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 The Institution of the Eucharist – The night Christ was
betrayed – CCC 1323
 Eucharist – A re-enactment of the Lord’s Supper
 Synoptic Gospels (Matt 26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20)
and 1Corinthians 11:23-25 give us the full account of this

EUCHARIST AND JEWISH MEALS

 Jews had different meals – purification, family, sabbath
gatherings
 First disciples were Jews
 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers ” (Acts
2:42; Cf. also Acts 20:7; 6:1)
 But what the first Christian did was according to the Lord’s
command: “Do this in memory of me”.
 Thus, following Christ’s injunction, they bless, broke and
shared the bread and the chalice
 The early Christian community was built on faith around the
risen Lord (Acts 10:39-41)
 Jesus is not physically present to bless, break and share the
meal. But in the Jewish culture, it was the Father or lord of the
house who did that
 Besides the Father, there were servants who assist in the Word
and other ways
 Today, in Eucharistic celebration, there is a presider and those
who assist him – the servers (recall the seven deacons)
 People have different roles and this is to build up the body of
Christ (1Cor 14:26-27)
 Eucharistic celebration is different from Jewish meal as the
presider takes the place of Jesus
 The Christian celebration is now synonymous to the meal
celebrated by the disciples to Emmaus – Lk 24:13-35
 The real presider is thus Jesus Himself
 One advantage of the risen Lord is that he is present
everywhere
 Christian meal is a reunion of a brotherly community
 The Last Supper and the Passover
 Discussion: Is the Last Supper a Passover meal?
 Synoptic Gospels – Thursday evening
 John’s Gospel – Good Friday after (slaughter of the
lambs)
 Bede, while not negating these positions, however says
that Christ, in establishing the Last Supper, is the
fulfilment of the Jewish Passover.
 From the perspective of Matthew’s Gospel, Apollinarius
argues that in Christ’s Paschal sacrifice, God’s Son is
exchanged for the Passover lamb as he becomes the true
Paschal Lamb.
 Ephraim emphasises that Christ was crucified same time that
Passover lambs were slaughtered.
 Usually, the Jews celebrate the Passover with a lamb
 In the context of sacrifice, the lamb was the main victim, and
it was and is usually with the qualification “a year old” (cf. Ex
12:5)
 While the Synoptic Gospels do not mention directly the word
“lamb”, they do, however, speak of the Passover and the Passion
and Death of Christ.
 Exodus 12:1-13:16 is a very good passage to read regarding the
Passover
 The Synoptics have the Institution of the Eucharist as a
Passover meal
 From the Synoptic Gospels’ perspective, the relationship
between the Passover and the Last Supper can the seen in the
following elements:
• Assembly – people gather to celebrate as a family
• The use of cup (chalice)
• Blessing and breaking of Bread (Lk 22:19)
• Sharing the blessed and broken Bread
 «Jesus’ death is at times linked with the Passover. In all three
Synoptic Gospels the Last Supper is called a Passover meal (Mt
26:17-18; Mk 14:14-16; Lk 22:11-15)»
 Jesus’ Last Supper was therefore a prelude to his death
 John refers to the Passovers at least thrice during the ministry
 Jn 13:1 - Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his
hour had come
 The Last took place the same night Jesus was betrayed, that is before
the feast of Passover
 Jn 18:28 - Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it
was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium,
lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover
 Jn 19:14 - Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about
the sixth hour. And he [Pilate] said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"
 Discussion: Why is Passover not mentioned in the Synoptic? (1Cor 5:7)
 THE INSTITUTION NARRATIVES
Mark 14:22 Mathew 26:26ff Luke 21:17 I Cor 11:24
22 While they 26 While they 17 Then he took a 23 For I received from
were eating, he were eating, Jesus cup, gave thanks, and the Lord what I also
said, “Take this and handed on to you, that
took bread, said took bread, said share it among the Lord Jesus, on the
the blessing, broke the blessing, broke yourselves;… night he was handed
it, and gave it to it, and giving it to 19 …“This is my body, over
them… his disciples…. which will be given for … 24… "This is my
