Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD—CORPUS CHRISTI (Cycle B)
In the universal
Roman calendar, we celebrate this Solemnity on the Thursday after the Solemnity
of the Most Holy Trinity. The United States and Canada celebrate this Solemnity
on the Sunday after the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.
Readings:
Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18
Hebrews 9:11-15
The Sequence Laud, O Zion (Lauda Sion in Latin)
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
Abbreviations: NAB (New American Bible), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and
Blood of Jesus (Corpus Christi): Sharing in the life of Christ in the
Blood of the Covenant
When we partake of the sacred meal of the Eucharist, we
receive and celebrate the mysterious Presence of Jesus Christ within the
community of the Church: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live
in me and I in him, says the Lord" (communion antiphon). When first established,
this Solemnity was called Corpus Christi, Latin for "Body of Christ." In the
Middle Ages, Christians wanted to joyfully celebrate Jesus's precious gift of
the Eucharist in a solemnity that echoed Holy Thursday. The Church inaugurated
the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus in c. 1254, purposely
choosing the spring of the year so congregations could use the good weather to hold
processions, street fairs, and other outdoor events to express joy in the gift
of the Eucharist. The faithful carried the precious Bread of the Lord's Body
outdoors under a canopy in processions with music, and the people joined in
singing their favorite hymns of praise. Catholic communities still celebrate
this Solemnity with processions and religious displays in Latin America and
Europe.
All the readings for this Solemnity are in the context of blood sacrifice and the Old Covenant feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The First Reading recalls the covenant ratification ceremony at Mt. Sinai after the first Passover in Egypt led to the children of Israel's liberation from slavery. In the Bible, covenant ratification ceremonies included oath swearing, sacrifice, and a sacred meal. At Sinai, the Israelites swore their allegiance to obey Yahweh's commands (Ex 24:3). They offered animals in communion sacrifices followed by sprinkling the animal's blood on the altar of sacrifice (representing God), repeating the oath of obedience, and then sprinkling the remaining blood on the people (Ex 24:5-8). Sprinkling the sacrificial blood on the altar and the people united the Israelites to God as one covenant family, sharing "one blood" like all families. Then there was a sacred communion meal of peace and thanksgiving in the presence of God that sealed the covenant (Ex 24:9-11). The name for the communion meal is Toda (Todah), meaning "thanksgiving" in Hebrew. The same elements are part of our New Covenant commitment. In the Mass, we swear an oath of allegiance to the Most Holy Trinity in our profession of faith. Then, Jesus transforms our offerings of bread and wine to become His Body and Blood and our sacrifice. Finally, we complete the covenant ceremony by eating the sacred communion meal of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist (a transliteration of Eucharistia, "thanksgiving," in Greek), the New Covenant communion Toda, in the Divine Presence of the Most Holy Trinity.
The Responsorial Psalm Reading is from one of the psalms the faithful sang during the Liturgy of the Passover worship service in the Jerusalem Temple. It recalls the Exodus liberation and Israel's gratitude to God for the people's salvation. The sacrifice of "thanksgiving" promised in verse 17 is the communion sacrifice of the Toda, the Eucharistia in Greek. The psalmist promises to show his gratitude for God's salvation by participating in the Liturgy of worship in the presence of God and the covenant community.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul writes about Jesus's role as the New Covenant High Priest in the heavenly Temple. As our New Covenant High Priest, He does not offer the blood sacrifice of bulls or goats like the Jewish high priests of the Sinai Covenant. Instead, He provides His precious Blood to ratify the New Covenant of God with a "new Israel," God's people of the Universal Church of Christ's eternal Kingdom (CCC 877).
