

2. Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Eucharist ..................................................... 8

3. The Eucharist as a Covenantal and Eschatological Meal .................................................... 14

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 21

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 22

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

INTRODUCTION

The Eucharist is one of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation. It is the source and summit of our

Catholic faith and Christian Life 1. In the Eucharist, Jesus offers us his body and blood in the forms

of bread and wine. In doing so, we are mystically united to him and to the entire body of Christ,

the Church, the people of God. It is the “sacrament that in a most perfect way makes present and

models the Church. It is not only one of the seven sacraments, it is the sacrament-for it contains all

that we are, all that the Church is. All that Jesus says of God”2. The Catechism of the Catholic

Church teaches, “The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the

Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through

creation, redemption and sanctification” (CCC 1360).

Going through the Bible and the Catholic Tradition through history we notice that the

Eucharist remains a meal and also a sacrifice. It is not only an ordinary meal, it is an

eschatological meal and also an object of worship because it is the true body and blood of Jesus

Christ under the appearance of Bread and Wine. However, one is invited to ask certain questions:

What has become of the centrality of the Eucharist in Christendom? Is it possible to restore the

Eucharist to its original dignity as willed by our Lord Jesus Himself?

In this essay we shall begin by defining the Eucharist from its etymology and looking at its

biblical and Jewish roots, next we shall make a brief historical survey of the Catholic Eucharistic

doctrine. The last part will be dedicated to seeing the covenantal and eschatological aspect of the

eucharist, hinging on the covenant ratification ceremony of Exodus 24 as a foreshadowing of the

eschatological banquet evoked by Jesus at the Last Supper (Luke 22:18).

1
LG §11; Also Scott Hahn, ed., Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; Auckland:
Doubleday, 2009), 255. Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1324, cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 904
2
Thomas Richstatter, The Sacraments: How Catholic Pray (Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1999),
51.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

1. Definition and Biblical Roots of the Eucharist

1.1. Definition of the Eucharist

Eucharist comes from the Greek eucharistia3, “thanksgiving”. Its verbal form eucharistein

meaning ‘to give thanks’4 is “used in liturgical texts on Jesus’ Last Supper and in texts influenced

by the early Christian Eucharist”5. Eucharistia and eucharistein were “used in early Christian

language as translations of the Hebrew verb barak and the noun berakah. When translated into

Greek as eulogein, it means ‘to bless,’ and eulogia, mean ‘blessing.’” 6.

The Eucharist is “the sacrament in which Christ is really and truly present under the

appearances of bread and wine” 7. In other words, the Eucharist is “the sacrifice of the New Law in

which Christ, through the ministry of the priest, offers himself to God in an unbloody manner

under the appearances of bread and wine”8. Stravinskas gives a more extended definition when he

insists that the Eucharist “is the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, in which He is

present under the forms of bread and wine offering Himself in the Sacrifice of the Mass and giving

himself as spiritual food to the faithful”9. As a sacrament, the Eucharist is “an efficacious sign of

the sacrifice offered by Christ on the Cross. Christ offers himself to the Father in the Mass just as

he did on the Cross, but the offering is made through the consecratory action of the priest…. But

3
Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism (San Francisco/New York, NY: Harper/Collins Publishers, 1994) 1239.
4
Cf. Paul F. Bradshaw, ed. “Eucharist,” The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship (London: SCM Press,
2002), 172-173.
5
Thomas Mathew, “Significance of Sacraments of Initiation”, (PhD diss., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2008),
157.
6
Mathew, “Significance of Sacraments of Initiation, 157
7
Hahn, Catholic Bible Dictionary, 255.
8
Richstatter, The Sacraments, 52. This is According to the Baltimore Catechism
9
Stravinskas, Peter M. J.,ed., Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia (Hutington: Our Sunday Visitor Inc.,
1991), 368. The definitions underline the sacrificial and meal dimension of the eucharist which will be further
expounded later on in this work.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

the Eucharist is unique because of the real presence of Christ under the appearance of bread and

wine (CCC 1373–75).10

All through history, apart from the names used in the etymology above, other names have

been used for the Eucharist such as Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper (Coena Domini), the

table of the Lord (Mensa Domini), the Holy of Holies (Sanctissimum), the Lord's Body (Corpus

Domini), the breaking of the bread (Fractio Panis), the unbloody sacrifice, our daily bread, the

most blessed sacrament, the sacrifice of praise, agape (Love-Feast), Synaxis (Assembly), etc etc 11.

