Reflection #3 - In the Beginning
In the previous installment of our bi-weekly reflections on the Eucharist, we proposed the following question, “Does the Bible have anything to say about the Real Presence of the Lord, or is it just some naïve misunderstanding from a later age?” Perhaps our first response is to look at the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, recounting the Passover Meal celebrated by Jesus and his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. Or, we might revisit John’s Gospel describing one of Jesus’s difficult teachings—The Bread of Life Discourse instructing his followers to not only eat his flesh but also drink his blood.
But how many of us would turn to the Old Testament? The Early Church Fathers did just that. They realized that they could find the mysteries of Christ in the light of salvation history, beginning with the Book of Genesis and continuing through the Book of Revelation. These early Christians recognized that the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New.[1] For example, the Early Church saw the foreshadowing of the Eucharist in the story of Adam and Eve. As eating a forbidden fruit brought death into the world, partaking of the Eucharist promises eternal life.
At the beginning of the first book of the Bible, two trees are mentioned.[2] One offers death, and one provides life. By Adam and Eve’s disobedience, eating the fruit of the first resulted in their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Because eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil damaged their relationship with God, we are told that it was good that they did not then eat from the second tree—The Tree of Life. For if they had, they would forever remain in their present condition eternally cut off from God.[3]
In the final book of the Bible, The Book of Revelation, John the Evangelist tells us that through Christ, we are now able to eat the fruit from the second tree. For he says, “To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.”[4] And shortly afterward he says, “To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna.”[5] The Church in her early days understood these to be clear references to Eucharist. As the first book of the Bible tells of an act of eating that brought death, the last Book of the Bible describes an act of eating that provides life.
In the beginning, God desired to offer man and woman participation in the fullness of divinity. When Adam and Eve traded life for death, they were banished from the Garden and prevented from eating from the Tree of Life. But in the fullness of time, God replanted the Tree of Life in the form of a cross. Hanging on that tree was a life-giving fruit. The fruit of our salvation and the taste of divinity are now available in the mystery of bread and wine.
[1] This method of study is known as Typology—the study of persons, places, events, and institutions in the Bible that foreshadow later and greater realities made known by God in history.
[2] Genesis 2:9.
[3] Genesis 3:22-24.
[4] Revelation 2:7.
[5] Revelation 2:17.
But how many of us would turn to the Old Testament? The Early Church Fathers did just that. They realized that they could find the mysteries of Christ in the light of salvation history, beginning with the Book of Genesis and continuing through the Book of Revelation. These early Christians recognized that the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New.[1] For example, the Early Church saw the foreshadowing of the Eucharist in the story of Adam and Eve. As eating a forbidden fruit brought death into the world, partaking of the Eucharist promises eternal life.
At the beginning of the first book of the Bible, two trees are mentioned.[2] One offers death, and one provides life. By Adam and Eve’s disobedience, eating the fruit of the first resulted in their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Because eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil damaged their relationship with God, we are told that it was good that they did not then eat from the second tree—The Tree of Life. For if they had, they would forever remain in their present condition eternally cut off from God.[3]
In the final book of the Bible, The Book of Revelation, John the Evangelist tells us that through Christ, we are now able to eat the fruit from the second tree. For he says, “To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.”[4] And shortly afterward he says, “To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna.”[5] The Church in her early days understood these to be clear references to Eucharist. As the first book of the Bible tells of an act of eating that brought death, the last Book of the Bible describes an act of eating that provides life.
In the beginning, God desired to offer man and woman participation in the fullness of divinity. When Adam and Eve traded life for death, they were banished from the Garden and prevented from eating from the Tree of Life. But in the fullness of time, God replanted the Tree of Life in the form of a cross. Hanging on that tree was a life-giving fruit. The fruit of our salvation and the taste of divinity are now available in the mystery of bread and wine.
[1] This method of study is known as Typology—the study of persons, places, events, and institutions in the Bible that foreshadow later and greater realities made known by God in history.
[2] Genesis 2:9.
[3] Genesis 3:22-24.
[4] Revelation 2:7.
[5] Revelation 2:17.