The Gospel reading recalls the events on the night Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover victim in the sacred feast of the Last Supper. At the meal, Jesus repeated Moses' words at the ratification ceremony at Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:8) as He offered "the blood of the covenant" and passed the cup of His Precious Blood, becoming the covenant mediator of a new and eternal covenant promised by the prophet Jeremiah (Heb 9:13-15; Jer 31:31; 32:40; 50:5). Our sacred meal of the Eucharist not only looks back to Jesus's Last Supper, but it also looks forward in time. At every Eucharistic meal, the faithful look forward to eternal life in the Presence of the Most Holy Trinity and the communion of Saints in the heavenly banquet of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church (Rev 19:6-9).
Today's remembrance of our redemption through the self-sacrificial offering of Jesus's Body and Blood on the altar of the Cross is an appropriate time to recall what redemption means to a Catholic. Protestants believe that God punished Jesus for the sins of humanity and that in Christ's Passion, the Father saw not His divine Son but our sins and vented His wrath upon Jesus. This view of redemption is not what Catholic Christians believe. Jesus did not serve as our penal substitute to receive the retributive punishment for countless lifetimes of sin since the fall of Adam and Eve. God did not abandon Jesus to suffer the fullness of the damnation humankind had earned for itself. Jesus did not take on the sins of the world, literally becoming sin Himself. If that were the case, Peter would not have called the Resurrected Christ "a spotless Lamb without blemish" (1 Pt 1:19), and Jesus could not have ascended to Heaven soiled by the sins of humanity.
For the Catholic Church, redemption was always about love. The Father never loved the Son more than as He hung on the Cross. "God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son" to give His life for our salvation. Therefore, Jesus was not our substitute; He was our representative. He did not exempt us from suffering; instead, He endowed our suffering with meaning and divine power. Christ's sufferings are not punishments; they were the result of a pure and holy offering of love in obedience to the will of the Father that extended to every human in every age, including His persecutors. Jesus's act of divine love in offering up His Body and Blood on the Cross is what makes us a new creation in His Kingdom of the Church! See CCC 613, 616 and the book "What is Redemption?" by Father Philippe de la Trinite, published by Emmaus Road.
The First Reading Exodus 24:3-8 ~ The Ratification of the
Sinai Covenant
3 When Moses came to
the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all
answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us." 4 Moses then wrote down all the words of the
LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an
altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites
to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD, 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in
large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. 7 Taking the book of the covenant, he read it
aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the Lord has said we will heed and
do." 8 Then he took the blood and sprinkled
it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has
made with you in accordance with all these words of his."
After the Exodus liberation, at the rendezvous at Mt. Sinai, Yahweh courted Israel like a bridegroom courts His bride, inviting the Israelites as one people to be His holy partner in the divine plan for humanity's salvation. In the centuries before this point in salvation history, Yahweh formed covenant bonds with individuals and their families (Adam, Noah, and the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). But at this crucial point in salvation history, in a radical departure from the previous pattern, Yahweh took the descendants of Jacob/Israel and formed them into a unified covenant nation. He called Israel to be His first sacred assembly, His holy covenant kingdom, and a people called out of all the other nations of the earth to fulfill their destiny as His priestly people, telling them, "So now, if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you, out of all peoples, shall be my personal possession, for the whole world is mine. For, me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (Ex 19:5-6).
Yahweh appeared to the people of Israel in fire and thunder on Mt. Sinai. He spoke out of the thunder, giving them the Ten Commandments. Then Moses went up the mountain into the presence of God to receive the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the expanded articles of the moral and civil laws, and promised the reward of God's divine protection for the people's obedience and loyalty. Moses then presented Yahweh's offer to make a covenant with the Israelites, and the people agreed, swearing an oath with one voice saying, "We will do everything that the LORD [Yahweh] has told us" (Ex 24:3). Moses then wrote down all the words Yahweh had spoken that became the first section of the Laws of the Torah called the Book of the Covenant. The following day, Moses, acting as the covenant mediator, carried out the ratification ceremony of the Sinai Covenant between Yahweh and the Israelites at the base of Mt. Sinai. The ratification ceremony unfolded in seven parts:
The text does not reveal the identity of the "certain young men" mentioned in verse 5 that Moses chose to present the sacrifices on behalf of the people. They were probably the younger members of the generation of firstborn sons redeemed by the blood of the Passover victims (lambs and goat-kids) the night of the tenth plague in Egypt (Ex 11:4-5, 7; 12:23-24; 13:1-2). Scripture records that the young men doing priestly service offered two types of blood sacrifices: the 'olah (whole burnt offerings), entirely consumed in the altar fire, and the shelamim (peace sacrifices), the communion sacrifices designated for eating in a sacred shared meal.