Saint Thomas Aquinas calls the Eucharist ‘the sacrament of love, the pledge of love’. For

Saint Bernard, it is the ‘love of loves’. Saint Philip Neri could find no other name for Jesus in the

Blessed Sacrament than “Love”. This is why, when receiving the Viaticum (Holy Communion

before death) he said “Behold my love; give me my love”. Saint Ignatius of Antioch called the

Eucharist the “mystery” of Christ's body and blood and said it was “the medicine of immortality

and the antidote against death.” The Eucharist, he wrote, is a spiritual food which strengthens the

one who receives it and helps him into eternal life12.

1.2. Biblical and Jewish Roots of the Eucharist

The Eucharist as we have it today has its root both in the Old Testament and in the New

Testament. It is from there that we see prefiguration of many things in the New Testament and

also the eschatological aspects of the Eucharist. The Fruit of the Tree of Life (Gen 2-3) has a

Eucharistic overtone. In effect, from the freedom to eat of every tree in the garden Gen 2:15-17,

we see God instructing Adam and Eve “to participate in his life through the joy of eating and

10
Hahn, Catholic Bible Dictionary, 258–259.
11
Hahn, Catholic Bible Dictionary, 255.
12
http://www.answers.com/topic/st-ignatius-of-antioch#ixzz1x1sfjTHV

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

drinking”13. In the same light, the Bread and Wine of Melchizedek (Gen 14:18), the loaves, curds,

milk and bullock set by Abraham before his three visitors (Gen 18:6) and the sacrifice of Isaac and

the Lamb of God (Gen 22:1-18) all point to the Eucharist.

In the book of the Exodus, The Jewish Passover meal is a thanksgiving meal (Eucharist)

(Exod 12). In effect “the Passover meal, in a word was a recovery (however imperfect) of the easy

unity and fellowship of the Garden of Eden, God hosting a banquet at which his human creatures

share life with him and each other”14. During the sojourning in the desert, the manna and quail

from heaven and the water from the rock all foreshadow bread and wine (Exod 16-18). The Blood

covenant of Exodus 24: 5-8 helps in the understanding of the Eucharist as a covenant and an

eschatological meal. The sacrifices of the Temple cult like the Olah (Exod 29), the minhah or grain

libation in Lev 2, the Shelamin, Todah in Lev 7 and the bead of Presence (Lehem ha panim) (Exod

23) also point to the Eucharist.

Samuel’s feasting at a sacrifice with thirty guests prior to Saul’s anointing (1 Sam 9:19-24)

is also eucharistic. The Prophetic order that there is the feast which the Lord of Hosts will prepare

on the mountain according to Isaiah 25:6 is eucharistic. In this vision, “the gathered community is

fed by a gracious God with the finest foods, calling to mind the situation in the Garden of Eden

before the eating and drinking was interrupted by a grasp at godliness”15. We cannot forget the

promise of “wine and milk without money and without price” which was held out to everyone who

thirsts and comes to the waters (Is 55:1-3). In the Wisdom literature, union with God is found in

the figure of a table spread before him in the sight of His foes (Ps 23:5)

Sloyan insists that “the cumulative impact of these texts …prepares one for the great

eschatological supper of Christ’s parable in Luke 14 (“blessed is he who shall eat bread in the

13
Robert Barron, Eucharist, (New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 28.
14
Barron, Eucharist, 30.
15
Barron, Eucharist, 32.

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kingdom of God,” v.15), the “wedding-feast” as it is called in Matt 22 and in Apoc 19 the

“marriage-feast of the Lamb””16.

The bread of life sermon John 6 falls within the context of the Passover in Exodus 12. In

feeding the 5000 there is a prefiguration of the superabundance of the Eucharist. There we get the

verbs he blessed, he broke, and he gave which will be employed in the Institution of the Eucharist

in Luke 22. Using the word “given thanks” (Eucharistesas), John 6:11 brings out the right imagery

of the berakah. Jesus becomes the new Moses wo gives bead. It points out to the necessity of faith

to receive the Eucharist (John 6:35-47) and the necessity of the Eucharist to have life (John 6:48-

58).

In the New Testament, early Christians viewed the Last Supper as the Passover meal. It

was held in an “Upper Room,” a place often used for rabbinic Scripture discussions. Before the

Last Supper, the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11) is a Sign of the Messianic Banquet of Wine (Isa

25:6-8) in which Jesus is the True Bridegroom (John 3:28-29). The institution of the Eucharist in

Luke 22 points back to the Jewish Passover in Ex. 12. The Bible also gives an eschatological

presentation of the Eucharist by pointing to the New Passover in Rev. 21:5 “Behold I make all

things new”. Biblical passages, like Luke 10, 21-22; Matthew 11, 25-27; John 17, show the

importance of Berakah in Jesus’ ministry.

