The Eucharist as a meal - its origins and meanings.

The beginnings of what we now know as Eucharist has its roots in the ancient world. What started as a simple blessing at the beginning or end of a Jewish meal, through the ages has become one of the most important sacraments of the Church today. Although the way it is carried out may have changed, the meaning behind the celebration of Eucharist remains the same as it did when Jesus shared the meal with his disciples prior to His death.

For Jews living in ancient times meals were more than just a social occasion. They were important times for offering thanks to God. A Jewish meal began when the father or other community leader took bread, broke it and blessed it with these words, “Blessed be you, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth”, after which the bread was distributed to those present. On holy days a blessing was said at the end of the meal, which involved lighting a lamp and washing of hands. The leader would then recite several blessings thanking God for His provision, grace and mercy.

Jesus, during His earthly ministry enjoyed sharing meals with His disciples and other followers, and there are several accounts in the Gospels of Jesus providing food for those who followed Him, one such example being in Matthew’s Gospel c14:15-21, where we see Jesus multiplying a small amount of food to feed a large crowd of people. And it was during a meal to celebrate the Passover that Jesus gave new meaning to the covenant meal. We have four accounts of the words that Jesus used: - Paul, writing to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 11: 23-25), Mark (writing 20 years after Paul) Mark 14: 22-25, Matthew (20 years after Mark) Matthew 26:26-29, and Luke (20years after Matthew) Luke 22: 14-20. All of these accounts agree that Jesus said “This is my body” but only Matthew adds the command to eat. In the accounts of Mark and Matthew, Jesus says of the wine, “this is the blood of the covenant”, but Paul and Luke have Jesus saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”, which according to John Macquarrie is more likely to be the original language. It is worth noting that both Paul and Luke record Jesus saying, “Do this in remembrance of me”. Neither Mark nor Matthew mention this but record Jesus saying He will not drink wine again until He drinks it at the heavenly banquet which is to come. In John’s gospel there is no description of the Last Supper. There is however a passage in John 6: 48-58, where Jesus describes Himself as the living bread, and His blood as true drink. He then goes on to talk about abiding in Him.

In the early days of the Church, Eucharist, which comes from the Greek word eucharista and means thanksgiving, seems to have been called the ‘breaking of the bread’. Initially wine was only used on festival days, as most people were quite poor. It was at this time part of the community meal and followed the pattern of most Jewish meals and as Jesus had instigated at the Last Supper- the breaking of the bread was done before the meal and the blessing over the wine afterwards, but the breaking of bread was soon moved to the end of the meal. The custom of the community meals was to eat in small groups, round separate tables with a common dish and a common cup for each table. This caused problems, as some people missed out, while others, the well-off, ate at home and then drank too much when meeting together. Because of this the Eucharist soon became separated from the community meal. The Roman Governor Pliny the Younger, writing to the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the second century, described Christians gathering before dawn for worship, and then meeting later in the day for a meal. The separation or these two meals had important consequences.

The time of Eucharist was moved to the morning.The different tables became one table (The altar). A ‘service of the word’ was added based on the liturgy of the synagogue service.
The early Christian Eucharistic liturgy is very similar to that used today. Justin Martyr writing in about 150AD gives us a picture. He describes a gathering including readings, sermon, prayers, and sharing of the Eucharist. Hippolytus, writing in his book Apostolic Traditions in 225 AD records a Eucharistic prayer that contains many of the Christian beliefs later used in forming the creeds.

Although the Eucharist meal may have changed over the years, one aspect remains the same. Sharing this meal together brings a sense of oneness, with Jesus, with each other and with the wider Church. We are all individuals, but we are also one Church, and we can say in the words of the liturgy, “ …Gather into one all who share this one bread and one cup, so that we, in the company of all the saints, may praise and glorify you for ever…”

By Rev. Esther Squire (CEEC)