However, there was also a communal sin sacrifice in the blood ritual. A sacred communion meal could not take place without first offering a sacrifice in atonement for sins. A holy God can only receive a spiritually purified believer into fellowship in the sacred meal of the communion sacrifice in which peace is re-established with God. At the ratification ceremony, through a blood sacrifice that united God and His people and the communion meal of kinship that followed, Yahweh sealed the covenant and Israel. The children of Israel became Yahweh's covenant children: the "called out" (kahal/qahal in Hebrew) ones, and as His "firstborn sons (and daughters)," they became His holy representatives to the other nations of the earth (see Ex 4:22, Israel is Yahweh's "firstborn" among the nations of the earth).
6 Moses took
half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the
altar.
Moses, the covenant mediator, took the blood of the sacrifices
and ritually splashed half of the blood against the sides of the altar. He kept
the other half of the blood in chalices. The word translated "bowls" in verse 6
is misleading. In verse 6, the Hebrew term is 'aggan (also see Is 22:24
and Song 7:3), a word found in several other Semitic languages and established through
archaeology to be a large and deep two-handled cup or chalice (JPS
Commentary: Exodus, page 152).
According to the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews, using a hyssop branch, Moses then sprinkled blood on the altar, the Book of the Covenant, and the people (Heb 9:19-20 and Ex 24:8). The altar represented Yahweh, the book symbolized the covenant treaty in which the Israelites swore an oath to bind themselves to Yahweh in a covenant union, and the blood of the sacrifice cleansed the people of their sins. These actions made the purified Israelites and Yahweh one covenant family united in the blood of the sacrificial victim like human families are united by the link of shared blood.
This event foreshadowed the uniting of Yahweh and the New Covenant people in the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is the New Covenant mediator and the unblemished sin sacrifice who provides the sacred meal of His Flesh and Blood for His covenant family (Jn 6:53-56). The covenant ratification began at the Last Supper when Jesus announced, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in remembrance of me." And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you" (Lk 22:19-20). In the ritual at Mt. Sinai, the blood and the sacred meal united God and the children of Israel into one covenant family. In the same way, Jesus's blood sacrifice on the altar of the Cross makes the New Covenant people of God one family through the sacrifice and in sharing the sacred meal of the sacrificial victim, which we call the Eucharist ("the Thanksgiving").
Responsorial Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 ~ The Cup of Salvation
The response is: "I will take the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord" or "Alleluia."
12 How shall I make
a return to the LORD in all the good he has done for me? 13 The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will
call upon the name of the LORD.
Response:
15 Precious in the
eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. 16 I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
Response:
17 To you will I
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. 18 My vows to the LORD I will pay in the
presence of all his people.
Response:
Psalm 116 is one of the great Hallel ("praise God") psalms (Ps 113-118) that pilgrims sang during religious processions and in the Temple liturgy of the three annual pilgrim feasts that all men of the covenant had to attend (Ex 23:14-15; Dt 16:16; 2 Chr 8:13). The Passover sacrifice took place in a daytime liturgical worship service on the 14th of Nisan. That night at sundown, Nisan the 15th, was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the Jewish day began at sunset). These feasts celebrated Israel's origins as a free people united to Yahweh as their only God. They were joyous occasions, so whole families attended if they lived within reasonable traveling distance from Jerusalem. All religious males had to participate in the seven-day long pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread (Dt 16:16; Lk 2:41-42). The Hallel Psalms recalled the Exodus liberation, Israel's gratitude to God for their salvation, and ended with a messianic psalm that promised the coming of the Davidic Messiah (Ps 118:26-27).
