Eucharist as Covenant Renewal

In this essay we will learn that the Holy Eucharist is the way we renew our covenant with God. Let us begin with a prayer.

Heavenly Father, pour out upon us we pray your blessed Holy Spirit that we may enter fully into the glorious covenant which you perfected for us by the death of your Son upon the cross. Help us, we pray, to joyfully celebrate that covenant in the Holy Eucharist, and by means of your grace, keep covenant with you forever. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Please read Matthew 26:17-29, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-23, and I Corinthians 11:17-34. Notice that all four of these passages connect receiving the cup with Christ's death, with his blood, and with the covenant. As stated in Matthew 26:28, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." In other words, each time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist we are participating in a covenant. What is the nature of this covenant?

Jesus was Jewish, and his thoughts, teaching, and deeds were based on the Hebrew Scriptures. In reference to covenant, he is doubtless referring to the covenants of the Old Testament, especially the covenant celebrated in Exodus 19:1-24:11. To learn about this covenant, let us read a portion of it, Exodus 19:1-20:17 and Exodus 24:1-11. Please read these two passages several times and consider the following ideas.

As you can see from The Biblical Timeline, the book of Exodus occurs after certain biblical events: God's creation of a good world, Adam and Eve's sin and their expulsion from God's presence, God's continuing judgments against sin, the call of Abraham and the formation of a people, followed by their early history. These events are described in the book of Genesis. Exodus follows Genesis and the first 18 chapters of Exodus describes how God miraculously delivered his people from bondage in Egypt and began to lead them through the desert to the land promised to their ancestors. Once in the desert they come to Mount Sinai where God made a covenant with them. This brings us to Exodus 19-24, the making of the covenant.

The sequence of events, the deliverance from Egypt, the making of the covenant, and the conquest of the land and its distribution by tribes, are the foundation of the entire Old Testament. In the context of these events, the covenant governed the whole of Israel's relationship with God and their relationships with each other and the land. If Israel kept covenant with God, she would be blessed, and if she broke covenant, she would fall under judgment. This saving sequence was God's answer to the sin that entered into God's good world.

Israel did not keep covenant with God, and in response, God sent his Son, Jesus, to fulfill the original covenant by making a new covenant through his life, death, and resurrection. This is the covenant referred to in our passages from the gospels on the Holy Eucharist. The new covenant in Jesus conquers the sin that broke the Sinai covenant, and gives back to the human race all the blessings of God, including the blessings that were lost so long ago in Eden. Not only that, this new covenant in Christ will be completely fulfilled on the last day when God sits at table with those he loves in the age to come. "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9). In order to understand the new covenant in Christ, however, it will be necessary to understand the covenant at Sinai since Christ fulfilled that original covenant. And further, to understand the Sinai covenant, we best study it in the light of Christ. This approach to understanding the Eucharistic passages can be seen in the "Principles of Interpretation" found in the Creeds and Biblical Interpretation.

The covenant of Exodus 19-24 is comprised of three parts. The first part, Exodus 20:2, refers to the events of Exodus 1-18, God's mighty deliverance from Egypt and his leading them in the desert toward the Promised Land. These acts of God's deliverance and guidance belong to the covenant.

The second part of the covenant occurred when God appeared and spoke, giving the laws of the covenant. Because of his intense holiness and human sin, God did not appear directly to the people. He surrounded himself with smoke and fire, although Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel were allowed to see him (24:9-11). Similarly, the people heard God speaking to Moses, 19:9, but in general, the people did not hear God speak directly to them. The words spoken in 20:1-17 may have been spoken directly to the people, although Exodus 19-24 as a whole would show that the people did not hear God directly just as they could not directly see him. Moses was the mediator between God and the people. God commanded Moses what to say, and Moses spoke the words of God. This can be seen, for example, in 19:3-4 and 20:22-23. In these passages Moses speaks, but he speaks as if his words were actually God's words. How a person could be speaking the very words of God was studied in the essay, Trinity and Incarnation, where we learned that the words and deeds of Jesus were also the words and deeds of God. Moses was not the Word of God made flesh, but he did speak God's words. The words Moses spoke were the laws of the covenant, and as can be seen (20:1-23:33), these laws were God's laws and they governed Israel's social, religious, and economic life. Once the laws were given, the people proclaimed their obedience to the laws (19:8, 24:6, and 24:7). This was the second part of the covenant.