The Christian Eucharist as we have it today “traces its origin from the Jewish barakah”17.

For Jews and the Judo-Christians, berakah, ‘blessing thanksgiving,’ was an act of praise directed

to God as the basic expression of all prayers” 18. The berakah is simply a Jewish prayer in which

they bless the Lord. It is believed that berakoth (plural of berakah), which means benedictions for

16
Gerard S. Sloyan, “The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal”, Worship, 36 no 7 (Jun - Jul 1962), 448.
17
Louis, Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task ( Bandra : Saint Pauls, 2011), 12.
18
Mathew, “Significance of Sacraments of Initiation, 157.

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the Jews, is translated directly into Greek as Eucharistia (thanksgiving). The Jews bless God in

their daily prayers, especially during their qahal, or get together, in the synagogue.

2. Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Eucharist

The Eucharistic doctrine, as we have it today, is a fruit of a great development in history. Its origin

as already said above can be traced from the Jewish Berakah, and Passover, through the Greek-

Latin translation, Eucharistia, patristic teachings, the great controversies in the Middle Ages, the

great intervention of the Lateran councils, scholastics, the protestant reforms, the Council of Trent,

the advent of Vatican II council, to date. Having treated the etymology, our focus will now be from

the apostolic and patristic era.

2.1 Apostolic and Patristic Era to the 8ht Century: movement from meal to worship

After Jesus’ Passover, the apostles and their successors gradually developed the Eucharistic

celebration into the structure which endures to this day. The early community obeyed Jesus'

command to “break bread” in his name (Acts 2:42). There were already abuses at meals (Cf. 1Cor.

11, 17-22ff) and they saw the need to separate the rite from a meal and give a more prayerful

setting for this act of worship. The Eucharist here was already seen as anamnesis or remembrance,

that is, “the bridge between the climax of the first coming and the dawn of his final coming”19.

When Jewish-Christians were no longer welcome at the synagogue service, they added its prayers,

singing, chanting, and homily to the Eucharistic liturgy.

In the Didache, the Eucharist was moved to Sunday in memory of Christ’s resurrection.

This became known as “kata kyriaken de kyriou”20 or dominical day of the Lord in which the

19
Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task, 95.
20
Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task, 64.

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Christians came together. We notice that “in Chapter 14…the term ‘sacrifice’ is used twice,

referring probably to the Eucharist”21.

By 150 AD, one can read from Justin Martyr’s writing that the basic Mass structures were

already in place. He says that “just as the lamb sacrificed at Passover was a type of Christ, so also

the offering of fine flour for the purification of one who has been healed of leprosy (Lev 14:10)

was a type of Eucharistic bread”22. Irenaeus understood the Eucharist “as a sacrifice of

thanksgiving”23. By 313, with Constantine’s legalization of Christianity, there were significant

changes in liturgical celebration and by 384, Latin, which was the official language of the Roman

Empire, started gaining ground in the eucharistic liturgy of the Roman Rite.

In the first five centuries of the Church’s history, despite the differences in details

depending on region and rites, the Eucharist/Mass was understood as a non-bloody sacrifice in

memory of that of Christ. In the seventh century, Pope Gregory the great declared that the Latin

Mass in Rome was standard for Western liturgy. We notice the integration of the liturgy of the

word and also the aspect of worship.

2.2. From the 9th Century of Great Eucharistic Controversies, to the Scholastics

In this era, the term transubstantiation was also widely used and questioned. Theologians debated

on the meaning of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic bread and wine. The doctrine of the

real presence, the effectiveness of the priest for the validity of the sacrifice of Jesus, would no

more be accepted in unanimity from the ninth century. With the advent of theologians like

21
Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task, 64.
22
Justin the Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 41, cf. Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task, 65.
23
Malieckal, The Eucharist, Gift and Task, 66. The writings of Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ignatius of
Antioch, Irenaeus or Lyon, show a great fight against some heresies like Gnosticism and Diocletism, which denied the
Incarnation and the resurrection reality and therefore constituted a great danger to the Church’s Eucharist conception.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

Paschasius Radberius, Rabanus Maurus and Ratrasmus of Corbie, the term “in figura”24 gained

grounds. With others like Amalarus of Metz, Florus of Lyon, Berengarius of Tours among others,

great controversies arose on the Eucharist. In effect the latter felt relationship between the

consecrated bread and the body of Christ, was founded on faith and understanding25. For him, the

nature, or substance of bread and wine is not changed in the Eucharist, but they signify an invisible

reality, heavenly reality, the body and blood of Christ26.