Psalm 116 expresses thanksgiving for divine rescue and the people's promise to show gratitude with vows and Temple sacrifices. The "cup of salvation" in verse 13 may refer to the blood ritual that signified atonement for the people's sins when the chalice holding the blood of the sacrificed animal was either poured out, splashed, or sprinkled against God's sacrificial altar (depending on the kind of blood ritual). It could also refer to the ritual cup of wine consumed during the Toda ("thanksgiving") communion meal with the meat of the sacrificed victim and unleavened bread, eaten within the Sanctuary in the presence of the God (Lev 7:11-15, 19b-20; Num 15:7-10). It might also point to the third cup of the four communal cups of the sacred meal of the Passover victim on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The third cup was the "Cup of Salvation/Redemption" or the "Cup of Blessing" as St. Paul identified the cup of Jesus's precious Blood (1 Cor 10:16; St. Luke mentions two of the four ritual cups of wine in Lk 22:17-18 and 20). Therefore, verse 13 might point to the Christian Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Jesus Christ's flesh and blood became the Toda ("thanksgiving') communion sacred meal in the New Covenant liturgy of worship. According to Jewish tradition, when the Messiah came, all sacrifices would cease except one, the Toda "thanksgiving" communion offering and sacred meal of peace with God (Levine, JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, page 43; Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986, pages 58-59). It was a prediction fulfilled in Jesus Christ's continuing Toda of the New Covenant sacred communion meal He instituted at the Last Supper and which Catholic Christians call by the Greek word Eucharistia (Eucharist), which means "the thanksgiving" (Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26).
The Second Reading Hebrews 9:11-15 ~ Jesus is the High
Priest and Mediator of the New and Eternal Covenant
Brothers and sisters: 11 When
Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging
to this creation, 12 he
entered once for all into the Sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls
and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so
that their flesh is cleansed, 14 how
much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship
the living God. 15 For this
reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant since a death has taken place for
deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called
may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
The central point of the passage is that in His Ascension to the Father, Jesus arrived as the High Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary. It was an honor to which He was divinely elected. He did not presume to aspire to His priestly prerogatives (Heb 5:4-5). He entered the heavenly Sanctuary with the acceptable sacrifice of Himself as the unblemished Lamb of God who "takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29). Jesus became the mediator of a new and everlasting covenant that was able to free humankind from sin and offer the promise of eternal salvation, something the Sinai Covenant, with its imperfect animal sacrifices, was incapable of accomplishing.
13 For if the
blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes can sanctify
those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, 14 how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
The Old Covenant was good and necessary for its time as a
tutor and a guide, but it was imperfect (CCC 1962-68). The sacrifices of the
Sinai Covenant only offered outward cleansing of the flesh. But the perfect
sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the necessary internal and supernatural cleansing
that all animal sacrifices were incapable of accomplishing. The Sinai Covenant
could not sanctify believers for entrance into Heaven and could not give the
indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit (CCC 536, 1026, 1983).
These verses present the image of Jesus shedding His blood on the altar of the Cross like a high priest making an offering to God in a sacrifice of atonement similar to the blood ritual in the First Reading. Jesus's blood gives the internal cleansing for which the psalmist cried out to God in Psalm 51: True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me. 8 Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being, teach me wisdom. 9 Cleanse me with hyssop that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow. [...]. 18 For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept. 19 My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart (Ps 51:7-9, 18-19 NJB). Notice the reference to original sin in Psalm 51:7 (see CCC 389; 396-406).