Finally, the third part, the covenant was sealed by a solemn ceremony, sacrifices and the eating of a sacred meal in the presence of God (24:1-11). In short, the covenant was composed of three parts, God's saving acts that redeemed his people, the laws of the covenant, and finally, the sealing of the covenant by means of sacrifices and the eating of a sacred meal in the presence of God. The three parts belong together and cannot be separated.

Let us now consider the Liturgy for Eucharist found on this website. Notice that the Holy Eucharist has two principle parts, "The Word of God" and "The Holy Communion." The Word of God corresponds to the first two parts of the Sinai covenant, God's mighty acts of salvation followed by his commands for our lives. As you can see, the Word of God includes readings from Scripture followed by a sermon. In these readings the congregation hears of God's mighty acts of salvation as well as his commands for our lives, and the sermon interprets these mighty acts and their significance for us today. As was seen in our study of John's gospel in the essay, Trinity and Incarnation, Jesus is risen from the dead and through the proclamation of the church and its ministry and mission, he does today the works he did in the flesh. Therefore, when proclaiming the Word of God in the sermon, it is important to set forth what God did in Christ Jesus, and further, what he is doing in the life of the congregation as reflecting his saving deeds in Christ. In other words, the congregation itself needs to be engaged in the ministry of Christ so that the people can know that they are worshipping a living God and have hope that the deeds they hear in Scripture and sermon are real possibilities for their lives today. This is of great importance. Before the preacher proclaims God's requirements, Jesus' saving words and deeds must be clearly proclaimed, not only in the sermon, but in the work and ministry of the church.

As the saving words and deeds are set forth in the readings and sermon, it is vital that all who hear and participate understand that they are listening to the very words of God. In the essay, Trinity and Incarnation, this was conceptualized in the doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum. When Moses proclaimed the words of God, he did not say, "Here is what I think," or "This is what God told me." No, he spoke as if God were speaking and God was speaking. For example, Exodus 19:4 begins with Moses speaking these words: "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself." The word "I" in this passage is God himself speaking, Moses uttering God's words rather than his own. These words of God are in Scripture, and Scripture is the words of God, and when they are read in worship, the congregation is to understand that they are hearing God speaking to them. These words are not detached from the reality of God himself. They are spoken as God himself becomes present, personally speaking, authorized anew by the divine glory. This fact must be taught to the people so they will take to heart what Scripture says.

The person who delivers the sermon is not Moses, nor the prophets, nor Jesus, nor Paul, and therefore, it is understood that the authority of the sermon is dependent upon its conformity to words of God, that is, to Scripture. For that reason, preachers must, with prayer, repentance, and study, seek to conform their words to the biblical revelation, and as that happens, the congregation should expect God to speak to them through the words of the sermon. No preacher is without sin, all in some measure distort the Word of God, but God uses and redeems weak preaching even as he calls preachers to assiduously seek to accurately reflect the biblical message. All this is very important. God speaks, in Scripture and in sermon, and his words are a matter of life and death. All depends upon our listening to him, and this occurs in the first part of the Holy Eucharist.