It is at this stage that the doctrine of the real presence begins to take form. There arose two

questions: Is the Eucharist Christ’s body and blood in mystery or in sensible reality (in veritate)? Is

it the body that was born of Mary and is exalted in heaven? The Ecumenical Council of Lateran of

1215 affirmed dogmatically, accompanied by anathemas, the real presence and transubstantiation

to support this doctrine. Because so few received Holy Communion, the Fourth Lateran Council

(1215) passed a law that required Catholics to receive communion at least once a year. Many pious

practices that focused on Eucharistic devotion sprang up. These included the Elevation of the Host

and chalice at Mass, benediction, exposition, forty hours, and the feast of Corpus Christi, etc.

In his Summa Theologia (IIIa, q. 75-77), Thomas Aquinas gives a classical synthesis on the

question of real presence and of transubstantiation. For him, there is a substantial change despite

the persistence of accidents like Bread and wine. Treating the presence of Christ in the Eucharist,

Aquinas states that it is not local, but is after the manner of a substance (per modum substantiae)

so that where the sacrament is removed, Christ can be said to move only per accidens, not per se.

24
According to this terminology the veritas of the Eucharist is bread; the body of Christ is in the bread “in figura”,
because it is perceived in by us through the symbolism of the bread. The body of Christ is in heaven. That body is
present in the Eucharist, not “bodily” not in “veritate” but in “figura”. Jefferson Bennit, “First Eucharistic Controversy
-RADBERTUS AND RATRAMNUS, Posted on October 22, 2013. https://vatikos.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/first-
eucharistic-controversy/
25
James T. O’Connor, The Hidden Manna; A Theology of the Eucharist (2nd ed., San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
2005), 100-101.
26
Jefferson Bennit, Second Eucharistic Controversy – BERENGAR and LANFRANC, Posted on October 23,
2013, https://vatikos.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/second-eucharistic-controversy/

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Aquinas thus helped to treat the controversies in his time; but another set of controversies began

with the Protestant Reformation.

2.3. From the Protestant Reformation to the Council of Trent

The Sixteenth century brought about the Protestant Reformation. In this era, three dominant

conceptions on the Eucharist were presented by Luther, Zwingli and Calvin. Calvin rejected

adoration of the Eucharistic bread and wine as “idolatry”. Leftover elements may be disposed of

without ceremony (or reused in later services); they are unchanged, and, as such, the meal directs

attention toward Christ's bodily resurrection and return27.

Zwingli was resolutely spiritualist in his view after interpreting John 6:6328. He believed

only in a spiritual presence of Christ and in a spiritual feeding of the soul by the Holy Spirit. He

therefore sees communion as a symbolic meal, a memorial of the Last Supper and the Passion.

Luther rejected the Mass as a means of grace. He envisaged a comprehension of the Eucharist as

depending only on scriptures (Sola scriptura). He rejected totally the doctrine of

transubstantiation. For him, the Mass was a corruption of the Eucharist. It is not a sacrifice, but a

promise.

During the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Church consecrated the 30th session to define

the Catholic doctrine against the reformers’ menace29. Their view of transubstantiation in the

fourth chapter of the Council only rejoined all what has been said on the topic from the Church’s

patristic period. They equally pronounced anathemas for all those who supported consubstantiation

and refused transubstantiation. The Tridentine Mass was introduced.

27
O’Connor, Hidden Manna, 148.
28
O’Connor, Hidden Manna, 143-144.
29
The Council thus produced 8 chapters and 11 canons.

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2.4. Catholic view of the Eucharist in the twentieth century right up to Vatican II

Before the Vatican II Council, Pope Pius XII published Encyclicals on the Eucharist like “Mystici

corporis” which treats the Church and “Mediator Dei et Hominum” (1947), in which he treated the

term Eucharist in the second part. Talking about the nature of the Eucharistic sacrifice, he insists

that the Holy Eucharist is the highest point and is at the center of Christian religion.

Theologians also produced great theological treatises on the Holy Eucharist and the

Church. Henri de Lubac talks of the Church as a “mystical body”, a term that has been used to

refer to the Eucharist since the twelfth century. His work has been cited by the magisterium. In his

Catholicism he treats the biblical, patristic and Augustinian view of the Eucharist as the sacrament

of Unity for the whole Church: sacrementum unitatis ecclesiasticae30. Henri de Lubac makes us

understand that the Eucharist is the Sacrament in the highest sense of the word. In effect it is

sacramentum sacramentorum, quasi consummation spiritualis vitae et omnium sacramentum

finis31. He shows the relationship between the Church and the Eucharist in his work “Meditation

on the Church”.