The heifer's ashes and scarlet wool in verse 13 refer to purification rites of the Sinai Covenant (see, for example, Num 19:1-22). The "red" heifer and the "red" wool signified humanity's impurity and sinfulness (Num 19:9, 17). The prophet Isaiah wrote, Come now, let us set things right says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool (Is 1:18 NJB). The ancient red dye was a permanent dye and impossible to remove. However, for God, nothing is impossible. Even if the stains of one's sins upon the soul are as deep as red-dyed wool, the purifying holy water of the red heifer was to remind the faithful that God can purify His people from every sin. Jesus is our red heifer whose blood cleanses us of the sins that stain our souls.
15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Like Moses, who was the mediator of the old Sinai Covenant, Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New and eternal Covenant promised by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31; 32:40; 50:5). The Greek word for covenant, diatheke, also has the same meaning as "last will and testament," which is how the inspired writer used diatheke in Hebrews 9:16-17. However, in 9:15 and verses 18-20, he uses the word diatheke in the sense of "covenant," making a play on the word's double meaning. The double meaning allows the inspired writer to argue that a covenant suggests the death of the one who initiated the covenant as the death of a testator results in his "last will and testament." The inspired writer links Jesus's deliverance of humanity from the ravages of sin and death by comparing His gift of salvation to the inheritance one leaves to family and friends upon one's death. For the testament or will to take effect, proof of the testator's death is required. Jesus had to die to deliver the inheritance promised under the New Covenant to His heirs: His brothers and sisters reborn into the family of God through the sacrament of Baptism. Therefore, Christ's death was necessary to establish the New Covenant and the promises it contained as the eternal inheritance of His heirs (i.e., Gal 3:29; Tit 3:7; Heb 1:14; 1 Pt 3:7).
Unlike the Old Covenant high priests whose ministerial service ended upon their deaths, Jesus's priestly service begins with His self-sacrificial death and His Ascension to the heavenly Sanctuary. In Heaven, He begins His service as Priest-King and mediator of the New Covenant people of God (see Heb 8:6). According to Hebrews 9:15, the purpose of Jesus's death on the altar of the Cross was to offer the one perfect sacrifice to deliver humanity from bondage to sin and death, a deliverance the first corporate covenant (the Sinai Covenant) was incapable of fulfilling. Because of the salvation made possible by Jesus's death, "all those who are called" (verse 15) may receive the promise of eternal life. The point is that one must have faith to answer the call to grace to receive deliverance and the promised eternal inheritance.
The Sequence Laud, O Zion (Lauda Sion in Latin)
We sing this hymn in praise of the Eucharist before the Alleluia. St. Thomas
Aquinas wrote this hymn (c. 1264) at the request of Pope Urban IV for the new
Mass of the Feast of Corpus Christi. In the sixth stanza, we sing: "for on
this solemn day is again celebrated the first institution of the Supper"
(referring to the first Eucharistic celebration in Christ's Body and Blood at
the Last Supper).
The Gospel of Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 ~ The Sacred Meal of the Last Supper
12 On the
first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover
lamb*, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you
to eat the Passover?" 13 He
sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will
meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. 14 Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,
'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my
disciples?"' 15 Then he
will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations
for us there." 16 The
disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told
them, and they prepared the Passover.
*the word "lamb" is not in the Greek text of Mark 14:12, and
nowhere in Scripture is it associated with the word "Passover" but was added by
the modern translators. The Passover victim could be a lamb or a goat kid (see
Ex 12:5 where the Hebrew word seh refers to an animal "of the flock").
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22 While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. 25 Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 26Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
St. Mark identifies the day of sacrifice for the Passover victims at the Temple's liturgical worship service: On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover, his disciples said to him, "Where do you desire that going we may prepare that you may eat the Passover?" (Mk 14:12; literal translation IBGE, vol. IV, page 140, underlining added for emphasis). John 12:1 identifies the Passover sacrifice as the sixth day from Jesus's Sabbath meal with friends in Bethany (as the ancients counted with Saturday counting as day #1). According to the Law, the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Passover sacrifice, was to take place in a liturgical service (Ex 12:6; Lev 23:6; Num 28:16). Jesus's crucifixion was on Friday, the day before the next Jewish Sabbath called "Preparation day" (for the Sabbath) in the Gospels (Mk 15:42; Jn 19:14, 31; since the Jewish day ended and began at sundown, their "evening" was our afternoon and early evening until sunset).
