Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ 'B'

Sunday June 14, 2009

I’ll drink to that!

Like tilapia or chicken, a meal can absorb the dominant flavor of the occasion. Most meals in which we participate are ordinary and have no purpose other than to satisfy our hunger. However, in a sense, there are no ordinary meals. Every meal provides a context that not only nourishes us but also gives meaning to our lives. Even those who eat in solitude are not necessarily alone. They may have a newspaper or an interesting book or just their thoughts to keep them company serving as a garnish for the main course as it were.

But there are special occasions on which a meal becomes a genuine celebration of a wedding, anniversary, birthday or a repast after a funeral. On such occasions there is an added meaning to the ‘feast’ enhanced with music and enriched by stories that connect the meal to the past in such a way that the past becomes present. It’s more than a touch of nostalgia.

At a wedding banquet, the best man and maid of honor are expected to honor the newly weds with a bit of humor and good cheer concluding with the toast for a long and happy life together. We lift up our glasses with a heartfelt wish, “I’ll drink to that!”

In great simplicity, Mark the Evangelist repeats the Last Supper narrative that identifies unleavened bread with the bread of Jesus’ life and the cup of wine with the pouring of his blood on Calvary. Whether or not it was a Passover meal is debated by Scripture scholars but it was certainly a commemorative event that certainly mirrored the Passover ritual.

There is a progression in the meaning of this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ and in our understanding of the mystery in which we participate each time we come to this table to celebrate the New Passover.

Today, the accent is on the blood of the covenant and so we are escorted back to a significant event in Jewish history as recorded in the Book of Exodus in order to appreciate the great reverence our ancestors had for blood. It was essential to life and therefore sacred to God and to humanity. It was not to be spilled or consumed. In fact the abuse or misuse of blood could bring the death penalty. Aaron and his sons were consecrated priests in the first covenant by the blood of a ram and appointed to offer sacrifices to the Lord for his own sins and for the sins of the people. Animal sacrifices were adopted from polytheistic traditions but the Jews insisted that unblemished animals be sacrificed as the first fruits of their livelihood.

The ritual described in the Book of Exodus took place at the foot of Mt. Sinai and became a foundational story in the Jewish testament. As priest, prophet and mediator for God’s people Moses presided over the ritual in which the people were sealed in the covenant through the blood of the bull. Over time, the description was embellished for liturgical purposes and was central to the worship of the Jewish people.

The author of Hebrews views the death of Christ as the fulfillment of the ancient sacrifices, Jesus becoming the priest of the eternal covenant, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And so it is through the sacrifice of his life that the new covenant is sealed. Those who drank from the cup of this blood at that final meal agreed to live the covenant that Jesus embraced with this entire life. Whereas the blood sprinkled on our ancestors at Sinai was a visible sign of the covenant God had made with them, the drinking from the cup offered by Jesus became the visible sign that his followers committed themselves to carry on Jesus’ ministry. This is Mark’s understanding after the fact. Recall that Mark and the other evangelists wrote their gospel accounts well after the events described in their narratives. Remember the apostles fled in fear after Jesus’ arrest and remained in hiding until after the Resurrection and the Pentecost event.

There was a transference of meaning from the sacrifice of animals to the sacrifice of Christ. However, we need to flesh out the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice beyond the early understanding of the role his death played and continues to play in the economy or history of our salvation.

As the ritual sacrifices of the Old Testament ended after the destruction of the Temple and to generations of Jews may have seemed abhorrent, so too we in the Christian era struggle with the notion that atonement for sin could only be fulfilled by the sacrificial death of Christ albeit offered once and for all.

“Our habit of thinking of blood sacrifice is now so deeply ingrained that we don’t hear the same thing about Christ that we heard about Paul and the Philippians: that the “sacrifice” means a gift of oneself to something, in this case Christ’s gift of his whole life as an outreach of God’s love for us.” [Robert Corin Morris, “The Passion as Cosmic Deliverance,” 2001]

Our God is not sadistic. Who of you would demand the death of your son to atone for the sins of his grandparents or ancestors? Jesus was not a masochist.

No, God did not demand the death of his Son but his faithfulness to life and goodness, though it may cost his life. Jesus is the triumph of goodness over the cosmic forces of evil. The Greek word for worship and adoration is “proskyneo” which also means to kiss or embrace. It is to this table that we bring the bread of our lives so that our creator may consecrate us through a loving embrace that sustains us as the Body of Christ. As we eat the bread and drink the cup, we too testify that we are committed to the New Covenant not made in stone but in our hearts – to love God with all our heart and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves sums up the commandments.

Saint Augustine said that we become the bread that we eat – living bread for the salvation of the world. Saint Augustine also said: “We gaze on our own mystery. What we are looking at is ourselves, the Body and Blood of Christ – that which we already and aspire to be even more” than we were when we entered this assembly.

We refer to this solemn action as “the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” because we too join in a communal commitment to drink the cup of life in faithfulness to goodness and Godness. “To remember Jesus death directly involves us in his life that brought him to that death.”

“The celebration of the Eucharist would be nothing but a romantic or aesthetic sensation should you forget that the heart of it is the self-giving of Jesus. The sacrifice of yourself for the sake of others is the single foundation of every community. Unite yourself with Jesus, then, in a fruitful and acceptable offering for the life of the world.” [Adapted from “Rule for a New Brother,” Darton, Longman & Todd, LTD, 1973, Great Britain]

“You are called especially to give the sacrament its full effect in unity, love and service. The unity of all Christians and of all persons in the world must be closest to you heart.” [Ibid]

“Always and everywhere you are called to rise above oppositions and divisions in the universal love of Christ. Always look for what unites and avoid everything that estranges and separates us from one another.” [Ibid]

“Your whole life must be worship in spirit and in truth. The Eucharist sets us on the way of Christ and gives us a share in the most radical deliverance possible – the freedom of living in him to the glory of God. And already the light of the resurrection, the new creation, is streaming through it beyond. Whenever you sit at table with the risen Lord, it is the first day of the week, very early in the morning.” [Ibid]

“So keep Jesus Christ before your eyes. Don’t hesitate to go anywhere he leads you; don’t stay where you are and don’t look back, but look forward with eagerness to what lies ahead.” [Ibid]

I’ll drink to that!

I hope you will too!
_____________

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