Wow! The Eucharist In The Bible

[MorphRC]

Geez I talk about Luke 10:16 and give my interpretation, which ended up being the Church's, and I get in trouble. Now I give the exact interpretation from the Church itself, its ignored and argued over cause it dont comply with ur wants.

The eucharist isnt anywhere in the OT, there are formal, and ritualistic connections, that is as close as it gets.

[Christina]

[b]Bread of the Presence[/b]

The Bread of the Presence, in the ancient Tabernacle and later in the Temple, 1 Kgs 7:48 prefigured Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

In the Tabernacle God commanded Moses, Ex 25:8 "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst." In the sanctuary, in the ark of the covenant, God told Moses, Ex 25:22 "There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you..." God added, Ex 25:30 "You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me always." Jesus told us, Mt 28:20 "I am with you always."

Abimelech the priest gave David this sacred bread. 1 Sam 21:6 "So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence." Jesus taught us that it was for all His disciples. Mt 12:1 "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. ... [Jesus] said to them, 'Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence ... I tell you, something greater than the temple is here."

Jesus showed us what was greater than the Temple. Lk 22:19 "He took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'"




[b]Blood of the Lamb [/b]

During Moses' time the priests sacrificed in the Tabernacle, a portable house of God in the wilderness. After Solomon built the First Temple, it became the place of sacrifice. The highest form of Hebrew worship was sacrifice, not prayer alone, just as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the highest form of Catholic worship. A priest is one who offers sacrifice. The Catholic priest is the counterpart not of the rabbi, but of the ancient Jewish priest who offered bloody sacrifices. The deacon, who reads the Gospel, is the rabbi's counterpart.

The Old Testament sacrifice of a lamb, as opposed to any other animal, was important. The lamb did not resist, run away, or even cry out. Isaiah had foretold that the Lamb of God would do the same, Is 53:7 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth."

The Jewish priests, before sacrificing the lamb, always asked, "Do you love this lamb?" If the family didn't love the lamb there would be no sacrifice. Jesus three times asked Peter, Jn 21:15 "Do you love Me?" Jesus allowed Peter to replace his triple denial with a triple affirmation that he did indeed love the Sacrificed Lamb.

The family would place the lamb into the hands of the priest. When we give something to God we place it in His hands. Jesus' last words on the Cross were, Lk 23:46 "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit!"

The priest and the head of the family then prayed together that God would accept the blood of the innocent lamb for the sins of that family for the entire year, just as the Lamb of God shed His Blood to redeem the sins of all His human family. The Catholic priest says, "Pray, brethren, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father."

The head of household then cut the lamb's throat with a sharp bronze knife while the priest caught the lamb's blood in a large bronze bowl. The priest then made seven complete trips around the altar, sprinkling the blood from the lamb on each of the four "horns." Then he took the lamb's body and placed it on the altar and started the ritual fire. With a big fire and a small lamb, the sacrifice was over quickly. The smoke rose from the altar. If the wind blew the smoke away and dispersed it, the priest told the family that its offer was rejected, and that it should repent and come back the following year. But if the smoke drifted upward, higher and higher until it disappeared from view, the priest told the family that God had accepted the sacrifice.

Before the great tabernacle sacrifice, Jewish priests washed their hands in a bronze laver, or basin. Ps 26:6 "I wash my hands in innocence, and go about Thy altar, O Lord." Today the Catholic priest washes his hands saying inaudibly, Ps 51:2 "Lord, wash away my iniquity; cleanse me from my sin."

The first priest attended at a great golden lampstand with seven oil lamps, called a menorah. It was dark in the tabernacle, and the menorah gave light.

The second priest attended at the table of showbread. God had commanded Lv 24:5 that the Jewish priests, from Aaron forward, place twelve loaves of bread on a golden table "before the Lord." On each sabbath, the priests ate the bread which had been set in place on the preceding sabbath. This bread was to be eaten by the priests in a sacred place since it was Lv 24:9 "most holy" among the offerings to the Lord. God had said, Ex 23:18 "You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread." During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the Catholic priest consecrates unleavened bread on the altar which becomes Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and is consumed by the royal priesthood as the most holy offering in the New and Everlasting Covenant.

The third priest served at the altar of incense. It looked like a small altar of sacrifice, with the same four horns. On it was a bronze laver. The priest would take a red-hot burning ember from the fire in which the lamb had been sacrificed, put it in the basin, and pour some incense on it, that his prayers might have a fragrant scent and go straight up to God. On solemn occasions Catholics spread incense about the altar as an act of reverence and purification. The smoke rising to heaven represents our own desire to have our prayers ascend heavenward in God's sight. Ps 141:2 "Let my prayer be counted as incense before Thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice."

