This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence<\/em><\/a> here in Seattle.<\/p>\nOne of the things I noted is that there are only two moments in the gospels where Jesus says something that baffles his disciples and he does not take them aside and explain that this was just a parable or figure of speech. Mark, in fact, tells us that when he spoke in parables he always <\/em>explained his meaning privately to his disciples.<\/p>\nBut on two occasions\u2013his announcement of his Passion, Death and Resurrection (reiterated three times) and his announcement in John 6 that he will give his flesh for his disciples to eat\u2013he does not explain what he \u201creally means\u201d. My point is that it\u2019s because he is saying what he really means: he will die and rise, the bread he will give is his flesh.<\/p>\n
This occasioned this observation from a friend:<\/p>\n
Of the two events when Christ did not resort to parables\u2013the announcement that he must die in Jerusalem, and then the consecrations at the Last Supper\u2013what about this takeaway\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n
In the first instance, not only does He not cover his tracks with a parable, instead, He says to the waiting Peter: \u201cGet behind me, Satan.\u201d WHAT! No parable to smooth things over?? And then this Satan thing. Ouch!<\/p>\n
In the second instance, after the consecration of the bread, now let\u2019s hear a parable for sure\u2026.But wait, there\u2019s more; in this moment for sure clarification what does Christ do? He clarifies\u2013He repeats himself with a second consecration. This repetition IS the clarification, and before those around the table can catch their breath, He then commissions them all to go and \u201c[YOU !] go and do this in remembrance of me.\u201d Double whammy!<\/p>\n
And what\u2019s this remembrance thing? They surely wondered if this has something to do with His impending departure, already announced a few days earlier. In place of a clarifying parable during dinner, a consecration, and not once but twice. (Why not just a two-by-four across the side of the head?)<\/p>\n
Reality time! Real Presence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Interesting and astute.<\/p>\n
I think it was the realization that it simply never occurred to anybody to speak of the Eucharist as \u201cjust a symbol\u201d for nearly a thousand years that killed my belief in the Evangelical crackers and grape juice \u201cIt\u2019s just an audio-visual aid to remind us of the Passion\u201d view of things more than anything. The idea that everybody in north, south, east, and west across a dozen different languages, tribes, and tongues could get something that simple that catastrophically wrong was just unbelievable to me. It\u2019s like saying Jesus said \u201cpass the salt\u201d and everybody in the entire Church somehow accidentally all concluded that he meant that \u201cEverybody would grow wings\u201d or something. It\u2019s an absurd misunderstanding, if misunderstanding it was. Some people may be that dumb. But everybody without exception for a thousand years?<\/p>\n
Give thou me a break.<\/p>\n
The Church believed in the Real Presence in the Eucharist from the start and still does for one simple reason: It\u2019s what Jesus taught about the Eucharist, it\u2019s what the apostles believed, and it\u2019s what they taught their Churches to believe everywhere they went.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometime back, I gave a talk based on my little book This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence here in Seattle. One of the things I noted is that there are only two moments in the gospels where Jesus says something that baffles his disciples and he does not take them aside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[664],"class_list":["post-103733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-this-is-my-body"],"yoast_head":"\n
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