In today’s readings we hear a beautiful Scriptural summary of salvation history: Adam and Eve don’t resist temptation and sin through their disobedience. Jesus, on the other hand, resists temptation and does not sin through his obedience. It’s a perfect contrast. Saint Paul stresses this contrast in his letter to the Romans, “for just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.”
We often get hung up with the sin of Adam and cannot get past the sinfulness of mankind: I can remember more than once blaming Adam and Eve for our unfortunate sinful condition.
What we need to realize however, is that the sin of Adam and Eve has been healed by Jesus Christ. Through his perfect obedience to the Father’s will he has reconciled the sin of Adam, he has made things whole again. The obedience of Jesus has restored us entirely to the state of Adam and Eve before the fall; literally wiping away our sin, not just covering it up or looking the other way. Jesus has made us good again, he has made us whole.
We see the obedience of Jesus when the devil tempts him in the desert at the very beginning of his ministry. Satan tempts Jesus, playing on his hunger and weakness, yet Jesus remains firm in his identity as the Son of God. Jesus remains obedient to the Father’s will.
At the end of his ministry we see Jesus’ obedience strong again, but the setting has changed. It’s at Calvary, on the cross, where he gives himself obediently for our salvation. Adam and Eve were selfish, eating of the tree in order to be like God; Jesus does the exact opposite, he gives himself up as the perfect sacrifice.
This one sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, this sacrifice of perfect obedience is what we celebrate at the Eucharist Sunday after Sunday.
At Mass we do not “re crucify” Jesus. Nor is the Eucharist a mere play or reenactment. As Catholics we believe that the one eternal sacrifice of Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago is made present in our midst during the Eucharist.
Have you ever wondered what it would have been to be with Mary and John at the foot of the cross? Well, that same one eternal sacrifice is made present here when I repeat the words of the last supper, “this is my body” “this is the cup of my blood.” It is Jesus offering himself entirely, body and blood for our redemption, right here, for you and me. The one redemption he won for all on the cross is made actual and offered for us at every single Eucharist.
This is what we celebrate at the Eucharist. We celebrate the redemption Jesus offers us through his obedience. We celebrate the fact he has remedied the sin of Adam through his obedience. We celebrate the great gift of himself on the cross and the gift of himself here among us under the appearance of bread and wine.
At the Eucharist we become participants of the one sacrifice of Christ as he comes into our body and soul. No wonder he told us to do this in memory of him: the Eucharist is the most powerful ritual of the Church. The Eucharist reminds us and announces to the world that Jesus Christ, the obedient Son, has offered himself for us and has gained us our salvation.
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