At Mass, Roman Catholics remember the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper. They believe that the sacrifice of Jesus and the forgiveness of sin through us repenting are represented in the sacrament.
Mass is mainly celebrated by Roman Catholics which they believe is a sacred meal and portrays love and unity within the community. Roman Catholics also feel that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ.
This is known as transubstantiation. Other denominations believe that the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ.
However, although we celebrate Jesus’ life and resurrection through the Eucharist we also give thanks for:
God the father for all he has created in our world so we are able to live a peaceful life.
God the son for Jesus taught us how we should live and turn back to God after turning away from him, and
God the Spirit for giving us the courage, strength and guidance we need to follow God’s teachings.
The Eucharist can be understood as different names in other Christian denominations. We can celebrate the Eucharist in order to give thanks for Jesus giving up his life for us in order to save us from sin.
A 2: Describe how, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as the sacrificial lamb through the Eucharist.
In order to understand how Jesus was presented as the sacrificial lamb through the Eucharist we need to know the story of the Passover according to Luke’s Gospel.
The story of the Passover
The Israelites were held as slaves in Egypt and God sent Moses to free God’s people. The Pharaoh refused to set them free so 10 plagues were sent to Egypt.
The tenth plague was the worst, the death of the first born in Egypt.
The Israelites performed a special ceremony in order to prevent the death of their first born. This was given to them by Moses who was told to deliver this message by God. It was to kill a lamb -
‘ On the evening on the 14th day, kill a lamb take it’s blood smear it on the door post and on the door’.
This would prevent the first born from death when the angel of death passed over their houses. It would see the blood smeared on the door and pass over the house.
They were also instructed to -
‘Roast the animal and eat it with unleavened bread this was because they didn’t have time to put the yeast in the dough and wait for the bread to rise’.
Luke shows the importance of the Passover meal and the new covenant in the number of times he mentions it in his account.
“He will show you a large upper room, all furnished make preparations there.”
Here Jesus explains to the disciples to go and make preparations for the Passover meal. Luke shows the great importance of the Passover meal as the fact that the disciples were sent ahead to make preparations. This portrays the meaning of a great Passover meal.
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Jesus says to his disciples before he eats the meal, from Jesus saying this shows that there is an element of something special, which is going to happen.
“Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples.”
A special room was set aside for the Passover meal, showing the importance of this particular celebration.
So we can see how by linking the Old Testament Passover with the Last Supper in the New Testament that there is a clear link between the sacrificial lamb and the body and the blood of Christ.
Moses told the families to kill a lamb and smear it’s blood onto the door, then this would prevent the death of the eldest son.
Jesus sacrificed his life to save or prevent us from sin this the relationship between the lamb and Jesus.
The Old Testament covenant was to slaughter a lamb and take its blood.
Jesus at the Last Supper introduced a new covenant with God and he sacrificed his life. Jesus’ body and blood now represents for us as Christians the life of Jesus. This is done through of the Last Supper meal.
Before Jesus introduced the new covenant with God if you had sinned then you would have sacrificed an animal; you can now ask God for forgiveness because of the death of Jesus.
In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is represented as the sacrificial lamb through the Eucharist as this is at a point when Jesus made the new covenant with God.
“…This is my body …this is my blood which seals God’s covenant.”
B: Discuss the meaning of the Eucharist with reference to Christian belief and everyday life today.
This statement can be understood as at the heart of the Eucharist are the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the wine. This is in response to the commandment given to us by Jesus “Do this in memory of me.” While this pointed forward to the death of Jesus it was only truly in memory of him and his life. This was because the actions of the breaking and sharing of the bread and the pouring out of the wine characterised the whole of Jesus’ life.
Central to the celebration of the Eucharist is the pouring out of the wine and the breaking of the bread. This is perhaps the best thing to do in memory of the life of Jesus. For families a meal is symbolic to show the closeness between them.
To convey our appreciation of Jesus for sacrificing his life to save us from sin we should aim to live out a good Christian life. Jesus was a figure of Christ he helped many people, and he performed miracles to prevent these people from suffering.
The feeding of the five thousand is an example of Jesus helping people.
“He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing.”
“Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied.”
Here Jesus prevents starving people from suffering, Jesus performs miracles to satisfy the people who were hungry.
Another example of Jesus helping others in need is when Jesus actually died on the cross for us.
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Jesus did this for us because he cares for us and died on the cross to save us from sin and enable us to live our lives as Christians.
The healing of the ten with leprosy is another example of Jesus saving people from pain. “Go show yourselves to the priests”, ‘and as they went they were cleansed’.
When the ten came to Jesus asking him to have pity on them, Jesus immediately healed them to prevent them from suffering.
As families we often share meals together, for Christians this symbolises a closeness that families feel. As part of the family of God we also share a meal in Church to celebrate the Eucharist. We celebrate this as it is at the heart of Christian worship.
To ensure that we live a Christian life we make contributions to charitable organisations CAFOD is an example of how Christians gather in order to provide funding to help people to gain a better quality of life.
Mother Theresa is a great example of an ordinary person setting up a team striving to enable poor people to enjoy a better quality of life. Throughout her life she spent time gathering the lame, sick and dying from the streets of Calcutta and taking them back to the sanctuary of her Centre. Even though many were close to death she offered compassion and support showing them love at a time when they most needed it.
Mother Theresa and her followers possessed very few personal items to show that she was equal to the poor people she cared and looked after.
There are many ways in which the Eucharist is understood but the main thing is that we try to apply good Christian knowledge to everyday life.
C: “The Eucharist must be celebrated regularly.”Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer, and show that you have thought about different points of views.
The Eucharist must be celebrated regularly as it is in response to the commandment “Do this in memory of me.”
However in this commandment Jesus did not say how often he wanted us to celebrate the Eucharist. So regularly could be understood in various contexts. For example once every year or once every month.
Some people feel that by celebrating the Eucharist it proves their Christian faith, this maybe because they do not attend church regularly and may not live a Christian life.
In disagreement to this point some people feel that you do not need to prove your faith by celebrating the Eucharist.
