Reflection #3 - The Eucharist & Scripture: Heavenly Food
In our most recent reflection on the Eucharist, we looked at one event in the Old Testament that foreshadowed a later and greater reality made known by God. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, exchanging life for death, they were banished from the Garden of Eden and prevented from eating from the Tree of Life. But in the last book of the New Testament, St. John tells us that Christ now revokes the command excluding humanity from the Tree of Life. Because of the cross, we can now taste the fruit of divinity by Christ’s death and resurrected body and blood miraculously present in the mystery of bread and wine. St. John later referred to this supernatural food in the Book of Revelation as “the hidden manna.”
When we hear of “manna,” we are reminded of the Old Testament, Moses, the Passover, and the Exodus—the story of God’s people liberated from the slavery of Egypt. As they were on their journey of freedom, nourishment was provided by a miraculous event. The miracle began when God rained both bread (manna) and flesh (quail) from heaven.1 This heavenly gift was not ordinary food explained by some natural phenomenon. It was a daily supernatural event that continued for forty years. It only ended when the Israelites reached their final destination—a new way of living established in the land of milk and honey—the Promised Land.
Because the Exodus was such an important moment in the history and memory of Israel, the event took on new significance when hundreds of years later, God’s people were twice again subjected to the chains of slavery; once by the Assyrian and again later by the Babylonian empires. During these times of despair, a new hope developed not only in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament but also in the writings of ancient Jewish Tradition.2 This hope of deliverance was to be realized by a New Exodus led by a New Moses. And just as the Israelites received food for the journey described as “bread from heaven” in the first Exodus,3 divine nourishment was expected in the second. And in the New Testament, this second or “new manna” is clearly expressed in the gospel of John.
At the beginning of chapter six, we find Jesus meeting with an enormous amount of people as the feast of Passover draws near. To satisfy their hunger, he miraculously fills their stomachs with just five barley loaves and two fish. The next day, overwhelmed by the previous day’s event, they seek Jesus and meet again. During their conversation, they tell him that “our ancestors ate manna in the desert.”4 Jesus reminds them that it was not Moses but God who gave them nourishment with the bread from heaven. Then astonishingly, he says, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die…and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”5 The association between the manna of the Exodus and Jesus as being the “new manna” then introduces Jesus’ most challenging discourse in John’s gospel. For Jesus goes on to say, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”6
While the modern Church tells us that the manna given to his people during the Exodus clearly anticipates and foreshadows the Eucharist as the new manna,7 did the crowd speaking with Jesus take his words literally? Did Jesus’ disciples take his words literally? Perhaps there is a more important question. Do we take these words literally? In our next article, we will look at what the Early Church had to say.
[1] Exodus 16:1-15.
2 For example, The Babylonian Talmud, Bera-Koth 17a, an ancient text containing Jewish sayings, ideas, and stories.
3 Exodus 16:4.
4 John 6:31.
5 John 6:48-51.
6 John 6:53.
7 See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1094 and #1334.
When we hear of “manna,” we are reminded of the Old Testament, Moses, the Passover, and the Exodus—the story of God’s people liberated from the slavery of Egypt. As they were on their journey of freedom, nourishment was provided by a miraculous event. The miracle began when God rained both bread (manna) and flesh (quail) from heaven.1 This heavenly gift was not ordinary food explained by some natural phenomenon. It was a daily supernatural event that continued for forty years. It only ended when the Israelites reached their final destination—a new way of living established in the land of milk and honey—the Promised Land.
Because the Exodus was such an important moment in the history and memory of Israel, the event took on new significance when hundreds of years later, God’s people were twice again subjected to the chains of slavery; once by the Assyrian and again later by the Babylonian empires. During these times of despair, a new hope developed not only in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament but also in the writings of ancient Jewish Tradition.2 This hope of deliverance was to be realized by a New Exodus led by a New Moses. And just as the Israelites received food for the journey described as “bread from heaven” in the first Exodus,3 divine nourishment was expected in the second. And in the New Testament, this second or “new manna” is clearly expressed in the gospel of John.
At the beginning of chapter six, we find Jesus meeting with an enormous amount of people as the feast of Passover draws near. To satisfy their hunger, he miraculously fills their stomachs with just five barley loaves and two fish. The next day, overwhelmed by the previous day’s event, they seek Jesus and meet again. During their conversation, they tell him that “our ancestors ate manna in the desert.”4 Jesus reminds them that it was not Moses but God who gave them nourishment with the bread from heaven. Then astonishingly, he says, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die…and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”5 The association between the manna of the Exodus and Jesus as being the “new manna” then introduces Jesus’ most challenging discourse in John’s gospel. For Jesus goes on to say, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”6
While the modern Church tells us that the manna given to his people during the Exodus clearly anticipates and foreshadows the Eucharist as the new manna,7 did the crowd speaking with Jesus take his words literally? Did Jesus’ disciples take his words literally? Perhaps there is a more important question. Do we take these words literally? In our next article, we will look at what the Early Church had to say.
[1] Exodus 16:1-15.
2 For example, The Babylonian Talmud, Bera-Koth 17a, an ancient text containing Jewish sayings, ideas, and stories.
3 Exodus 16:4.
4 John 6:31.
5 John 6:48-51.
6 John 6:53.
7 See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1094 and #1334.