God told Moses to place the Torah in the Ark of the Covenant, which in turn was placed within a tabernacle. God commanded, Ex 27:20 "You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may be set up to burn continually." All was placed within the tabernacle. By night, there was always a fire over the tabernacle, Ex 40:38 This began the idea of an eternal lamp beside the Jewish tabernacle. A thousand years later the Temple lamp miraculously continued to shine for eight days with only one day's supply of oil. Catholics continue this ancient Israelite tradition by placing a lighted candle beside the tabernacle in which the consecrated Hosts repose.

In the center of the tabernacle was a room called the Holy of Holies. Once a year the cohen gadol, the high priest, alone would enter that room. In it was the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark were the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, a golden bowl of manna, and the five Torah scrolls. The Torah was a witness against the Israelites, Dt 31:26 but above it all was God's solid gold mercy seat, with a crown and two cherubim kneeling in prayer. Above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim, was a brilliant light, the shining glory of God. Ex 25:22 "From above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you." When the priest saw that light he took a huge cup of blood and sprinkled it until it was empty. Jewish tradition holds that not one drop of the blood of sacrifice ever touched the mercy seat or the cherubim; it all went into the bright light of God's glory. Jesus said, Jn 8:12 "I am the light of the world." Jesus' covenant family gave Him their imperfect sacrifices, and He gave them His perfect sacrifice.

[MorphRC]

oy...

[Quietfire]

[quote]Geez I talk about Luke 10:16 and give my interpretation, which ended up being the Church's, and I get in trouble. Now I give the exact interpretation from the Church itself, its ignored and argued over cause it dont comply with ur wants.

The eucharist isnt anywhere in the OT, there are formal, and ritualistic connections, that is as close as it gets.[/quote]

MorphRC,
And by your own words, in the second part of your second paragraph, you validated that the eucharist is in the OT.

Keep in mind that before (the crucifixion of Christ) Jews were so wrapped up in their sacrifices and laws. They were not ready for an interpretation with more than one meaning. Everything in the OT was literal to them. They literally put Scripture and law before God. BUT, now we see it was a foreshadowing of future events. In the sense that Jesus fulfilled the OT, the problem is that the Jews (most) still werent ready for this understanding, hence that is why so many of Christs diciples walked out on his statement, as well as Christ subsequent crucifixion. But those twelve understood it. They saw the connection, even if they didnt completely 'get' all of it.

Let us not dare think that Scripture is Law above God. Yes, a verse in the Bible can have more than one meaning. To think otherwise would put us in the same predicament as the Jews of old.

But, and this is were it gets sticky, when someone who has been studying for even 20 years, fails to understand that the Church has some 2000+ years of studying on them, that is where the mistakes start to happen.

Its like watching a really good movie, all suspense, wondering, "How's it gonna end, how's it gonna end!" The climax comes and youre like, "WOW!"
then you start thinking about the movie afterwords, maybe even watch it again, and you see all these 'hints' that should have made you understand what was gonna happen, but you didnt put two and two together. It was there, but not completely understood.

Yeah, its a bad analogy. But it may help abit.

Peace :peace:

[Quietfire]

[quote](Hebrew: thanks) (pronounce: Taw-DAH)[/quote]

Does anyone else see a connection here?
Or am I just being punchy?

Peace :peace:

[Guest JeffCR07]

Morph, sorry I can't address your question in more detail, I'm literally on my way out the door to church, lol. But the issue isn't whether or not the eucharist is actually in the OT, but rather, whether it is protoevangelically foreshadowed in the OT. No where in the OT did Christ make bread and wine his body and blood, but there are many things in the OT that point to the eucharist as their "full and complete" form. Thus, the sacrifice of Melchizadek was an incomplete [i]form[/i] (as the Fathers call it) of the eucharist, without being itself the eucharist. The same is true with the passover sacrifice, and perhaps the most true with the Todah, as Cardinal Ratzinger describes in his [u]Spirit of the Liturgy[/u].

Thus the OT is completed and comes to bear its fruit in the NT.

Also, just to note: There are very few verses authoritatively defined by the Magisterium, however, there are many verses that are universally interpreted by the Magisterium to mean certain things. Thus, when the Magisterium universally accepts Melchizadek's sacrifice as an incomplete form of the eucharistic sacrifice, it is in no way wrong to believe this, and is very probably wrong not to.

- Your Brother In Christ, Jeff

[MorphRC]