Discovering the Eucharist in Ten New Testament Stories

When we think of typology, we usually associate it with the foreshadowing of New Testament people, places and things from the Old Testament. What is surprising, is that when it comes to the Eucharist, there is a hidden eucharistic signal buried in the many New Testament stories that happened both before and after the Last Supper. We shouldn’t be surprised though because the New Testament still has the allegorical sense. What makes any story or passage of Scripture eucharistic is when it involves, bread, wine, sacrifice, marital imagery, lambs, food, meals, altars, priests etc.. Here are some eye opening parts of the New Testament that shed light on the Eucharist mostly from a distance.

The Manger where the new born Jesus was laid, was located in Bethlehem which literally means 'House of Bread'. Jesus, the Bread of Life, is laid in a feeding trough and both Gentiles and Jews come to worship, adore and offer their gifts. Just like at Mass, angels come to sing his praise. When the pregnant Mary, Ark and Living Tabernacle of the new covenant gives birth, the manger becomes like a ciborium holding the precious body and blood of our Lord. Mary's lap is the primordial monstrance and the first ‘eucharistic’ exposition where Jesus the baby is adored.

The Wedding at Cana is full of eucharistic imagery. Jesus does a substance change miracle  (transubstantiation) changing water to wine. Both water and wine are used in the Holy Mass. The wedding is a sign of the union between Christ and the Church. his bride, brought about through the effects of the Eucharist. Mary, the bread giver, is present and it is she who opens the door to the grace received. The wedding banquet is a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb at the end of time and at every Mass.

The Multiplication of the Loaves Jesus, moved with compassion fed the massive multitude. Beginning with two fish and five loaves and ending with 12 baskets, the miracle is about superabundance. The Eucharist never runs out. It is miraculous in the change or transubstantiation from bread and wine to the Real presence, but also in that it is inexhaustible. The number 12 indicates that it is for all the people of God, from 12 tribes of the Old Covenant to 12 Apostes in the New. We are receiving his resurrected Body, not a corpse, therefore he is 100% present in each and every fragment. This also happened at the time of the Passover and Jesus does the eucharistic formula: He took bread, blessed it and then distributed the bread.  

The Bread of Life Discourse. No where in Scripture is the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist so explicitly taught than here in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus promises the Eucharist but the people are caught off guard and lack the eyes of faith to see that he intends to give them his actual body and blood under the signs of bread and wine. When some of the crowd abandons him, he does not stop them because he knows that they heard what he said but that they lacked faith. He reiterates and strengthens his eucharistic language. When he asks Peter and the apostles if they too will leave. Peter responds, "To whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life".  At the Last Supper their fidelity is rewarded as they receive the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood. 

Dining With Sinners. The Eucharist is the medicine of mercy that unites all people, regardless of external identifiers or their status in society. The Eucharist is a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. While we approach the Eucharist with a humble recognition of our unworthiness, and we prepare ourselves to receive through an examination of conscience and repentance in Reconciliation, we are further healed of sin and given strength to resist sin as a result of receiving the Eucharist. This breakthrough (to include all people universally) that Jesus makes is a scandal to the Pharisees. Let us approach the Eucharist with an open heart to God and to all other sinners like ourselves.

The Last Supper. Jesus, as the new Moses, uses the Mosaic formula for ratifying a covenant with the blood of sacrifice. When he says this is the blood of the covenant, the Apostles who were with him at the Last Supper would have known what he was really doing. He was sealing or ratifying a new covenant in his own blood which is eternal and perfect. Instead of being splashed externally by finite animal blood, the Church receives his infinite, resurrected body and blood internally as a fulfillment of the Old Covenant and as a remedy to the sin problem. Jesus does the eucharistic formula: He took bread, blessed it, broke it and then distributed the bread.  

The Eucharist at Emmaus.  The first eucharistic meal after the resurrection occurred between three people, Jesus, Cleopas and his companion. At first they did not recognize Jesus. How many times do we fail to see the Real Presence in the Eucharist? It was only in the breaking of the bread that they saw the truth that it was Christ. Jesus does the eucharistic formula: He took bread, blessed it, broke it and then distributed the bread.  

Breaking Bread in the Early Church. The apostles, as priests, presided over the Agape Meal and they already had the structure in place which followed the pattern of worship that they knew. There was a synagogue component-reading the written words of scripture, a teaching-homily and then a temple-component- sacrificial offering and communion meal-the Eucharist. This ritual meal brought about a bond of charity and a spirit of service between members of the early church. Unity and charity are two fruits of the spiritual effect of the sacrament.

St. Paul Teaches Real Presence. St. Paul, very early in the Church (53-54 AD) is challenging the Corinthians' belief in the change that happens to the bread and wine into Jesus' body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesus is truly present in a substantial way. It is not symbolic now and it was not symbolic then, The teaching of the Real Presence has been from the beginning.

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb. The Eucharist is a foretaste of heaven in that it is a banquet surrounding a Lamb. It is a wedding feast celebrating the oneness of the Church as Bride and Christ as groom. This reality of oneness or communion will be completed at the end of time when the Church is made pure and perfected by grace. At mass, when the priest holds up the Eucharist, he says, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Happy are those who are called to His supper!" We are called to His supper in the Eucharist as a foretaste of his eternal banquet in heaven.

Though it may seem like it, this is not all the connections we can make. There are more.