A caller asks Tim if the Eucharist truly is Jesus. If not, she explains, she is afraid of worshiping a deified wafer. Tim Staples delves into scripture and compares the Eucharist to Christ’s incarnation – the Word becoming flesh.
Transcript:
I’m a non-denom Christian and have great respect for the Catholic Church. So it’s something that is a real hiccup for me is, you know, if you guys are right and the Eucharist is the true body of Christ, like, you know, through transubstantiation, then,
you know, for me, it means that I’m missing out on that sacrament, but not that, you know, I’m not saved and not that I don’t love the Lord with all my heart and not that I, you know, I’m not born again in Christ through my baptism. Right. And if you’re wrong, then, you know, we’re deifying the Eucharist and that is like way too risky. Like, it’s just like it’s beautiful. It’s lovely, but I don’t know that I could ever be Catholic.
Yes, Megan, I love it.
I would hate to, yeah, to mess that up.
Yeah. Yeah. But let me just say this, Megan, real quick. I’ll get your take on this.
We’re not talking about, and perhaps you already know this, we’re not talking about deifying a wafer, right? Because as you know, I’ll quote,
was St. Cyril, St. Cyril of Jerusalem in the 4th century who famously said that when Jesus said, “This is my body,”
nature must give way to the Word.
And so when he says, “This is my body,” that’s what it is because Jesus is God. And he said, “Heavens and earth shall pass away, but my word will never pass away.” That’s a radical statement there. I know that’s in Matthew 27 at the end, but imagine, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away.” Why? Because his word is God’s word because he is the word.
And so when he speaks the word, as Hebrews 11 says, “He spoke the word and all the worlds came into being.” Actually, that’s a reference back to the Psalms. What is that? “He spoke the word and all.” I think that’s Psalm 11, as I recall. I could be wrong. But Hebrews says it, “The worlds were made by the Word of God.”
That’s Hebrews 11, the first three verses there. So yeah, Megan, what you’re saying is profound. And I pray that you just continue to pray about that. Think about that. But the bottom line is, yes, we’re not deifying a wafer because Jesus spoke the word and the bread and wine no longer exist. The appearances of bread and wine are there, but the appearances are not the substance. The substance is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Lord. And miraculously, you have the appearances remain. It seems to me, Megan, there’s a real sort of analogy between the Eucharist and the Incarnation. And this is why we say the Eucharist is, in a sense, the continuation of the Incarnation. Because when you looked at that man walking around on earth 2,000 years ago, all you saw was a man. He didn’t have some antenna sticking out of his head or something that physically set him apart.
He looked like a man, but the eyes of faith said he’s God. And this is why he said in John 10, verse 30, remember, when Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” and in verse 31, they wanted to pick up rocks and kill him. In verse 37 and 38, he says, “Yeah, I know you can’t believe this.” He’s talking to the Jewish folk now. I’m doing a little bit of interpolation here. But he says, “I know that you can’t believe this. You’re having a hard time believing this.” But he says, “If you can’t believe my word, believe for the sake of the works.” Believe.
Because have you seen anybody else raise the dead lately? All right? Believe. But does that make sense, Meghan?
Yeah. I think that it’s not that I wouldn’t believe Christ if he said that. I think I could easily accept if I believed that Christ, you know, literally meant that it was just a good quality.
And if he meant, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you?
What if he actually meant that?
Well, then I would believe it.
Well, guess what? He said it. All I did right there is just repeat exactly, word for word, what Jesus said. And I know that is hard to believe. But you know what, Meghan? You believe Jesus lived, died, was resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven. If you can believe that, you can believe his word. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Listen, Meghan, God bless you. Thanks for calling.
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