The Old Testament lists the Passover and the week-long celebration of Unleavened Bread as two separate feasts (i.e., Ex 12-13; Lev 23:4-8; Num 28:16-25). Unleavened Bread was one of three pilgrim feasts that required every man of the covenant, no matter where they lived, to attend the seven-day feast that began at sundown the day of the Passover sacrifice (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Dt 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13). However, in the time of Jesus, the names of the two feasts were interchangeable and referred to the entire eight holy days (Lk 22:1). The Jewish priest and historian, Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD) recorded that in his time, the term "Passover" came to mean the celebration of both feasts as one festival event: "As this happened at the time when the feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, which we call the Passover" (Antiquities of the Jews 14.2.1; also see 17.9.3; Jewish Wars, 5.3.1). Like Josephus, St. John only refers to the two feasts as "Passover," as do Jews today. However, modern Jews do not technically keep Passover. They keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread from the 15th-21st because there is no longer a Temple or sacrificial altar or even a priest to legitimately offer a Passover sacrifice.
In the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments, the Passover victim is never referred to as the Passover "lamb" as in many English translations. The animal could be a lamb or a goat-kid (Ex 12:5). The instructions for selecting the victims in the first Passover in Egypt required the people to choose: A flock-animal, a perfect one, a male, a yearling shall be to you. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats. And it shall be for you to keep until the fourteenth day of this month. And all the assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the evenings [twilights] (Ex 12:5-6, IBHE, vol. I, page 170). Between the "twilights" is a time marker between dawn and dusk, which is noon.
St. Luke tells us the two disciples Jesus sent to make the necessary preparations were the Apostles Peter and John Zebedee (Lk 22:8). The residents of Jerusalem generously opened their homes to Jewish pilgrims during the Passover (Nisan 14th)/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15-21). They also provided rooms for the sacred meal of the Passover victim that had to be eaten within the walls of the holy city on the first night after the Passover sacrifice earlier that day. Sundown on the day of the sacrifice was the beginning of the next day, Nisan the 15th, the first day of the seven-day pilgrim Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The owner of the banquet chamber must have already secured the Passover goat-kid or lamb for Jesus, perhaps on the 10th of Nisan when God commanded the selection of the Passover lambs and kids for the first Passover (Ex 12:3). The 10th of Nisan was the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the "chosen" victim of sacrifice. John 12:1 identified the day for the Passover sacrifice as six days from Jesus's dinner with friends in Bethany, which was the day before Palm Sunday. Since the ancients counted without the concept of a zero place-value, that makes the day of the Passover sacrifice Thursday of Holy Week, a Christian tradition for 2,000 years.
When Peter and John arrived at the house, they discovered an upper room already arranged with the banquet tables and the couches for reclining at the meal (Mk 14:15a). However, Peter and John still needed to make some necessary preparations (Mt 26:19). They needed to secure an adequate supply of red wine for the banquet's four ritual communal cups and the wine the guests were to consume individually during the meal (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:1C). They needed to ensure that there were stone vessels filled with enough water for the three ritual hand-washings during the meal. They also had to provide the other necessary foods for the women to prepare for the dinner. And if not already prepared, they needed to set up a roasting pit and spit of pomegranate wood to roast the Passover sacrifice (Mishnah: Pesahim, 7:1B).
