The Origins of the Holy Eucharist
Old Testaments Origins
To trace the developement and meaning of the Holy Eucharist, it is necessary to look its precursors. A precursor is forerunner or herald of something (an event, prophesy, revelation, and etc.) whose greater meaning will be revealed at a later time. A precursor has the affect of stimilating meditation and examination of the revelation it forecasts, and provides a pathway for our adoption and understanding.
"After eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve are denied the fruit of the Tree of Life. Many Church Fathers saw the Tree of Life as a prefiguration of the Cross, and the fruit of the Tree of Life as a prefiguration of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, which hung from the Cross. Revelation says that God will grant people to eat from the Tree of Life ... St. Augustine says, 'We too are fed from the Lord’s Cross… when we eat his body.' "
"Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God the Most High. And he blessed [Abram]” (Gen 14:18-19). He is said to foreshadow Christ’s priesthood, who also offered bread and wine: “[Melchizedek] is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever” (Heb 7:3). St. Jerome wrote in the 5th century, “Just as Melchizedek had done, the priest of the Most high, when he offered bread and wine in the prefiguration of him, he [Christ] too would present it in the truth of his own body and blood (Commentary on Matthew IV).
"God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his “only-begotten son Isaac” (Gen 22:2s). Isaac asks his father why there is a fire but no lamb for a burnt offering. Abraham responds: “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Jesus is the “Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29) offered in sacrifice for men, and a he’s also the “only-begotten Son” of God (Jn 1:18)".
"In preparation for the Passover, God also commands his people to eat “unleavened bread” (Ex 12:15s), which was meant to symbolize the hurry with which they were fleeing Egypt — they did not have time to let it rise. According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus instituted the Eucharist on “the first day of Unleavened Bread” (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12). In the Latin Rite, the Church still uses unleavened bread for the Eucharist, and sees the origin of this tradition in the Passover.
"To deliver the Israelites from Egypt, God commands Moses to tell his people: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male…they shall take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts…They shall eat the flesh that night” (Ex 12: 5-8). St. Paul writes: “For Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). Jesus is identified with the Passover lamb, and the eating of the lamb with the eating of Jesus’ body, as Jesus says: “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (Jn 6:55).
"After the Israelites left Egypt, God sent them the manna, or bread from heaven, in the desert: “I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Ex 16:4). Jesus is the fulfillment of the manna, as he himself states: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died… I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (Jn 6: 49-51).
[Editors Note: The manna ceased on the Israelite entry into Cannan, the Promised Land. This 'Food for the Journey' represents our spiritual journey from the bonds of sin to the freedom of eternal life.]
"After receiving the Law from God, “Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words’” (Ex 24:8). Jesus picks up this language and institutes a new covenant with his body and blood as the new sacrifice, during the Last Supper: “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood (Lk 22:20).”
"God commands Moses to build a Tabernacle and place the Ark of the Covenant in it, so that he may “dwell in their midst” (Ex 25:8). He then commands him, “And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me always” (25:30). Later on, David ate this bread, which was given to him by the priest Abimelech: “So the priest gave [David] the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence” (1 Sam 21:6). Jesus alludes to this episode and says, “Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry… how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence… I tell you, something greater than the temple is here” (Mt 12:1-8). He who is greater than the temple became the true bread of the Presence."
"Todah is Hebrew for “thanksgiving.” A todah sacrifice was a type of peace offering that was offered by someone who had received a great benefit from God. Its elements were meat, bread and wine (Lev 7:11-15; Num 15:8-10). Eucharist comes from the Greek eukharistia, which also means “thanksgiving.” In the Eucharistic sacrifice, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus. Many scholars have considered both the Todah and the Passover sacrifices as foreshadows of the Eucharist.
"Isaiah 53 is a strong prefiguration of Christ in the Old Testament. It tells of a man who was “afflicted”. “But he was wounded for our transgressions… like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… although he had done no violence… he [made] himself an offering for sin.” The servant is compared to a lamb and to a sacrificial offering, and by his righteousness “will make many righteous.” Jesus is, again, the “Lamb of God,” who, as John says, is the “righteous”, and “the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 2:2).1
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