The Vatican II Council made use of the canons of the Council of Trent; the Mediato Dei et

hominum of Pius XII and the works of theologians like Henri de Lubac to talk about the Holy

Eucharist. The Constitution Sacrosantum Concillium n° 47-58 concentrated on the Eucharist. The

major themes in this constitution include the active participation of the faithful, the importance of

homily, local languages at Eucharistic celebrations, usage of local languages, concelebrating, etc.

N° 47 especially insists on the Mass as a paschal mystery. The priest now faces the people because

the aspect of participation is emphasized. Another constitution Lumen Gentium treats the

relationship between the Church and the Eucharist. Specifically, in n°, the Eucharistic sacrifice is

30
Henri de Lubac, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man (San Francisco: Ignatius Press,1988), 89.
31
Sacrament of sacraments, the consummation, as it were, of the spiritual life and the goal of all the sacraments.
Henri de Lubac, Catholicism, 88-89

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seen as the source and summit of Christian life (LG 7). The Eucharist is also the mystical body of

Christ which is the Church (LG 26). In summary, the Vatican II Council wished to make the

Eucharist a celebration of the entire community.

2.5. The Eucharist in the Post Vatican II Period

There is no great renovation on Vatican II teachings on the Holy Eucharist. In this period, The

Popes and theologians sought ways of actualizing the tenets of Vatican II. Some synods on the

Eucharist have so far been held. Many letters, encyclicals, Exhortations from the Vatican II

Council emphasise the doctrine on the Eucharist. In his Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, (1965),

Blessed Pope Paul VI presents a rapport between the Cross and the Eucharist. In the Eucharistic

mystery, the sacrifice made once and for all (Ephapax) on Calvary becomes present in marvellous

way.

Pope Saint John Paul II in his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia in 2003 treated the

importance of the Eucharist extensively. Themes like sacrifice, real presence, the ministers of the

Eucharist, the Eucharist and communion were treated. 2004/2005 was proclaimed as the Year of

the Eucharist. With the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Benedict XVI

endorsed the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers of 2005, by encouraging the Christian people

to deepen their understanding of the relationship between the Eucharistic mystery, the liturgical

action, and the new spiritual worship which derives from the Eucharist as the sacrament of

charity32. He shows the link between the Eucharist and the Jewish Berakah and Passover33. In this

same Exhortation, the importance of actuosa participatio was also looked into34.

32
Sacramentum Caritatis n° 5.
33
Sacramentum Caritatis n°10.
34
Sacramentum Caritatis n° 55. This involves the fruitful and active participation of the faithful in the liturgy.
Active participation in the Eucharistic liturgy according to the pope and the council fathers can hardly be expected if

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3. The Eucharist as a Covenantal and Eschatological Meal

3.1. God feeds his people

The above biblical and historical presentation gives us an overview of the Theology of the

Eucharist. The Bible gives us many episodes of God feeding His people. When God feeds us

we have strength. When the Devil feeds us, we are ruined. In the Garden of Eden, our first

parents preferred the food offered by Satan and were condemned. Jesus, however, gave us the

food of our redemption at the Last Supper.

The Eucharist however, is not only based on the “Last Supper” that Jesus had with his

disciples but is also influenced by a long history of special meals celebrated by ancient Jews

and early Christians, both before, during, and after Jesus’ lifetime. When God asks for the

release of the Israelites from Egypt, it is to go and celebrate the Passover. On this note the

Israelites shared the Passover meal before leaving Egypt (Ex12:1-28).

We are going to concentrate on the Covenant aspect of the meal, taking as case study

the Blood Covenant ratification ceremony in Exodus 24:1-11. This will naturally lead to the

eschatological banquets referring to the Eucharist.

3.2. Covenant Ratification Ceremony in Exodus 24:1-12 and the Eucharist

A dramatic prefiguration of the Eucharist is found in the Hebrew Scriptures and precisely in

Exodus 24:1-12. In effect, “it’s worked out on the top of Sacred Mt. Sinai where a love

banquet, or more strictly, a covenant sacrificial meal is being prepared”35. This same historic

one approaches it superficially, without an examination of his or her life. This inner disposition can be fostered, for
example, by recollection and silence for at least a few moments before the beginning of the liturgy, by fasting and,
when necessary, by sacramental confession
35
Salvatore J. Bonano, The Unbelievable Gift, The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist (Macau: Claretian
Publications, 2008), 16

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36
place is where the Jewish belief expressed as “to see God and die” will become a place

where not only will they not die upon “seeing God” but quite the opposite. The Banquet

become a most pleasant event because “after gazing on God, they can still eat and drink”

(Exod 24:11).