In addition to all those arrangements, Peter and John had to personally inspect the premises to be sure that all leaven, a sign of sin, had been removed (Ex 13:7). According to Mosaic Law, before noontime on the day of the Passover sacrifice, it was necessary to remove all leaven from their homes for the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex 13:6-7; Mishnah: Pesahim, 1:3-1:4). They were also required to begin a fast at noon: On the eve of Passover [meal] from just before the afternoon's daily whole offering, a person should not eat until it gets dark (Mishnah: Pesahim, 10:1A).
The "afternoon's daily whole-burnt offering" mentioned in the Mishnah passage above was the afternoon liturgical worship service and sacrifice of the Tamid. The Tamid was the sacrifice of two unblemished lambs offered as a "single sacrifice" (Ex 29:38-42) in two liturgical services (morning and afternoon), seven days a week. God ordained the Tamid a perpetual sacrifice for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people (see the book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice," or order at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DCUQYMC?ref_=pe_2427780_160035660). The "eve of Passover" refers to the Passover meal eaten on the first night of Unleavened Bread (the Mishnah and the writings of the Rabbis only refer to the entire eight days as "Passover," as does the Gospel of John). That night Jesus's disciples were going to begin a journey that would reveal the fulfillment of Jesus's prophecy concerning His Passion and Resurrection and change the destiny of humanity forever.
The Temple hierarchy always set the date of the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th of Nisan according to the lunar calendar on the night of the first full moon of the spring equinox (Ex 12:8; Lev 23:5; Num 28:16; Mishnah: Pesahim, 1:1; Philo, Special Laws, II, 151, 155 ). Before Jesus offered Himself in the transformed bread and wine at the meal that night, St. Mark records that they reclined at table and were eating (Mk 14:18, 22, emphasis added). They were eating unleavened bread, bitter herbs, a fruit mixture, the meat of the festival communion offering, and the Passover victim in the traditional feast of the Passover. Sharing a meal was a sign of communion among friends and with the Lord God (Gen 26:30; 31:54; 1 Sam 9:24 and Ex 24:9-11; Lev 7:11-21; Dt 12:4-7, 11, 26-27).
Mark 14:22-26 ~ The Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist
22 While they
were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them,
and said, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then
he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, "This is my blood of
the covenant, which will be shed for many. 25
Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 26Then, after singing a hymn, they went
out to the Mount of Olives.
Notice that Jesus did not offer His disciples the sacred
meal of the New Covenant until after they had already been eating (verse
22). He offered the gift of the first Eucharist:
After everyone ate the Passover sacrifice, no other food was to be consumed, and the last two of the communal cups of wine were offered to the guests. The last two cups were the third cup, called the Cup of Blessing or Salvation/Redemption, and the fourth cup that concluded the meal was called the Cup of Consecration or Acceptance.
It was necessary to offer the sacred communion meal of the New Covenant in the context of the Old Covenant sacred meal. The Apostles needed to understand that Jesus was instituting a new sacred meal to replace the Old Covenant meals of the Passover and the communion toda/thanksgiving. For the second time that night, Jesus broke with the ritual traditions by offering more food after eating the Passover victim. The first break with tradition was washing the Apostles' feet at the beginning of the meal (Jn 13:4-10), probably replacing one of the three ritual hand-washings. Priests washed their hands and feet before entering the Temple Sanctuary. This addition to the meal and the fact that Jesus was wearing a seamless priestly garment identifies the Last Supper as a liturgical celebration (Jn 19:23).
22 he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." The Greek verb translated "gave thanks" is euchristeo. It is the origin of the Church's name for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which commemorates the Last Supper and becomes the New Covenant Toda.
24 He said to
them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.
The phrase "blood of the covenant" is the same that Moses used
in the covenant formula he announced at the ratification of the Sinai Covenant
(Ex 24:8). The Last Supper is not only the New Covenant sacred meal but a
covenant ratification ceremony in the presence of God the Son in the same way
the representatives of the covenant people ate in the presence of God at Mt. Sinai
(Ex 24:9-11).