24 He said to them, 28 for this is my you; do this in body that is for you.
memory of me.”… 20 Do this in
“This is my blood blood of the And likewise the cup remembrance of me.”
of the covenant, covenant, which after they had eaten, 25… “This cup is the
which will be shed will be shed on saying, “This cup is new covenant in my
for many. behalf of many for the new covenant in blood. Do this, as
the forgiveness of my blood, which will often as you drink it,
sins. be shed for you. in remembrance of
me.”
 The text found in 1Corinthians is the oldest.
 Paul passed on what he received
 Luke and 1Corinthians have closed similarities. This is
also found in Didache 9-10.
 For Mark, communion means the unity of Jews and
gentiles. Thus, for Mark, Jesus is the one loaf of bread
shared by the Jews and Gentiles. The Eucharistic table
is a place where Jews and gentiles meet. Thus, Last
Supper in Mark symbolizes:
 The last attempt to reconcile Jews and Gentiles
 The last feast that brought together the Jews and the Gentiles
 The final meal that reconciled God and the real gentiles
(sinful humanity)
 The final institution of the horizontal and vertical
relationships
 Mark’s Institution thus also deals with instituting a perfect
community.
 John and Institution Narrative
 John has no Institution Narrative, but very theological
 He has the washing of feet
 Chapter 6:51-63, a theological teaching on bread and wine as
Christ’s Body and Blood
 This idea will be better understood if read in the light of John
19:28-37
 He made available his flesh and blood on the Cross
 The Church Fathers interpret these as Eucharist and Baptism
respectively
 The water may also be seen as symbol of Holy Spirit, of life
and blood as Passover lamb (in modern scholars opinion –
Brown, Schnackenburg and Lyonnet respectively)
 The blood of Christ purifies humanity from sin (cf. 1John 1:7)
 The water that “comes out” is a symbol of the giving of the
Spirit and Jesus is the Temple that it issues from (cf. John
2:13-22). It is the water “for the life of the world” (4:14)
 EUCHARIST AND ITS CELEBRATION IN
VARIOUS CENTURIES
 The development of the Eucharist is influenced by the Jewish
Synagogue prayer – the Word and breaking of bread.
 The proclamation of the word is attended by both initiates and
non-initiates
 Eucharist was attended only by baptized Christians
 Take note of the following:
 Jesus left His life, death and resurrection as witness and left
His teachings as a guide. But he didn’t establish the Church's
structures, leaving that to the Apostles and first disciples and
their successors.
 Jesus left the Eucharist, the actual consecration of bread and
wine into His Body and Blood. He did not leave details of the
service within which this consecration might take place
 The format of the Eucharistic sacrifice developed over time.
Earliest Christians, in scattered house churches, celebrated
with a joyful agape followed by 'the breaking of the bread’.
 The prayers, ritual and ceremonies which surrounded
the Eucharist varied from place to place and over time,
and have still been developing over the last sixty years
 The agape prior to the Eucharistic celebration
disappeared, with the stages of its disappearance
varying from place to place.
 This was because it became difficult to organize as the
numbers of Christians grew significantly in any one
centre.
 Apostolic Period
 The structure that appears is basically the one that we still
have today and is composed by 3 fixed elements, which we
find in Acts 20:7-11, the celebration presided over by Paul:

1. Acts 20:7-11: First day of the week, the disciples gathered;

2. Paul preached to them

3. There was breaking of bread

 Proclamation of the Word:
 At Jerusalem, the first generation was still attending the
“liturgy of the Word” in the temple which was still
functioning , and then used to “break bread” in their house
(Acts 2:46)
 For Corinth we find a hint in 1 Cor 14: the preference for the
charism of “prophecy”, which is the one explaining
Scriptures, at the time still the OT, in the assembly
 The Great Prayer
 In the first place it was always pronounced by a leader of the
community, an apostle
 in Rome he was called proistàmenos, “president” (Rom 12:8);

 this figure was existing already before the coming of Peter and Paul;

 he was also called prestos, a noun deriving from the verb proistémi,
“to stay in front” of the Lord in the celebration.

 Bread and Wine

 1Cor 10:16-17; 11:17-34

Second Century

 Didache