The Signs and Symbolism Present in the Eucharist

Sacraments are rites in the Christian religion that invite the believer to enter into a direct relationship with Christ. Because the connection to Christ is critical to salvation, sacraments are a central component to Christian liturgy. The Eucharist is considered to be among the most important sacraments of the Church because Jesus passed it on to believers during the Last Supper. However, the meaning of the sacrament has become obscured over time as believers struggle to understand its significance. By exploring the history and practice of the Eucharist, sacraments can be understood as a sign and symbol that strengthens the relationship between the believer and Christ by signifying salvation, offering grace, and symbolizing the new covenant that is secured through Jesus.

Though the number of sacraments varies between Christian denominations, there are seven main sacraments that are outlined by the Catholic Church. These sacraments include: 1) baptism, 2) confirmation, 3) the Eucharist, 4) penance, 5) extreme unction, 6) ordination, and 7) matrimony (Medieval Sourcebook). Though all sacraments represent an oath between the believer and God, the meaning of many sacraments are less established by tradition because the canon of the sacraments was not fully developed until the 13th century (para. 1). Because Church theologians gradually developed the meaning of the latter five sacraments, the baptism and the Eucharist are considered to be the two most important rituals (para. 1). While the baptism is conducted when a Christian initially becomes a member of the Church, the Eucharist is conducted throughout the Christian’s affiliation with the Church. Identified as the third sacrament, the Eucharist is conducted by sharing bread and wine that symbolize the flesh and the blood of Christ; Christians who take part in the Eucharist consume the bread and wine in order to unify with Christ (para. 22). The significance of the Eucharist as a ritual makes it an ideal model through which the significance of sacraments in the Christian religion can be understood.

Deriving its origins from the New Testament, the Eucharist, a ritual in which the flesh and blood of Christ are presented through bread and wine, is one of the most prominent sacraments in the Christian tradition. As theology professor Catherine Corey notes, the word Eucharist comes from the Greek word meaning “to give thanks” (Corey 116). The use of the term “giving thanks” was described in Mark 14:22-25 where Christ breaks bread and blesses whine while giving thanks for the meal that was to be shared with his disciples (116). Further, Christ passes on the tradition of the Eucharist when he calls for his disciples to repeat the action of breaking the bread and sharing wine in remembrance of him (116). The Eucharist also provided continuity with Jewish traditions by coinciding with the celebration of Passover, which was a commemoration of the accounts of God’s protection of the Israelites in Exodus (116). However, while linking the Christian community to the Old Testament, the celebration of the Eucharist also enabled Christians to depart from Jewish and Roman traditions of the period.

Religious history professor Robert Mullin describes how the tradition of the Eucharist eventually became a separate rite from the Last Supper. As Mullin notes, the religious expression of early Christian communities centered on the common meal where worshippers congregated at the house of a host to share a meal (Mullin 21). The common meal was considered to be important to the development of the Christian community because it facilitated the reduction of social divisions that demarcated early Christians (19). By sharing a meal together, many traditional taboos against eating with individuals of lower status were challenged (19). The common meal served to consolidate early Christians around a single tradition so that Christianity could be elevated above the social and religious restrictions of the period.

While unifying Christians, the common meal also served to unite participants with Christ. As Mullin explains, the breaking of the bread during the meal was carried out “in remembrance” of Christ (22). By replicating Christ’s actions at the Last Supper, Christians believed that they were making Christ present and bringing the community into contact with Christ (22). Further, the sharing of bread and wine established the community’s connection to the second coming of Christ in the future (22). Because of its enhanced significance, the Eucharist was eventually separated from the common meal and established as an individual rite (22). Though the common meal is no longer commonly in practice, the Eucharist is a practice that remains with Christian churches to this day.

Along with historical significance, sacraments serve as a present sign for the Christian. In addition to providing the utility of uniting early Christians in Christ, the sacrament of the Eucharist serves as a sign of salvation for Christians. In order to understand the significance of sacraments as a sign, it is important to assess the meaning of salvation. According to religious scholar Joseph Javorski, the process of salvation can be characterized as “the soul sanctified through divine grace” (Javorski 35). As Javorski notes, the sinful nature of humanity necessitates God’s grace in order that humans can be pardoned for their sins (35). Since Christ atoned for the sins of humanity through his crucifixion, humans must receive redemption for their sins through Christ (35). Thus, sacraments serve to unite the Christian to Christ so that they can be recipients of the salvation that Christ guarantees (35). Because sacraments extend grace, they are critical to those in search of salvation.