This actually “is the development and fulfilment of the covenant celebrated on Sinai

when Moses poured half the blood of the sacrificial victims on the altar, the symbol of God,

and half on the assembly of the children of Israel (cf. Ex 24: 5-8). This “blood of the

covenant” closely united God and man in a bond of solidarity. With the Eucharist the intimacy

becomes total; the embrace between God and man reaches its apex”37.

The Covenant ratification begins with God’s invitation and instructions. In effect vv 1-

2 is about instructions for the covenant given to Moses, the priestly family (Aaron, Nadab and

Abihu) and the seventy elders. Moses was to draw near (nāgaš)38. After these instructions,

Moses transmitted to the people YHWH’s words (dibré YHWH) and defined the terms of the

covenant relationship. In vv3-4a, Moses receives the people’s consent. He first relates the

content of God’s covenant with Israel orally, and he got their consent. This looks more like a

wedding or a betrothal. Moses went ahead and wrote the terms of the contract before

continuing with the actual covenant ceremony.

The actual Covenant ratification ceremony (Ola and Shelamin is found in vv 4b-8.

Moses prepares the people for the special covenant ratification. Rising up in the morning he

built an altar and erected 12 pillars upon which the sacrificed was burnt. These twelve pillars

served a dual function: “First they probably represented the twelve tribes of Israel as a second

36
Bonano, The Unbelievable Gift, 16
37
John Paul II, General audience , Wednesday 11 October 2000
38
Thomas Mathew, “Significanceof Sacraments of Initiation”, (PhD diss., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2008),
181.

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party to the covenant, alongside the altar representing YHWH (cf. Kings 18:31). They may

also have served as memorial stones to commemorate the occasion”. Moses was assisted by

young men (ne’arim) “traditionally understood as Israelite firstborns, who served as

ministerial priests prior to the Golden Calf incidence”39. The central act of this covenant

ratification ceremony was the offering of the olah and shelamin sacrifices and the

manipulation of the sacrificial blood. These were the two most important types of sacrifice in

early Israel40.

An important point is the blood ceremony. Moses put half of the blood into a basin.

Half of the blood was dashed on the altar (the altar symbolizing YHWH). The remaining half

was sprinkled on the people. We understand that “there has been general agreement on the

significance of the blood rite described in - passage. Particular importance has been attached to

the division of the blood into two halves (v. 6), one half being thrown against the altar, the

other half upon the people (v.8). It was holy blood and it contacted both the altar and the

people. This shows the consecration of the people to YHWH. It also symbolized the coming

together of the two parties in covenant. Blood remaining on the altar is a visible reminder of

sacrifice performed and its corresponding blessing which is the establishment of the covenant.

It also involved throwing blood on the people41.

Vv 9-11 show again God’s invitation which was first portrayed in v 1. Here the

theophany and sacrificial banquet take place. The elders were given the experience to see God

without dying. (Exod 20:19; 19:21). v.11 describes the sacrificial meal on the peace offering

(shelamin). The covenant at Sinai is not complete with sacrifices alone; the heavenly banquet

39
John Bergsma and Brant Pitre, The Old Testament: A Catholic Introduction to the Bible (San Francisco:
Ignatius, 2017), 313.
40
Ronald S. Hendel, “Sacrifice as a cultural system: The Ritual Symbolism of Exodus 24:3-8” Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 101:3 (1989), 381
41
John W. Hilber, “Theology of Worship in Exodus 24” JETS 39/2 (June 1996), 183.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

is its climax. In effect “after the blood sacrifice is offered at the foot of the mountain, the

representatives of the people journey up to the top of the mountain and indeed into God’s very

presence in heaven: They beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exod 24:11)”42 This implies a

relationship between YHWH and the nation that was characterized by his very presence. It

was not an ordinary banquet but rather “a theophanic covenant banquet: a sacrificial feast in

which God appears and reveals himself to his people”43.

3.3. Correlation of Exod 24:1-11 to Catholic Eucharistic Theology

It is worth noting that the Church is a covenant and the Eucharist is sacrament of covenant.

This can be understood if we insist on the fact that “the Church is the new Israel — the people

of God of the New Covenant”44. Through this covenant we are constituted as “a chosen race, a

royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people” (I Pt 2:9-10).

In effect, “The first Israel was established by the Sinai Covenant, when Moses

sprinkled the altar and the people with the blood of goats and bulls (Ex 24:8; cf. Heb 9:13)45.

