What gives priests the ability to transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ?
The reason the timing is so great is because I JUST finished a new book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, in which Brant Pitre explains how the Eucharist didn’t start with Jesus and the Christians, but was strongly pre-figured in the ancient Jewish traditions.
A very important verse for this question is Matthew 5:17, where Jesus reassures the people that his mission is not to abolish the old law, but to fulfill the prophesies.
The way this applies to the Priesthood is this: in the Old Testament there were animal sacrifices made to God for atonement of sins, and thanksgiving. But sacrifices could only be made by priests, on behalf of the people. Before the Exodus from Egypt, any father of a Jewish family was a priest and could offer sacrifice. Abraham and his son Isaac, for example both offered sacrifices to the Lord. However, after the ordeal described in Exodus 32, only appointed men from the tribe of Levi (the Levites, and the reason the book of Leviticus, which is mainly a book describing priestly duties, is named as such) could be priests and offer sacrifices.
To fulfill the old law, Jesus appointed a new priesthood. One in which He is the one high priest. Part of this is in Christ’s defense for the apostles from the Pharisees in Matthew 12:1-6.
“At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.”
Matthew 12:1-6
This is quite an elaborate defense made by Jesus when He could have just used that last line. His defense is in 3 parts. In the first, “Jesus defended his disciples by appealing to a story of how King David and his followers once ate the Bread of the Presence in the Tabernacle of Moses, even though they were not Levitical priests.”* See 1 Samuel 21:1-6. Here, the followers of David were allowed to eat sacred bread, which is only to be eaten by priests (Leviticus 24:5-9), because they were in a state of sexual purity and because David was also a priest, but not a Levitical priest. David, according to Psalm 110:4, was a priest “after the order of Melchizedek.” I’ll explain more on Melchizedek in a little bit. So, in this first part of Jesus‘ defense, He was essentially saying “I am like King David, and my disciples are like his followers, and we can act like priests, because David was a priest, according to the order of Melchizedek.”*
“The second way Jesus defended his disciples was by appealing to the fact that the priests in the Temple work on the Sabbath yet do so without breaking the law.”* The priests of the Old Testament would work on the Sabbath, preparing the Bread of the Presence [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showbread], but would not be breaking the Sabbath. Jesus was essentially saying “My disciples can ‘work’ on the Sabbath, because they have the same privileges and prerogatives as the priests in the Temple.”*
“Jesus justified His disciples’ actions by identifying Himself with the Temple. Notice that His final response to the Pharisees was not an appeal to Scripture but to His own authority, His own mysterious identity.”* It is well known that the Jews saw the Temple as the dwelling place of God’s presence here on earth. So, Jesus is revealing his own identity and authority here in this passage.
Here, we see Jesus is treating His disciples like priests. Next, we see when Jesus actually instituted a new priesthood, one in which He is the High Priest.
“And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Luke 22:19 (cross reference 1 Corinthians 11:23-25)
The key to the the priesthood is this verse. “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus asks the apostles to repeat what he’s just done. “This is my body, which will be given up for you.” Jesus is offering his own body as a sacrifice to God the Father, for us: sinners. And he asks his twelve friends to do the same. In the old law, only priests could offer sacrifices. There is no reason to think this has changed (Matt 5:17). By Jesus’ command to “do this” He is instituting a new priesthood, but not according to the Levitical order. Let’s check out Genesis 14:18-20, Psalm 110:4, and Hebrews 5:5-10. They’re talking about the King-Priest Melchizedek from Genesis who offered bread and wine as a sacrifice to God. Melchizedek was one of many precursors for Christ. Jesus is a High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” and He is establishing a new priesthood according to this order. If the sacrifice of this priesthood were only bread and wine, it would be repeating, rather than fulfilling, the Old Testament. So, this offering of bread and wine is not merely bread and wine...
“This is My body.... This is My blood.”
This sacrifice fulfills everything the Old Testament prophesied.
Side note 1: I recently learned how to explain the way that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Philosophically, we do not define something by it’s qualities. My name is Luke, I am tall, and I have dark hair. But those are things I possess, they are qualities... They are not me. I have dark hair but the hair isn’t me, there is something or someone else who possesses the dark hair. A philosopher would call these qualities “accidents.” These accidents are not who I am, rather, there is an underlying “substance” to Luke which cannot be perceived. The same is true with anything else, including bread and wine. The bread is white, fluffy, and maybe tasty, but these are not what it is. These are the accidents. The underlying substance of the bread is not perceived. When the priest consecrates the bread, all the accidents remain the same, everything perceivable is the same; however, the substance changes from bread, to the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. This is where faith comes in. We have to have faith that, based just on our knowledge of the power of God, He has the ability to change the substance of something, and He has the power to appear in different forms, not just human or transfigured form. The process in which this change is substance occurs is called “Transubstantiation.”
Side note 2: The book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, gives a great commentary on how Jesus can appear in any form he pleases. Read Luke 24:28-35, then this passage from Brant Pitre’s book:
“Readers sometimes think the disciples just failed to recognize Jesus. But this is unlikely. After all, it had been only three days since they last saw him. Could they have forgotten what their master looked like? More important, that’s not what Luke says. What he says is that ‘their eyes were kept from recognizing him.’ In his resurrected body, Jesus is able to appear to them under whatever form he wishes. In his resurrected body, Jesus can hide himself.” ... “Until Jesus sat down with the disciples and repeated his actions from the Last Supper, their eyes were kept from seeing him. Until he took the bread, blessed the bread, and broke the bread--again, exactly what he did at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26)--they could not recognize him.
“Only with the breaking of the bread was the risen Jesus made known to them. And then, as soon as they did see him, he vanished. Why? Jesus was pointing them to the way he would be present with them from now on. After his ascension into heaven, he would no longer be with them under the appearance of a man. From then on--with the singular exception of his appearance to Paul, on the road to Damascus--he would only be present under the appearance of the Eucharistic bread. By means of his miraculous appearance on the way to Emmaus, Jesus was showing the disciples that the Eucharist is his crucified and risen body. And in his risen body, he is no longer bound by space, or time, or even appearance. The risen Jesus can appear when he wills, where he wills, how he wills, and under whatever form he wills. He can hide himself, just as he did on the Road to Emmaus. After his resurrection and ascension into heaven, his normal manner of appearing to his disciples will not be in the form of a man, but under the veil of the Eucharist. That is why the disciples go away rejoicing in ‘how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (Luke 24:35).”*
*Any quotes with the asterisk (*) are taken from Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, by Brant Pitre. A book I HIGHLY recommend. It has opened my eyes to the Eucharist and my faith in general in a way I’ve never even considered. [http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Jewish-Roots-Eucharist-Unlocking/dp/0385531842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304268993&sr=1-1]
Any questions send ‘em my way!!
Lambssupper@gmail.com
Peace in Christ!
Luke
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