Lord’s Shl
Lord’s Shl
Introduction
I think that no doctrine inside Christianity was as arguably and problematic as the doctrine of the Lords Supper (Eucharistic). Not only that century-old fightings is going on around the text: “This is my body” (1.Cor.11:24) between Roman Catholics and Protestants, but there is nonconformity regarding the question among Protestants themselves. The first notification of the Lords Supper set a division among Christs disciples, as they were shocked when Christ told them about the suffering that He must go through, so they said: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (John 6,60). The cause of this fighting is based on a question of understanding the nature of Christs presence in bread and wine as in understanding the nature of Christ body, the Church.
Those fighting became so intense that the concept of Eschaton in the Lords Supper (Until he comes, 1.Cor. 11, 26), i.e. the connection of the Lords Supper and the Kingdom of God that will come , was totally forgotten. And tendency of neglecting the eschatological concept of Lords Supper would not be so important if it would not have for its consequences the way and oftness of its maintenance , the religiousness of believers and life of a Church and its missionary orientation.
In this paper we will not discuss the questions of Christs presence in the sights of bread and wine during the Lords Supper and we will not talk about Luthers, Calvins or Zwinglis view of Lords Supper. We will not define it nor will we discuss how often we should participate in it. In this paper we assume that the Lords Supper for many Christians does not implicate the eschatological concept (which guides the Church and its believers to the Heavenly Kingdom) and has became something static and local. The Lords Supper is always talked about by its meaning in the past, not its future. It has been forgotten (as the Second Vatican Council says) that “The Lords Supper (Eucharistic) is the wellspring and the crown of all Christian life, and without it the Church would not exist nor be alive” because she wouldnt have its purpose, and that is eternity. Miroslav Volf in his book After Our Likenes quotes famous catholics theologian Ratzinger,
“Through, baptism, human beings spet out of isolation and into the trinitarian communion, and thus also into the communion of the church, thereby becoming ecclesial beings. As ecclesial beings, however, they live from the Eucharist. The church itself, which participates sacramentaly in making individuals into Christians, realizes its own being as church in the Eucharist.”
To this statement I would add the words of professor Janos Pasztor: “The sacrament of Lords Supper is not only an addition to the Church, but it is an energy of the Church” that binds a humanity with the Kingdom of God that will come.
In order to understand the meaning of Lords Supper when we talk about Eschatology we will talk about the Passover because Lords Supper lies on its grounds. We will see what was the goal in Christs choosing the Passover to establish the Lords Supper. First part of this paper will talk about Passover in the Old Testament (its establishment, celebration and meaning) and in the New Testament. In