Jesus Christ formed the new and definitive Israel by instituting the Eucharist as the New

Covenant in his blood, which was to be shed on Calvary (cf. Mt 26:28; I Cor 11:25)”46.On this

note therefore, there is a great connection between the Covenant ratification ceremony of Exod

24:3-8 and the Last Supper.

Another very important connection is found in Heb 9:18-20. The writer of Hebrews

“integrates the entire cultic system, including tabernacle ritual and purification by the red

42
Bergsma and Pitre, The Old Testament: A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 314.
43
Bergsma and Pitre, The Old Testament: A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 314.
44
Cardinal Avery Dulles, Reflections on Ecclesia de Eucharistia – 3,
https://www.ewtn.com/library/Doctrine/euchar3.htm
45
Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 21.
46
Cardinal Avery Dulles, https://www.ewtn.com/library/Doctrine/euchar3.htm

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

heifer (Num 19), in terms of covenant inauguration by quoting from the blood ceremony of

Exod 24:8. This covenant symbolism is recast in terms of Christ’s work of inaugurating the

new covenant”47.

The root brh for covenant is the same root which makes up the word berakah. It is

believed that berakoth (plural of berakah), meaning benedictions for the Jews, is translated

directly into Greek as Eucharistia (thanksgiving). As on Sinai, Christ gives us his body and

blood (cf. CCC 1384)

Paul VI in Mysterium Fidei, identified Christ as the new Moses who as mediator made

the new Covenant “sacred through His own blood, in instituting the mystery of the Eucharist

(MF, 28). Likewise, in Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul II notes that the covenant at Sinai

was done in the presence of 12 stones representing foreshadowing Jesus who will institute the

Eucharist with 12 apostles. He makes a link with the sprinkling of the blood: “By analogy with

the Covenant of Mount Sinai, sealed by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, the actions and

words of Jesus at the Last Supper laid the foundations of the new messianic community, the

People of the New Covenant.” (EE; 21).

3.4. The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal

From the above, there is a close link between Exod 24 and the eschatological banquet (Isa

24:23). The Lord’s table anticipates this banquet. Revelations 21 share images with Exodus 24

like the holy mountain (Rev 21:14), the twelve stones (21:14). During the Eucharistic

Congress in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of Washington, on September 25,

2004, Cardinal Arinze said that “the Holy Eucharist unites heaven and earth”. Very few

Catholics realize the eschatological dimension of the Eucharist. That is the link between “the

47
Hilber “Theology of Worship in Exodus 24”, 188.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

celebration of the Eucharist and the end of the world”48. In effect, Pope John Paul II called the

mass “heaven on earth…the liturgy we celebrate on earth is a mysterious participation in the

heavenly liturgy”49.

The blood covenant ratification ceremony insists on the eating and the drinking. This

foreshadows the drinking period at the Parousia. One of the greatest area to see the eschatology of

the Eucharist is in the meal. No wonder, scholars will talk about “dining in the kingdom of God”50.

The Acts of the Apostles talk “of a joyous meal taken commonly in anticipation of the Lord’s

return”51. With simplicity of heart the early Christians gathered two or three in the Lord’s name.

This is because “He was believed to be in the midst of them according to His promise in Matt

18:20 just as much as Yahweh was present to His people in that whole series of sacred meals, the

Passover included, which were anticipatory of the messianic banquet of the end-time”52.

We, the members of the Church Militant live then within the eschatological reality of an

“already” and “not yet” achieved salvation. With the Holy Eucharist, the Kingdom of God is

already among us, we already share in the heavenly banquet; but this sharing in God’s Kingdom

and this banquet has not yet been achieved in its final, definitive fullness. The Lord himself makes

it clear to us that “you may eat and drink at my table and in my kingdom” (Luke 22:30). The

Eucharist for Sloyan is a “realized eschatology”. He argues that “If it is a fulfilment of the shadows

of the past and a foretaste of the Last Day, it is also a present apprehension by faith of that risen

Lord whom we shall possess at the Last Day”53. The Eucharist is preeminently the sacrament of

Christian Hope. It is a “foretaste of the eschatological banquet. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the

48
Fr. Benedict J Groeschel said this while commenting on Scott Hann’s Lamb’s supper.
49
Scott Hahn, The Lamb’s Supper, The Mass as Heaven on Earth, (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 3.
50
Eugene LaVerdiere, Dining in the Kingdom of God (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1994), 24.
51
Sloyan, “The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal”, 444. Acts 2:46, Acts 20:11;27:35
52
Sloyan, “The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal”, 445.
53
Sloyan, “The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal”, 446.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

antiphon for the Magnificat on the feast of Corpus Christi, described the Eucharist as the pledge of

future glory. It contains within it the memorial of Christ’s Passover and the anticipation of his

coming in glory”54. To eat the bread and drink the wine of the Eucharist was to remember Christ,

and it was to anticipate Christ, and to participate proleptically in the future fulfilment of all God’s

purposes

The Theology of the Eucharist is teleology, a discourse setting out from the end-time. The

