Eucharist in Scripture

[KingEverett]

I recently started an apologetics discussion with someone about the Eucharist.
I told the person this:

Here are a few things you might want to read.
John 6:51-56
How can you think it symbolic if Christ Himself says, “…and the bread which I shall give for the life of the wotld is my flesh.”
How more striaght forward can you get?
Also verse 55 of John 6, “my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” this isn’t symbolic language!

And the person countered by saying that it was “in direct conflict with Acts 2:27” which says, “For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.”

I’m not quite sure how to counter that, can someone help?
Thanks

 

[teachccd]

I recently started an apologetics discussion with someone about the Eucharist.
I told the person this:

And the person countered by saying that it was “in direct conflict with Acts 2:27” which says, “For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.”

I’m not quite sure how to counter that, can someone help?
Thanks

How does your buddy equate the two? Acts 2:27 quotes David in Psalm 16:10. How does he or she find a direct conflict with the foreshadowings of salvation in the Old Testament with Jesus’ words of salvation in the New?

Be very careful with the biblical dance that many protestants perform to confuse you. Stick with Christ and what He proclaims in John chapter 6. Look at how He feeds the multitudes by taking bread, says the blessing, broke and gave. See the last supper discourses in the synoptics whereby Jesus uses the same words; take,bless,broke and gave. then read the post resurrection account of the Road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24 and see the same words within the context of the Mass. The first part of the story is the Liturgy of the Word and then in the Liturgy of the Eucharist Jesus vanishes. Why? Because He is now present in the breaking of the bread.

It always perplexes me how non-Catholics seem to know their Scripture “so well” when in reality there is really no context to passages chosen.

Good luck and PM me if you wish. I’ve given many talks on the Eucharist and I would be more than willing to help you talk with your friend…teachccd

 

[joshua_b]

Jesus himself says in John 15:4-6…
4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

This clearly tells us that it is possible to be joined to Christ and become separated. The question is, “How do we keep from becoming separated?” The answer of Jesus is that to stay connected to Him, we must remain “in him”. (some translations use the wording “abide in me”). How do we remain in Him?

To the best of my knowledge, the ONLY time in all of Scripture Christ ever references abiding or “remaining” (if you prefer) is John 6:56…
56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

Let us move up just a few verses to John 6:53 - 54…
53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

So, to have life in me, and be raised up on the last day, I must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. I also know that I must remain in Christ to have eternal life, which (oddly enough) I must do in accord with John 6:56.

Now, that being said, lets go back to Acts 2:27, but, let’s read the whole thing, not just the middle. I would say we read Acts 2:24 - 28 to get the jist of what is being really said there (bold text emphasis is mine, of course)…

24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:
" ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
**26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope, ** 27because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
**28You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’[c] **

Now, it is very clear that this joy and confidence of verse 27 comes from the fact that the “paths of life” have been made known. So, what are these “paths of life” that are so celebrated ? Oddly enough, Jesus told us in John 6: 53-54 that to have eternal life, and be saved from the grave(Hades), I must eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Personally, I find it not the least bit coincidental that the circle back to John 6 keeps being made.

Now,

 

[Todd_Easton]

What direct conflict? As I understand it, the Eucharistic Christ never sees corruption.

Because Jesus is wholly present in each particle of consecrated bread and each drop of consecrated wine, the Eucharistic Christ cannot see corruption by dismemberment or disintegration.

Because Jesus is present in the consecrated bread and wine only as long as the appearance of bread and wine remain, the Eucharistic Christ cannot see corruption by digestion or decomposition.