All of Christ’s earthly ministry is a fulfillment of what was prophesied through the prophets and what was typified through the great mediators of Salvation History. Our Lord’s ministry comes to a definitive climax in Passion Week, where He forms the new covenant in two stages: first in the upper room (The Last Supper), and then at Calvary (The Crucifixion). We shall look first at the events in the upper room.
The Last Supper
Let’s talk about what takes place at the Lord’s Last Supper, at Luke 22:20. After the Supper, Luke describes how Our Lord took a cup and said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” First, notice the phrase, “poured out.” This is “part of the cultic language of the [Old Testament], where the blood of animal sacrifices was poured at the base of the altar to make atonement.”[1] The phrase “in my blood” means “consisting of my blood.” “This cup,” then, is the new covenant sacrifice consisting of Jesus’ blood.
The Eucharist as the New Covenant
What that means is that the Eucharist is the New Covenant. This is extremely important. The new covenant is not primarily a book or a form of teaching. The new covenant is Jesus’ blood, poured out in sacrifice; and since the blood is poured out from the body, freely offered for our salvation, the New Covenant is Jesus’ whole Eucharistic Self.
That fulfills, mystically and in an amazing fashion, the prophecies of Isaiah that describe this servant being given as a covenant. For example, Isaiah 42:6 says that “the servant of the Lord,” who is the Messiah, “will be given as a covenant to the people.” What that prophecy meant before its fulfillment to those who read it is anybody’s guess. In all of the ancient literature on this last point, there is no understanding or interpretation of how the Jews understood this idea of the servant being given as a covenant. In light of its fulfillment, suddenly it all becomes clear: Jesus is the servant of God who gives Himself as a covenant in His Eucharistic Body and Blood. That giving of Himself as Body and Blood is a perfect symbol of what is actually taking place in receiving the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the new covenant. It’s the perfect covenant; the extension of kinship by oath. If one is going to pick an oath-ritual to symbolize the making of a covenant, then there is no more perfect symbol than sharing in the body and blood of the One with whom you are sharing the covenant. We eat the Body and Blood of Christ; and “you are what you eat.” Through the Eucharist we are, quite literally, becoming the Body and Blood of the Lord; we are becoming His kin.
Sacrament
The Eucharist is not just a symbol, it’s a Sacrament. What is a Sacrament? A Sacrament is a sign which participates in what it is signifying. So, the Eucharist not only symbolically represents what’s taking place, but actually makes it take place. One truly receives the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord. When receiving the Eucharist, one truly is becoming or renewing their identity as a member of the family of God. In the Upper Room, Jesus establishes the new covenant. But it remains to confirm the meaning of the new covenant on the cross. There, Jesus completes the sacramental gift of Himself in the Upper Room with the physical gift of His Body and Blood.
As Jesus is giving His life for us on the Cross, Saint John includes a beautiful sign. He describes how Jesus’ side was pierced by a Roman lance and out came a flow of blood and water.[2] That flow of blood and water from the side of Christ is like the river that flowed out of Eden to bring life to the world. Eden was the original temple, but Jesus’ Body is the new temple. The Apostle says “He spoke of the temple of His Body.”[3] So, Jesus’ Body is the new Eden-temple.
Jesus Himself had said earlier in the Gospel of John, “out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”[4] The Apostle explains that he said that about the Spirit. When, at the Cross, Our Lord’s heart flows with the water in that blood, that is a sign of the Holy Spirit being poured out. It’s poured out in two ways: in water and in blood. In the context of the Gospel of John, water is always tied with baptism. Blood is always tied with Eucharist. This flow of blood and water from the side of Christ is the flow of the Sacraments, which flow from Calvary in A.D. 33 through all the world geographically, down into Africa, out into Asia, up into Europe, west into the new world, and continue flowing through all time.
That flow of the Sacraments is still coming from the side of Christ today. In going to a Catholic Church, one can participate in that flow. Every Catholic Church is a sacrament of Calvary and indeed a sacrament of Eden. In that Catholic Church, there is the baptismal font, which is the river of life. The altar is the tree of life which bears the fruit of life — the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Our Lord. That’s how Jesus brings us back to Eden, but an even better Eden.
It’s through the Sacraments that one receives the Spirit of God, that breath of life that was breathed into Adam’s nostrils. It’s how one is made into a living being once again — restored to life as a child of God. It’s the most profound mystery in all of human experience. There’s much more to say about it, but this is how Our Lord establishes the new covenant which is really His Eucharistic Self.
Relation to Evangelization
All of this is what the evangelist tries to initiate people into when evangelizing. Let’s talk a little bit more about the relevance of Passion Week: The Suffering and Cross of Jesus Christ is Sacramental. Many people are used to hearing the presentation of the Gospel from Protestant evangelists. Unfortunately, Protestants de-emphasize the role of the Sacraments, and don’t understand the sacramental reality in Passion Week and what Jesus is doing in forming the new covenant.
For example, most Protestants, if asked “what is the New Testament?”, they think it’s a book. They might say the 27 books at the end of the Bible. That’s not actually what the New Testament defines as the New Testament. Keep in mind that testamentum is just a Latin word that means “covenant.”[5] Properly speaking, “New Testament” means “new covenant.” Many Protestants do understand this. But most of these don’t realize what the New Testament scriptures say is the New Covenant. What does the New Testament identify as the new covenant? In Luke 2:20, it identifies it as the Eucharistic blood of Jesus: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
If the new covenant is the Eucharist, what can be said about those who claim to be new covenant Christians, but who are not participating in the Eucharist? It would be like going to a Chinese restaurant and reading the whole menu and getting all fascinated at the menu and never actually ordering General Tso’s Chicken or Szechuan Beef. That’s a shame!
One sometimes runs into non-Catholic Christians, who have been “reading the menu.” They have been fascinated with God’s Word — with, say, the New Testament, or the Bible generally. But the Bible gives testimony to the Eucharist. It speaks of the new covenant which is the Body and Blood of Jesus. The evangelist should want our separated brethren to come to understand this, and to join us for the meal. Not only read about the meal, but experience it. That’s the fullness of truth that is in the Catholic Church and in the Sacraments. The evangelist should want to bring people to the Sacraments.
That’s why it’s so important to see that symbolism of the blood and water coming from the side of Christ. In this, He’s establishing the sacramental order of Baptism and the Eucharist. It is not just through studying the Bible or through prayer that one can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Those are beautiful gifts of God, but they should lead up to and culminate with experiences of Jesus Christ in the Sacraments. That was His intention for us.
[1] Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Notes on Luke, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament (RSV-CE2, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 149.
[2] John 19:34.
[3] Cf. John 2:21.
[4] John 7:37-39.
[5] Saint Paul uses the Greek term “diatheke” for “covenant” (2 Corinthians 11:25) in the context of the Last Supper. Likewise, the Gospel writers also employ the word in this context (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24 and Luke 22:20). Saint Jerome, when translating the Greek into the Latin Vulgate, used testamentum for diatheke. For some commentary, please click here.