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StudyGuide Jesus and The Jewish Roots of The Eucharist
StudyGuide Jesus and The Jewish Roots of The Eucharist
“In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it
is written... [Exod 13:8]. Therefore we are bound to give thanks....” (Mishnah Pesahim 10)
3. Why did Jewish Christians believe Eucharist was Jesus’ body and blood?
a. Eucharist, like the Old Passover: is a participation in the New Passover of Jesus
b. You had to eat the Lamb to complete the sacrifice
c. St. Paul: Jesus is the New Lamb
“Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast!” (1 Cor 5:7-8)
“Taken literally, (epiousious – “superessential”)... refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of
Christ” (CCC 2837)
They used to lift it up and exhibit the Bread of the Presence on it to those who came up for the
festivals, saying to them, “Behold, God’s love for you!” (Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth 29a)
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and
they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look,
your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read
what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God
and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with
him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the
Temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the Temple is here.”
2. Why did the first Jewish Christians believe in the Real Presence?
a. The Eucharist was the New “Bread of the Presence”
b. Jesus has laid claim for himself and his followers, just as David did, to the priesthood
(cf. 2 Samuel 6)
c. Jesus is the New Temple: his disciples will offer the New Bread of the Presence
d. The New Temple: “the temple of his body” (John 2:19-22)