After Moses spoke God's words to the people, the people answered with one voice, "All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do (Exodus 24:3, 24:7, 19:8). This is, of course, a commitment to live according to God's words, and it was said with one voice. The covenant was made with the entire community, and in that context, with individuals. As can be seen, the laws of the covenant, Exodus 20:1-23:33, showed the people how to live in relationship to God and how to treat each other in every aspect of life. Therefore, to say, "All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do," means all have committed themselves to God and to each other to live according to the laws of the covenant. Notice that the people did not say, "All the words that God has spoken I will do," but rather, "we will do." This means that all are responsible to and for each other to insure that we do God's will under the leadership that God has appointed for the community. Similarly, after the sermon, the people say together the Nicene Creed beginning with the words, "We believe in one God, ..." The word "We," said with one voice, means we are responsible to God and each other as we live the Christian life. The Creed sets forth the fundamental beliefs of the Christian life, and this implies that the congregation commits itself to living those beliefs, and in particular, to believing and living the words that they had just heard in the Scripture readings and sermon.

We now come to the third section of the covenant, the sealing of the covenant.(1) As you can see from Exodus 24, the covenant was sealed in two different ways. The first way was by sacrifice on an altar. It was there that the people met God as described in the Consecration of Space and Time. The place became holy, the very life of God was there. The altar itself had twelve pillars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Animals were sacrificed to God. The animals represented a portion of the life of the people, and by the sacrifice, all of the life of the people was given to God. As the life was given up to the Lord, the way was opened by which the blessings of God, the source of peace and well-being in every respect, would fill the life of the people as they kept covenant with God. As the animals were sacrificed, it was understood that the life of the animals was in their blood, and by sprinkling half of the blood on the altar and half on the people, the people were bound together with God. As Moses threw the blood on the people he said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." That is, God initiated the covenant, and in response to his goodness, the people bound themselves to him by their words of acclamation (24:7)

When an animal was sacrificed, portions of the animal were given to God as burnt offerings, and it was common in Israel for other portions to be eaten by those making the sacrifice. If this happened in Exodus 24:3-8, the people ate in the presence of God, and God himself received his portion by burnt offerings. The eating of the meal, similar to the words of acclamation, reflects a commitment to the covenant. As they ate a meal with God, they said by their actions, "You are the Lord, and we bind ourselves to you in this act of eating this meal with you." In this way, the common meal bound the participants together in the deepest fellowship. In a special way, God commanded Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel to come up the mountain to eat a meal in his presence (24:1-2, 9-10). By eating a meal with God, they, by their actions, committed themselves to the covenant. They also, and this will be discussed in greater detail later, saw God. Throughout, it is understood that God is the author of the covenant, and one enters into a covenant with him by sacrifice, by a promise to obey the words of the covenant, and by the act of sharing a meal with him.

We now wish to consider the nature of the commitment that God and his people make to each other in the Eucharistic covenant. Let us begin with a portion of the Great Thanksgiving given in the Liturgy for Eucharist.

For in the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Likewise, after supper, he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink you all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins. Do this, as oft as you shall drink it, in remembrance of me."

Here the celebrant proclaims the words of Jesus, "... this is my body, .... this is my blood ..." These words are spoken by the priest as part of the Great Thanksgiving. They are, however, also the words of Jesus. Just as Moses spoke God's very words, the celebrant speaks Jesus' very words, and they are to be received as Jesus literally speaking to the assembled people. As described in the essay, In Remembrance of Me, Jesus is present, active, and speaking to the congregation, not only in the words, but in the offering of his life as bread and wine, his body and blood. According to our study, Trinity and Incarnation (the doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum), the words of Jesus are also the words of God, that is, these words are God literally speaking to us. When fully received, believers know they are being addressed by the living God. As God speaks, he reveals his commitment to the covenant, and this commitment has at least two aspects, a commitment by God the Father and by the Son. As stated in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." For the Father, there was no greater love than to give up his only Son. This is how important the covenant is to God. God sealed the covenant with the blood of his only Son, a sacrifice that God was willing to make that we might be in covenant with him. The eucharistic words, "this is my body, ... this is my blood, ..." also reflect Christ's commitment to the covenant . In Christ's words, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). And the writer of John's gospel, speaking of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, proclaims, "... having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (John 13:1). This sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins was not forced upon Christ. He freely and willingly made that sacrifice. In his words, "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. (John 10:17-18). All these passages, and so many more, reveal the awful, glorious, and compelling commitment of God made for us on the cross, a commitment God renews again with believers as they enter into the eucharistic covenant.

