A hungry lion saw a man who’s out for hunting. When he saw the lion, he runs away. A tree! Let’s get up there. Stuck with the danger, the man starts praying to God: “Please Lord, make this lion think like a Christian!”. A minute later, the lion starts to speak, miraculously: “Lord, bless this meal that I am going to receive!”.
Why do you eat?
The answer of this question is simple: to live, and to avoid death.
If there’s something common among all human beings in history, across all cultures, it’s food.
Our primitive ancestors (Homo sapiens), to survive as a species, they had to go hunt & to cultivate the ground, so they have something to eat. And to continue their legacy, they had to reproduce (having communion between them) so they can bear another life, made in their image.
The whole ecosystem needs to have enough living being which depends on each other, and if there’s not enough male and female to reproduce, the whole species get extinct. So we have three critical elements for life here: a sacrifice, a meal, and a union.
I have a question for you: “Why do you eat?“. We eat to live, right? If I don’t eat, well, I’m going to die eventually. So food provides us a way not to die (unless if it’s poisonous).
When you eat either a veggie or meat, one life has been sacrificed so you can continue to live. And so guess what? Jesus did that: He lay down his life on the cross, so you can continue to live for eternity.
Food also affects us physically. It did for me. I was overeating that I became overweight. Then I change my diet. And I became & look different now. Meat provides us protein. And so, the Eucharist gives us the grace of God in us.
when we eat, a life has been sacrificed so another life can live on
- bread is from wheat
- bacon is from pork
- steak patty is from beef
- the rest from veggies
if we exist today, it’s because our ancestors had ‘communion’ between them to give us life
love isn’t always beautiful, sometimes, it hurts when relationship doesn’t go well
Sacrifice
A broken relationship
The idea of redemption is pretty simple:
- God loves us
- We commit sins
- Sins leads to death
- Jesus sacrificed Himself to give us eternal life and defeat death
- Jesus re-establish our relationship with God like before
Confession
In the Old Testament, to forgive our sins (Lev 1):
- If we commit a sin, we bring an animal
- The priest offers that animal in sacrifice
- Therefore, that animal dies for our sin
The death of the animal will pay for our sins. That type of sacrifice will be anticipated in the future:
John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, what did he said?
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29
So logically, Jesus is the Lamb (animal) which will be sacrificed to for the forgiveness of our sins, but instead of being on an altar, He will do it on the cross!
Abraham & Isaac will represent the image of God the Father & Jesus the Son.
Abraham & Jesus
| Abraham | Jesus |
| Abraham offers his own son in sacrifice on Mount Moriah (Gen 22:2) | God the Father offers his only Son in sacrifice on Mount Golgotha (Jn 3:16) |
| Isaac (son) brings wood for his own sacrifice (Gen 22:6) | Jesus (Son) brings wood (cross) for his own sacrifice |
| Animal: substitute for the sacrifice; horns were stuck in the thicket (wood) (Gen 22:13) | Jesus (Lamb of God): substitute for our sacrifice; head stuck with the crown of thorns (wood) |
But where do we get that fascination & obsession with sacrificial lambs?
First, we have to go back at the time of Moses in Egypt.
The Exodus
Moses & Jesus
During the Passover feast (Easter), Moses and Jesus will act in parallel.
One speaks of physical slavery, the other, of a spiritual slavery.
| Moses | Jesus |
| Moses deliver people from physical slavery | Jesus deliver people from spiritual slavery (sin) |
| Moses brings people to the Promise Land | Jesus brings people to the New Promised Land (Heaven) |
| Moses sacrifice the lambs to prevent people’s death | Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb to prevent people’s death |
| The lamb is sacrificed at 3PM | Jesus died at 3PM |
| The blood of the lamb is put on the door (wood) | Jesus’ blood flow on the cross (wood) |
| Moses separate the water into 2 : access to the Promise Land | Jesus separate the sky into 2: access to Heaven |
If the people of Israel want their firstborn to live, they have to eat the lamb, like it or not.
The acts of eating was to escape death, and thus, preserve life.
So in order to have life, another one has to be sacrificed. It’s part of nature.
In the desert
Once Moses and the Israelite left Egypt to go to the Promise Land, they were craving for food in the desert. They had nothing left! And yes, they were angry at God for letting them starve to death (Ex 16:3).
To not discourage them, God made manna to come down from the sky (Ex 16:4).
The crossing of the Red Sea represent baptism, and the manna represent the Eucharist.
manna
coming down from Heaven
(Exodus 16:4)
Manna was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.
- Manna : white wafer that tasted like honey
- The Promise Land is full of milk & honey
- Therefore, the manna is a foretaste of the Promise Land
Food is great when it comes to cultural identity. “Pho” reminds us of Vietnam, sushi reminds us of Japan, pasta reminds us of Italy. What about the Eucharist? It reminds us of the best destination we can ever go: Heaven.