Take a moment to reflect that Jesus's statement is absolutely shocking. Not only does it suggest His violent death in the shedding of His blood, but He asks them to violate a prohibition of the Noahide and Sinai Covenants against consuming raw flesh or drinking blood (Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-12, 14; 19:26; Dt 12:16, 23-24). It is as shocking as His statement in the Bread of Life Discourse that caused many of Jesus's disciples to walk away from Him (Jn 6:60, 66) when He said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day" (Jn 6:54).
The blood of a living creature was the means God provided for the atonement of humanity's sins; therefore, consuming blood was a prohibition for the people of God, and the punishment for the violation of this prohibition was ex-communication (Lev 7:27; 17:14b). To drink the blood of animals as the pagans did was base and demeaning, but that was not His meaning. Jesus was inviting them to drink the glorified, supernaturally transformed Flesh and Blood of the Son of God as the means of elevating them to a share in His own divine life!
Drinking wine symbolized joy, festivity, abundance, and covenant union (Ps 4:8; 23:5b; Is 62:9; Mt 27:27-28; Lk 22:20). In offering His disciples what He identifies as His Body and Blood, Jesus fulfills what He preached in the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6:35-56. He promised to give them the living bread that came down from heaven with the promise that whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). Jesus's gift of Himself carries the promise: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him (Jn 6:54-56; see CCC 610-11).
In the Penitential Rite of the Mass, we confess our venial sins and receive forgiveness through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God in the Eucharist (CCC 1393-95, 1414; mortal sins must be confessed and forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation). It is then that we become cleansed and able to move from the Outer Courtyard of the Introduction Rites of the Mass and into the Holy Place of the Liturgy of the Word.
In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we move forward to receive Christ in the sacred meal of the Eucharist, entering the Holy of Holies of the Mass and the Presence of God. St. Paul warned the faithful that before receiving the Eucharist, one must come to the altar cleansed of sin and believe that Christ's Body and Blood are present or risk condemnation by God's judgment. He wrote, Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Cor 11:27-29).
In the Eucharistic banquet of the New Covenant faithful, after the priest in "Persona Christi" (in the Person of Christ) offers the Body and Blood of the Christ that is a genuine, pure, and holy sacrifice, the congregation moves forward toward the altar of sacrifice (spiritually mid-way between Heaven and earth) into God's presence. The assembly of the faithful, while still on earth, joins the presence of Christ in the heavenly Sanctuary. The faithful eat a sacred communion meal in the Presence of God, just as Moses and Israel's covenant representatives ate in the presence of God on the slopes of Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:9-11) and as Jesus's disciples did at the Last Supper. Our sacred meal of the Eucharist looks back, remembering Jesus's Last Supper, but it also looks forward, anticipating eternal life in the Presence of God when we will celebrate the communion of Saints in the heavenly banquet of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church (Rev 19:6-9). Until then, in the New Covenant Toda of the Eucharist's sacred "thanksgiving" meal, we renew our commitment to our covenant with the Holy Trinity in the Body and Blood of the Living Christ.
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Exodus 24:3-8 (CCC 2060*);
24:7 (CCC 2060*);
24:8 (CCC 613*)
Psalm 116:12 (CCC 224); 116:13 (CCC 1330*); 116:17 (CCC 1330*)
Hebrews 9:11 (CCC 586*, 662); 9:12 (CCC 1085); 9:13-14 (CCC 1962*, 1963*, 1964*, 2100*); 9:14 (CCC 614*); 9:15 (CCC 522, 579*, 580, 592*)
Mark 14:12-25 (CCC 1339*); 14:18-20 (CCC 474*); 14:22 (CCC 1328); 14:25 (CCC 1335*, 1403*); 14:26 (CCC 474*)
The Holy Eucharist (CCC 790*, 1003*, 1322-1419)
The Eucharist and the communion of believers (CCC 805, 950, 2181-2182, 2637, 2845*)
The Eucharist as spiritual food (CCC 1212, 1275, 1436, 2837*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2021 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.