Not only does God commit himself to us in the words of the Eucharist, but also in the eucharistic actions. As discussed our study, the Formation of the Eucharist, the Passover service that Jesus interpreted in terms of his death, contained four actions, the offering of the bread and wine, the prayer over the bread and wine, the fraction, and the distribution of the bread and wine. All four of these actions occur in the eucharistic service. Persons are designated to bring forward the bread and wine along with other gifts. These are placed on the altar. The celebrant takes the bread and wine and blesses them. The bread is broken and the bread and wine are distributed to the people as they come forward before the altar. The four actions are the actions of the priest, but they are also the actions of Jesus who took the bread and wine, gave thanks over them, broke the bread, and gave them to his disciples. The four actions, along with his words, reveal the giving up of his body on the cross, and when celebrated in the Holy Eucharist, reveal the depth of Christ's covenant commitment to those who believe in him and receive his body and blood. The entire eucharistic service, the words, the actions, the presence of God making his name to dwell in the midst of the congregation, speaking, acting, giving himself up in love, reveal God's profound love for those who come to him in the covenant. When received in faith, this love overcomes the world.

What, then is the response of the people to the love of God so clearly revealed in their midst? Consider these words taken from the eucharistic liturgy.

And we earnestly desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching you to grant that, by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we, and all your whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.

And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice to you; humbly beseeching you that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ, be filled with your grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.

And although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses, through Jesus Christ our Lord;

What is being said here? The people of God commit themselves to the covenant in the same manner in which God committed himself to them -- that is, by giving himself to us in the form of his Son, and we surrender to him "our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice ..." Further, as the service unfolds, there are moments where the congregation bursts into song, singing the praises of the living God, and these are a sacrifice as well, "a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving." And there is more. As the people come forward to the altar, they enter into the very presence of God, having "confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh" (Hebrews 10:19-20). Unlike Israel who worshipped God from afar, terrified at the sound of his voice, the smoke, the roaring thunder, and constrained by sin to keep their distance from the Holy One, Christians, by the atoning sacrifice of Christ are justified, made holy by the blood, and therefore privileged to come forward before the altar to receive the very body and blood of Christ. As they come forward, receiving his life-giving body and blood, and eat and drink in the presence of God, they, by their very actions, commit themselves in love to hold fast to the covenant that God has sealed with them in the Holy Communion.

Then, as they return to their seats, they say a final prayer in which they commit themselves to maintain their covenant promises through the whole of their lives, asking God to "assist us with your grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as you have prepared for us to walk in." A final hymn of praise is sung, and then the dismissal, commissioning the people to reflect the glory of God in all they say and do.

This is the Holy Eucharist seen in terms of covenant, a covenant in which God and his people commit themselves to each other in love, the very love of Christ upon the cross, made real in the power of the Holy Spirit. What a glorious covenant! What a privilege to experience the very love of God made so real to us in his saving words and deeds! What can we do? What can we say? Should we not fall on our faces before the living God, the Lord of heaven and earth, thanking him that he did not leave us fatherless, but humbled himself and took the form of a slave to set us free from sin and death that we might enjoy him forever?

O living God who humbled yourself to the death of the cross and thereby committed yourself to us in love, pour out upon us we pray a spirit of humility and repentance that we, forgiven and empowered by your Spirit, may enter with faith into your Holy Covenant, truly serving you this day and all the days of our life. All this we ask in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Endnote

1. Some of the ideas for this section were taken from John Pedersen, Israel, Vol. III-IV, (London: Oxford University Press), pp. 299-375.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.