The Eucharist as The Lamb's Supper
from a talk by Dr Scott Hahn,
Franciscan University of Steubenville
One of the most important ways that the Old Covenant foreshadows the New
Covenant is in its use of the image of the sacrificial
lamb. Let's see how this relates to the Eucharist in Scripture.
First, take a look at Revelation
5. In Revelation 5, there is a scroll with seven seals that nobody can break open and
everybody is really upset. In fact John almost begins to cry. In Revelation
5:2, "A strong angel proclaimed with a loud voice,
'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one in heaven and on earth
or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it." What
is the scroll? The word is biblion.
Most likely it's a reference to a covenant document, the New Covenant
document that nobody is worthy to break open. "And I wept
much, but no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it,"
because this scroll would consummate and fulfill the promises of the Old
Testament.
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The Lamb of God as depicted
in the
Van Eyck Altarpiece |
"Then one of the elders said to me, 'Weep not. Lo, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, He has conquered so that He can open the
scroll and seven seals.'" You could almost feel the hallelujah
rising up from within your soul. The Lion
of the tribe of Judah! You
turn. You look and John turns to look and what does he see in Revelation
5:6, "And between the throne and the four living
creatures and among the elders I saw," what? Aslan, the lion?
No! David crowned with glory? No! You'd think so, a lion
and a king are the words used to describe it. "I turned and I saw a lamb standing, looking as though it had been slain."
Jesus Christ is
the son of David and the king of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. He is the Lion of the tribe
of Judah and He is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world,
as it said elsewhere in Revelation. But here in heaven
on the throne of glory, after His crucifixion,
His resurrection, His
ascension, His enthronement,
He still looks
like a lamb. He
still looks as though He had been slain. Why not clean up the body? Why not
wipe away the wounds? Why continue
resembling a lamb? Because
He's continuing
the Passover offerings, the sacrifice. Not by dying, not by bleeding and not by suffering but by continuing
to offer up Himself
as the firstborn and as the unblemished lamb, as the perpetual,
timeless, everlasting
sacrifice of praise to the Father.
 And what do the people do? They rejoice
and they break out into a song. And what is the song, "Worthy
art Thou to take the scroll and to open its seals for Thou was slain." Past
tense, "And by Thy blood didst ransom men for God from
every tribe and tongue and people and nation." And what has He done? He's become a priest
to be sure, but for what purpose? "He has made them a
kingdom and priest to our God." He
has made those whom He has saved priests.
And what do priests do? They offer sacrifice.
Has Christ's sacrifice
ended all sacrifices? No. Christ's sacrifice
has ended all ineffective, bloody animal sacrifices that never did anything anyway. Now for
the first time in history we can really
begin to offer sacrifice to
God. Romans 12
says, "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God." And it wouldn't be holy
and acceptable except that it's united to Christ's perpetual
sacrifice. He's
not bleeding. He's not dying.
He's not suffering, but He
is offering a sacrifice as a lamb does, as a priest
king does continually, forever.
And that's what it's all about. John wouldn't see a lamb looking as though
it had been slain
if the whole kit and caboodle was completed and done. Yes, it's
completed and done, but it's still going on,
and it's going to go on forever in the
future.
He is a priest
in heaven ministering now in the sanctuary and He's
got something to offer and He's continually
offering it. He's just not bleeding and dying
and suffering any more. He's not killing
any more animals, but He's
continually offering the once-and-for-all-sacrifice which is Himself;
but it's a continual sacrifice.
It's a perpetual
offering.  He's not dying,
but He's still offering.
That's exactly what the Catholic Church
teaches about the Mass.
Christ, through the Holy
Spirit, makes Himself available as the Lamb of God to be consumed
continuously. That's the whole point of the Resurrection,
incidentally. The Holy Spirit raises up that
body and glorifies
it, so supernaturally that body and blood,
which is glorified, may be internationally
distributed through the elders and priests of the Church, so that all of God's children can be bound back to the Father in the New
Covenant Sacrifice of Christ.
He didn't die
again. He's not bleeding and He's not suffering.
He's reigning
in glory and giving
us His own
glorified flesh and blood.
Meditation of St Francis of Assisi
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Let everyone be
struck with fear,
the whole world tremble,
and the heavens exult
when Christ, the Son of the living God,
is present on the altar in the hands of a priest!
O wonderful loftiness
and stupendous dignity!
O sublime humility!
O humble sublimity!
The Lord of the universe,
God and the Son of God,
so humbles Himself
that He hides Himself
for our salvation
under an ordinary piece of bread!
See the humility of God, brothers,
and pour out your hearts before Him!
Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by Him!
Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves,
that He Who gives Himself totally to you
may receive you totally!
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Detail
of St Francis
by BERLINGHIERI, Bonaventura
from Church of San Francesco, Pescia |
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