Javorski further describes how the sacrament of the Eucharist functions as a sign. As Javorksi asserts, all sacraments possess three elements: 1) they serve as a visible sign, 2) they produce grace, and 3) they act as institutions through which Christ is accessed (36). The Eucharist signifies the grace that Christians can expect to receive as they unify with Christ through the sacrament (36). Describing the sign that is pronounced through the Eucharist, Javorksi writes, “Christ promised to give His Flesh as food and His blood as drink and fulfilled his promise at the Last Supper” (36). Thus, for the Christian, the Eucharist is a sign of Jesus’s promise to his believers. Through taking part in the Eucharist, the Christian can be assured that Jesus will fulfill his offer of absolving the sins of the Christian and returning in the Second Coming.

Along with signifying the promise of salvation, the Eucharist also holds symbolic value for its participants. As theologian Norman A. Beck explains, a close reading of the description of the Eucharist as it is described in Matthew reveals that the Eucharist is an “efficacious sign,” or a symbol that conveys meaning (Beck 193). As Beck notes, Jesus demonstrated that he anticipated the physical destruction of his body when he broke the bread at the Last Supper (192). Beck asserts that the breaking of the bread foreshadowed his fate to be crucified. Also, Beck asserts that Jesus stated, “This is my body,” in order to clarify the full significance of his act of breaking the bread to his disciples (194). As Beck states, “Jesus’ body would be broken just as the bread in his hands” (194). Thus, the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist serves as a symbol of the sacrifice that Christ made through his crucifixion.

The second component of the Eucharist, the sharing of wine that represents the blood of Jesus, also serves as a symbol that clarifies the significance of Christ’s sacrifice to the Christian. Beck argues that the Old Testament provides context to the meaning of Christ’s statement, “This is my blood” (196). As Beck notes, it is unlikely that the early disciples would truly take part in a ritual that involves the drinking of blood, so there must be a symbolic component that is overlooked (196). Beck cites Exodus 24 in order to highlight a similar passage where Moses sprinkled the blood of a sacrificed oxen over his followers in order to signify their covenant with God” (196). In Exodus, the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrificed symbolized the protection that God had bestowed upon the recipients of his covenant in the desert (196). Similarly, the cup of wine representing the blood of Jesus symbolizes the new covenant that Jesus has established with his followers through his sacrifice (198). Thus, the wine in the Eucharist ritual is important to Christians because recognizing the symbol of Christ’s blood enables the Christian to enter the new covenant with Christ.

As one of the oldest sacraments, the Eucharist demonstrates the role of sacraments in the Christian community. The tradition of the Eucharist is rooted in the New Testament and was passed on to the disciples by Jesus Christ. The sacrament is important to Christians because it acts as a sign of the salvation that they receive through union with Christ. In the case of the Eucharist, the bread and wine that represents the flesh and blood of Christ is a visual sign of the atonement that Christ has made for the sins of humanity. The flesh and blood also serve as a sign of the grace that Christians receive through Christ’s sacrifice. Further, sacraments serve to symbolize the covenant that the ritual makes between Christ and the Christian. By representing Christ’s sacrifice through the breaking of bread and God’s covenant through wine representing Christ’s blood, participants in the Eucharist participate in a ritual that symbolized their union with God. As the tradition of the Eucharist demonstrates, sacraments serve dually as signs and symbols by signifying the salvation that the Christian receives and symbolizing the covenant that the Christian enters into with Christ.

Works Cited

Beck, Norman A. “The Last Supper as an Efficacious Symbolic Act.” Journal of Biblical Literature 89.2 (1970): 192-198. JSTOR. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Cory, Catherine. “Jesus and the Gospels.” Readings in The Christian Theological Tradition. 3rd ed. Eds. Catherine A. Cory and Michael J. Hollerich. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009. Print.

Javorski, Joseph. “A Catholic’s Conception of Salvation.” Journal of Bible and Religion 6.1 (1938): 35-38. JSTOR. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

“Medieval Sourcebook: The Seven Sacraments of Catholic Doctrine Documents.” Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University. 1998. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Mullin, Robert Bruce. A Short World History of Christianity. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. Print.