(On
the night before he died,) Jesus
took bread, said the blessing, broke
it, gave it to them, and said, “Take
it, this is my
body.”
Mark 16
Several years ago, a young couple decided to
accept the challenge to homestead in the great northwest of Canada. They went
deep into the wilderness and staked out a homestead, cut down trees and built a
cabin. They were days from their nearest neighbors. They had studied survivor
skills carefully and developed all the necessary skills to be nearly
self-sufficient, except for a trip to the nearest town once a year which took
several days to complete. After a few years, they were blessed with two
children, ages 5 and 6.
One day the father left for one of the
necessary multi-day trips to get supplies. He was only gone for two days when
the young mother was bitten by a huge rattlesnake. She soon realized that there
was no hope for her survival as the venom entered her blood system. As she
looked at her two children, she wondered what might happen to them till their
father got home. She immediately lept to her feet, pulled down all the flour
she had in her cabinets and began to make bread, thinking to herself, ‘If they
have bread, they will live. If they have bread they will make it till their
father gets home. If they have bread, they will be OK.” As she became weaker and weaker, she locked
the doors of the cabin, placed the bread on the table, laid down and died.
On
the night before he died, Jesus did the same thing for us. At his last supper,
looking around at his disciples, Jesus took bread and gave it to them saying,
“eat this bread in my memory until I return.” Like the frontier mother I just
talked about, Jesus thought to himself, “If they have this bread, they will be
OK. If they have this bread they will survive.”
Before he died, he left bread on the table as a sign of his love and
care for us” not just bread, but bread transformed into himself. To help us
make it in the world today, we will eat that bread again today in his memory
and we will keep eating until till he returns in glory.
Bread
has always been a sign of God’s care. The Bible is filled with “bread stories,”
all signs of God’s tremendous love, care and concern for his people. (1) One
cannot forget that strange “bread from heaven,” called “manna,” that seemed to
fall out of the sky each morning as the Israelites crossed the desert between
Egypt and the Promised Land. (2) When Elijah the prophet was depressed and
wanted to sit down and give up, God provided him with fresh bread. This bread
gave him the strength to keep walking for forty days and forty nights. (3) The
widow of Zeraphat, down to her last handful of meal and a few drops of oil, had
to choose between feeding herself or offering hospitality to a holy man of God.
Ignoring her own needs, she chose to be generous and God rewarded her with
bread that never ran out. (4) Elisha the prophet was fed by a man with
twenty loaves and through the intercession of Elisha that twenty loaves fed 100
men. Yes, bread has always been a sign of God’s abiding love and care for his
people. We will be reading some of those stories over the next few weeks.
But
the greatest bread story of all is recounted in our gospel today, the story of
the Last Supper. Like the young woman who went to the kitchen and baked bread
before her death so that her children might live, Jesus on the night he was
betrayed gathered his disciples (then and now) around this table and left us
this bread so that we might live, so that we won’t forget, so that we can face
the things we have to face, week after week.
From
the beginning, the disciples of Jesus have gathered around bread and wine and
recalled these words of Jesus. We will carry on that tradition again
today. What we do here today is known by
several different names: the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, Holy Communion, the
Breaking of Bread and the Mass.
What
do the words “this is my body and this is my blood” mean? Roman Catholics have always believed, or
should believe, that these words of Jesus are literally true: the very body and
blood of Jesus are received when the Eucharist is celebrated and shared
in. Other groups that share this view
are the Eastern Orthodox, as well as some Lutherans and Anglicans. One of the
most tragic things about modern day Catholics is that over 60% no longer
believe this teaching, but believe the view of most Protestants. Most
Protestants believe that the bread and wine only remind us of Jesus and
all that he did for us and that we only receive Jesus in a spiritual way,
but he is not present in the bread and wine.
The
teaching that “this is my body and this is my blood” has always been hard to
believe and often denied. John’s gospel tells us that when Jesus taught his
disciples that “unless they eat his body and drink his blood you will not have
my life within you” many broke away and no longer followed him. No wonder our
Church is in crisis when only 40% of Catholics now believe in the real presence
of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Even
though we celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday of the year, the Church
celebrates a special feast in honor of the Body and Blood of Jesus so that we
can be called back to the basic teachings handed down to us about this great
sacrament. It might be good to hear a few of those basic teachings.
(1)
Both Scripture and Tradition teach us that Jesus is really present in the
Eucharist. (2) The Eucharist is the heart and summit of the Church’s life. (3)
When a validly ordained priest recalls the words of Jesus over bread and wine,
they actually become the Body and Blood of Christ. (4) When one receives the
Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist the bond between Jesus and other
believers is strengthened. (5) The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is “bread
for the journey and strength for the trip.” It strengthens each believer on his
path of discipleship.
St.
Justin the Martyr summarized our Catholic teaching about 100 years after the
death of Jesus when he wrote this description of an early Eucharist. He
describes a celebration of the Eucharist following a Baptism. It is essentially
the same as what we will do again today. Remember this was about 1850 years
ago!!!!! 1850 years ago!!!!
After we have thus washed the one who
has believed and assented, we lead him to where those who are called brethren
are gathered, offering prayers in common.
Then
there is brought to the presider of the assembly bread and wine. He gives thanks at some length. When the
prayers of thanksgiving are completed, all the people present call out their
assent, saying: “Amen!” Then those who
are called deacons give to each one present to partake of the Eucharistic bread
and wine, and to those who are absent they carry a portion.
We
call this food Eucharist; and
no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching
to be true and who has been baptized and is thereby living as Christ has
enjoined us. For not as common bread nor common drink, do we receive these. The
food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down
by Him, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus. (Remember! This is 1850 years ago!) The
apostles, in the Memoirs which they produced, which are called Gospels, have
thus passed on that which was enjoined on them.
Afterwards
we continually remind each other of these things. And those who have
possessions come to the aid of those who are poor; and we are always at one
with each other.
The Church has many problems and limitations,
but for the life of me, I don’t think I could ever go off and leave the
Eucharist! Through thick and thin, at great sacrifice, this most precious gift
has been handed down to us to hand on to the next generation! It is “bread for
the journey and strength for the trip.”