So it manna is a foretaste of the Promise Land, then the Eucharist is therefore, a foretaste of the New Promise Land (Heaven)!
Heaven
Dostoevsky once said: “To live without Hope is to Cease to live.”
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” 1
C.S. Lewis
Something greater is waiting for us.
What is Heaven? It’s a celestial wedding feast, a marriage banquet that never ends! (Rev 19:9)
And guess who’s the Groom and the Bride? It’s Christ and the Church! (Eph 5:25)
Mystical union with Christ
Where do we find that image on earth? In the sacrament of marriage between a man & a woman.
“The difference of gender between a male & a female is a call for a communion.”
Christopher West
The book of Genesis has already anticipated this wedding from the beginning:
“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24
Now let’s replace a few keywords here.
“That is why Jesus leaves God the Father and Mary his mother and clings to his wife the Church, and the two of them become one flesh.”
And where do we become 1 flesh with Jesus Christ? In the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Jesus said at the Last Supper: “This is my body, given for you.”. What do you think this phrase mean? It’s a nuptial celebration. And Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)
Now let’s go back to the beginning: “Why do you eat?”. Think about it, God is so smart when He prepares everything to be aligned together.
Food for travel
Every food that we eat, comes from somewhere.
When I look at wagyu beef, I crave for it. I want to move to Japan to get it.
So Jesus, what does He do? He brings “the” food from Heaven down to earth so we can have a foretaste of Heaven and awake our desire to go there. And what was that food? Himself offered as a sacrificial meal for our salvation.
So Jesus gave us a visible sign of Himself: a sacrament, the Eucharist.
I don’t know about you, but I always bring a snack with me when I travel. I might get hungry at any moment.
1. The people of Moses were fleeing Egypt, so they went through water.
2. And so as the people of Israel left Egypt, they went into the desert, with a hungry stomach. They had no food. So Moses asked God to give them some. What happens next: manna dropped from Heaven every day to sustain them. It was like coriander seed, of a color white, and it tastes like honey (Ex 16:31). Honey huh? The Promise Land is full of milk & honey (Ex 3:17). Manna ceases to be provided when they reach their destination because they have it in abundance. And so, the logic behind is that manna was a foretaste of the Promise Land. If it is the case, that Jesus said that He is the bread of life, then the Eucharist is a foretaste of the new Promise Land: Heaven!
These 2 stories are prefiguring baptism (Red Sea) & the Eucharist (manna). That’s why people need to get baptized first, and then consume the Eucharist.
In Heaven, you need to enter the kingdom first (baptism), then you can enjoy the wedding feast (Eucharist).
Food from the outside world
A beautiful metaphor for the Eucharist at Mass is that of a mother with a baby in her womb. Both are connected though a umbilical cord, which bring the “food” given by “mom” from the “other side”. And so the Eucharist is the food that is given to us from Heaven so we can live and reach the “other side” one day.
Jesus is also talking to Nicodemus that in order to get to Heaven, one has to be “reborn” from his mother’s womb. He didn’t understand that. What He mean is to be resurrected, to be baptized.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen talks about Mass being separated into 3 parts, which re-enact the scene of the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus. We, stand before the altar, is living back the same story that happen 2000 years ago.
Is it truly Jesus Christ?
The Eucharist isn’t a mere symbol but substantially the body of Christ.
Words can affect reality, when you are in a position of authority.
Miracles of the Eucharist
8th century, in the small city of Lanciano (Italy), a Catholic priest was celebrating Mass. He didn’t believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. And yet, at the moment of consecration, the host (bread) started to bleed and change into a literal piece of meat. Within the chalice (cup), wine became real blood.
Belief of the Early Church
In the 2nd century CE, Romans accused the Christians of practicing cannibalism2. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 110 AD) refute against heretics who refuse to partake of the Eucharist because they don’t believe it is the flesh & blood of Jesus.
Jesus’ speech in John 6:51-56 is very explicit.
- John emphasis on the word ‘my flesh’ instead of ‘my body’ like the Synoptics3
- Jews weren’t supposed to consume animal blood, even less, human blood
- Jesus didn’t care if everybody left Him because of this hard teaching
(Jn 6:66)
The devil doesn’t want salvation of souls. The death of Christ was necessary for redemption. Therefore, it was essential that Jesus was God made flesh.
“They (heretics) abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ”4
Ignatius of Antioch
“This is my body”
(Mt 26:26, Mk 14:22, Lk 22:19)
Recommended books
- Scott Hahn – “The Lamb’s Supper”
- Scott Hahn – “The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross”
- Brant Pitre – “Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist”
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