“Synoptics place the Eucharistic institution in the eschatological context in the perspective of the

feast of the kingdom (Mk 14:25), the paschal meal in its fulfilment (Lk 22:14-18): they understand

it in this relationship”55. It is actually in the Eucharist as a paschal banquet, the sacrament of the

kingdom that the eschatological significance of the death, resurrection and glorification of Christ is

celebrated. The Eucharist in effect is the sacrament of Christ in his Paschal Mystery56. Iy is the

sacrament of the Parousia. This “refers in the New Testament to the coming of the crucified and

Risen Christ in glory57” In Heb10:19 it states that “by the blood of Jesus” we “have confidence to

enter the sanctuary.” We have this great blessing then, merited by our Covenant Mediator, Jesus

Christ, to participate in the Eucharistic liturgy whereby through the sacrificial offering of Jesus’

body and blood we can truly access the “marriage supper of the Lamb” in Heaven.

Cardinal Journet adds more flesh to our reflection by insisting that “The eschatological

character of the Christian sacraments culminates in the Eucharist. It contains the Body of the

Resurrected One, who promised to raise us up on the last day (Jn 6:39, 40, 54). It is the final unity

of the Church that will fully manifest to us the meaning of her pilgrim unity.”58

54
Paul Vu Chi Hy ( PHd theses submitted in the Austrialian Catholic University, 17 March 2004) i
55
F. X. Durrwell, L’eucharistie: Sacrement Pascal, (Paris : cerf, 1980), 29
56
Durwell, L’eucharitie: Sacrement Pascal, 37
57
Paul Vu Chi Hy ( PHd theses submitted in the Austrialian Catholic University, 17 March 2004) 97
58
Charles Cardinal Journet, The Theology of the Church (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2004), 158.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

CONCLUSION

In this essay, we have identified through Biblical and Historical backing that the Lord feeds us

physically and spiritually. All through the Bible especially given that food is a fundamental

human need. All through history after Jesus, many have sought to interpret the Eucharist, and this

has given rise to controversies on the one hand and a better shape to the Eucharistic Doctrine on

the other hand.

God enters into covenant with his people and this is ratified with meal and blood

foreshadowing the eucharist as an eschatological banquet. In the Last Supper (Last Passover)

Jesus’ words in Mark 14:24: This is my blood of the covenant (Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς

διαθήκης) is closely akin to the LXX presentation of Exod 24:8: Behold the blood of the covenant

(ἰδοὺ τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης). There is connection with the words αἷμά…τῆς διαθήκης. The Last

Supper is a reenactment of the blood covenant in Exod 24:3-10. “Hence, the inauguration of the

covenant at Sinai served as a pattern for the inauguration of the new covenant recorded in the

gospels and 1 Cor 11:25. Divine presence is indicated by the bread. Covenant and sacrifice are

indicated by the cup”59.

The Eucharistic doctrine is just so broad. However, our aim has been to show its

importance. Talking about the central place of the Holy Eucharist in our lives. Pope Saint John

Paul II says: “The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for

us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration

and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and

crimes of the world by our adoration never cease.”60

59
Hilber, “Theology of Worship in Exodus 24”, 188.
60
Dominicae Cenae, n°3.

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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS AND ARTICLES

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Bennit, Jefferson, Second Eucharistic Controversy – BERENGAR and LANFRANC, Posted on
October 23, 2013, https://vatikos.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/second-eucharistic-controversy/
Bergsma, John and Pitre, Brant, The Old Testament: A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, San
Francisco: Ignatius, 2017.
Bonano, Salvatore J., The Unbelievable Gift, The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Macau,
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Bradshaw, Paul F. ed. “Eucharist,” The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship, London,
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Cardinal Avery Dulles, Reflections on Ecclesia de Eucharistia – 3,
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Cardinal Avery Dulles, Reflections on Ecclesia de Eucharistia – 3,
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The Eucharist as a covenantal and eschatological meal Jude Thaddeus Langeh

Sloyan, Gerard S., “The Eucharist as an Eschatological Meal”, Worship, 36 no 7 Jun - Jul 1962.
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WEBSITES
http://www.answers.com/topic/st-ignatius-of-antioch#ixzz1x1sfjTHV
https://www.ewtn.com
https://vatikos.wordpress.com

MAGISTERIUM
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