Here is a short slide I made while testing out a new flash program.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Eucharist
Do This in Remembrance of Me.
A Protestant told me recently that, when Christ said, "do this in remembrance of Me", He must have meant that the Eucharist was only a symbol.
A further look at Scripture will prove that this Sacrament is not just 'in remembrance', but that it is truly the true Body and Blood of Christ.
First, let's go through John chapter 6. John 6:49, "Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; (50), this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die."
Here Jesus tells us that if we eat the bread of which He speaks we shall have eternal life, but He hasn't said what this bread is, yet.
Let return to John 6.
Verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
Christ states that the 'bread' is His 'flesh'. Whoever eat His flesh will have eternal life.
Moving on to verse 52, "The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat? (60)Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
If the Eucharist was merely a symbol or remembrance of Christ why would this teaching be so hard to accept, why would some people start to leave Him? If we look at it in the literal sense, that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood, then we can see how the Jews had such hard time accepting this teaching.
Also, if Christ was only speaking symbolically why wouldn't He, the Great Teacher, have corrected them? Why didn't Jesus say, "Hey, come back here, I was only speaking symbolically!"? Because they understood Him correctly.
Lets go back to verse 53,
"Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. (54) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. (55) For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (56) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (57) Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me."
In verse 54 Christ says that His flesh is TRUE food and His blood is TRUE drink, and if we do not eat and drink of the Son of man we will not, v53, have eternal life. After v53, Jesus uses an even stronger Greek word for "eat"; He switches from using "phago" (which just means "eat") to using "trogo" which means to "gnaw" or "chew".
In Mark 4:34 we see that Jesus always explained to His disciples the real meanings of His teachings. He never would have let them go away with a false impression, most especially in regards to a question about eternal salvation.
Now, on the question of the word "remembrance" we will, again, go back to the Greek of the Old Testament.
Christ commanded the Apostles to "do this in remembrance of me." Before we come to any conclusions we must look at the Greek word used for the word "remembrance".
The Greek word for remembrance is "anamnēsis". The word anamnēsis is a process by which an abstract idea is moved into the material world. To the Jews, the word, anamnēsis, had sacrificial meaning. In the Greek Old Testament that was used by Christ and the apostles, the word is used to mean memorial sacrifice. For the first meaning, Christ's words indicate the moving of His heavenly body into the material world. And for the second meaning it indicates the sacrificial nature of what He was commanding the apostles to do.
Further look into the Scriptures will reveal that the Eucharist is a very serious and literal matter.
1 Corinthians 11: 27 - 29
"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."
St. Paul tells the faithful, in the above verses, that if someone eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily they are in grave sin. If the Eucharist was only symbolic then such grave matter would not be attached to It.
I think it quite clear, from Scripture that the Eucharist is truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ. And if we eat and drink of Him we shall have eternal life, but if we do not, as the Council of Trent states and as Christ says, we shall be in anathema.
A Protestant told me recently that, when Christ said, "do this in remembrance of Me", He must have meant that the Eucharist was only a symbol.
A further look at Scripture will prove that this Sacrament is not just 'in remembrance', but that it is truly the true Body and Blood of Christ.
First, let's go through John chapter 6. John 6:49, "Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; (50), this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die."
Here Jesus tells us that if we eat the bread of which He speaks we shall have eternal life, but He hasn't said what this bread is, yet.
Let return to John 6.
Verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
Christ states that the 'bread' is His 'flesh'. Whoever eat His flesh will have eternal life.
Moving on to verse 52, "The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat? (60)Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
If the Eucharist was merely a symbol or remembrance of Christ why would this teaching be so hard to accept, why would some people start to leave Him? If we look at it in the literal sense, that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood, then we can see how the Jews had such hard time accepting this teaching.
Also, if Christ was only speaking symbolically why wouldn't He, the Great Teacher, have corrected them? Why didn't Jesus say, "Hey, come back here, I was only speaking symbolically!"? Because they understood Him correctly.
Lets go back to verse 53,
"Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. (54) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. (55) For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (56) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (57) Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me."
In verse 54 Christ says that His flesh is TRUE food and His blood is TRUE drink, and if we do not eat and drink of the Son of man we will not, v53, have eternal life. After v53, Jesus uses an even stronger Greek word for "eat"; He switches from using "phago" (which just means "eat") to using "trogo" which means to "gnaw" or "chew".
In Mark 4:34 we see that Jesus always explained to His disciples the real meanings of His teachings. He never would have let them go away with a false impression, most especially in regards to a question about eternal salvation.
Now, on the question of the word "remembrance" we will, again, go back to the Greek of the Old Testament.
Christ commanded the Apostles to "do this in remembrance of me." Before we come to any conclusions we must look at the Greek word used for the word "remembrance".
The Greek word for remembrance is "anamnēsis". The word anamnēsis is a process by which an abstract idea is moved into the material world. To the Jews, the word, anamnēsis, had sacrificial meaning. In the Greek Old Testament that was used by Christ and the apostles, the word is used to mean memorial sacrifice. For the first meaning, Christ's words indicate the moving of His heavenly body into the material world. And for the second meaning it indicates the sacrificial nature of what He was commanding the apostles to do.
Further look into the Scriptures will reveal that the Eucharist is a very serious and literal matter.
1 Corinthians 11: 27 - 29
"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."
St. Paul tells the faithful, in the above verses, that if someone eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily they are in grave sin. If the Eucharist was only symbolic then such grave matter would not be attached to It.
I think it quite clear, from Scripture that the Eucharist is truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ. And if we eat and drink of Him we shall have eternal life, but if we do not, as the Council of Trent states and as Christ says, we shall be in anathema.
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