ACC ~ Matthew 26 v26 - 30

OVERVIEW:

In the Lord’s Supper, Christ’s own presence in body and blood brings salvation from death and sin (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The bread is broken and the wine poured as a sacrament to God the Word (ORIGEN). The sacrament of bread and wine prefigured Jesus’ giving of his own body and blood (JEROME). Jerome interprets “the blood of the covenant” as the spiritual fruit, that is, the belief of Israel, God’s choice vine. The timing of Jesus’ ordination of the sacrament is important. Through the sacrament of Passover, Christ willingly becomes the fulfillment of the Old Testament law (CHRYSOSTOM). Christ partakes in the sacrament with us (ORIGEN).

God did not will the death of Christ, but God did allow it (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). Christ’s resurrection was indeed a bodily resurrection; the disciples ate and drank with Christ after he was raised. Nonetheless his was a spiritual body that was not dependent on food and drink (CHRYSOSTOM).

26:26-27 | The Bread and the Cup

HIS BODY AND BLOOD

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: After Judas the betrayer had gone out, the Savior revealed the saving mystery to the Eleven. Now Christ was about to be raised within a short time in order to come and appear before the Father with his own body. So that we could have his body present, he has given us his own body and blood that it might ruin the power of decay. For without the presence of Christ, salvation from death is not possible and humanity is unable to be freed from sin which dwells along with us in this life. He dwells with us in our souls through the Holy Spirit, and we become sharers in holiness, heavenly people and spiritual name bearers. FRAGMENT 290. [1]

[1] MKGK 256.

JESUS TOOK BREAD

ORIGEN: The bread which God the Word revealed to be his own body is the Word of the sustainer of souls. What was set upon the table was the Word proceeding from God the Word, bread from heavenly bread, as it is written: “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” [1] And the wine which God the Word revealed to be his blood is the Word filling and wondrously inebriating the hearts of all who drink it. It is the Word contained in that chalice about which it is written: “My cup overflows.” [2] This wine is the fruit of the true vine who said, “I am the true vine.” [3] It is blood of grapes processed in the winepress of his Passion. Likewise the bread is the Word of Christ ground from that grain of wheat which “falls into the earth” and “bears much fruit.” [4] It was not the visible bread that he held in his hands which God the Word called his body, but it was the Word in whose sacrament the bread was to be broken. Nor was it the visible drink that he identified as his blood, but it was the Word in whose sacrament the libation was to be poured out. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 85. [5]

[1] Ps 23:5 (22:5 LXX).

[2] Ps 23:5 (22:5 LXX).

[3] Jn 15:1.

[4] Jn 12:24.

[5] GCS 38.2:196.

BREAD AND WINE

JEROME: After the typical Passover meal was over and he had eaten the flesh of the lamb with his apostles, he took the bread that strengthens human hearts [1] and moved on to the true sacrament of the Passover. Thus even as Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God, had prefigured Christ by offering bread and wine, [2] so Jesus would exemplify this with his real body and blood. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.26.27. [3]

[1] Ps 104:15 (103:15 LXX).

[2] Gen 14:18.

[3] CCL 77:251.

HE TOOK BREAD

CHRYSOSTOM: But the evening is a sure sign of the fullness of times and that the things were now come to the very end. He took bread and gave thanks to teach us how we ought to celebrate this sacrament and to show that he does not unwillingly come to the Passion. He is teaching us so that whatever we may suffer, we may bear it thankfully. So it is a sign of good hope. If the [Mosaic] type pointed to deliverance from bondage, how much more will the truth he embodies set free the whole world. He is being delivered up for the benefit of our whole human race. This is why he did not ordain the sacrament before this time. But from then on, when the rites of the law were no longer in effect, Jesus ordained it. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 82.1. [1]

[1] PG 58:738; NPNF 1 10:491.

HE TOOK THE CUP

ORIGEN: If therefore we wish to receive the bread of blessing from Jesus, who is eager to give it, we should enter the city and go into the house, prepared beforehand, where Jesus kept the Passover with his disciples. We ascend to the “large, furnished upper room” [1] where he “took the cup” from the Father and, “when he had given thanks, he gave it to them” who had gone up there with him and said, “Drink this, for this is my blood of the new covenant.” The cup was both consumed and poured out. It was consumed by the disciples. It was “poured out for the remission of sins” committed by those who drink it. If you want to know in what sense it was poured out, compare this saying with what was written [by Paul]: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts.” [2] If the blood of the covenant was poured into our hearts for the remission of our sins, then by the pouring of that potable blood into our hearts all the sins we have committed in the past will be remitted and wiped clean. He who took the cup and said “drink this all of you” will not depart from us who drink it but will drink it with us (since he himself is in each of us), for we are unable alone or without him either to eat of the bread or to drink of the fruit of the true vine. You should not marvel that he who is himself the bread also eats the bread with us or that he who is himself the cup of the fruit of the vine also drinks it with us. This is possible because the Word of God is omnipotent and is at once the bearer of many different names, for the multitude of his virtues are innumerable, since he is himself every virtue. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 86. [3]

[1] Lk 22:12.

[2] Rom 5:5.

[3] GCS 38.2:199-200.

26:28 | Poured Out for the Forgiveness of Sins

MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT

JEROME: From material things he moves on to spiritual things—namely, the vine transplanted from Egypt is the people of Israel to whom the Lord speaks through Jeremiah: “Yet I planted you a choice vine. … How then have you degenerated and become a wild vine?” Isaiah the prophet also celebrates this in his lovely canticle, and Scripture bears witness to it in different places. Therefore the Lord says that he will not drink of this fruit of the vine except in the kingdom of his Father. I believe the kingdom of the Father is the faith of the believers, which the apostle confirms when he says, “The kingdom of God is within you.” [1] Therefore, when the Jews have received the kingdom of the father—note that he says “of the father” and not “of God” (every “father” is the name of the son)—when, as I say, they have believed in God the Father and the Father has led them to the Son, the Lord will drink of their wine, like Joseph reigning in Egypt, who will drink and be merry with his brothers. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.26.29. [2]

[1] Lk 17:21.

[2] CCL 77:251-52.

WHAT WAS FORESHADOWED

CHRYSOSTOM: Why was this sacrament ordained at the time of the Passover? That we might learn that he is the giver of the law and that the things that are foreshadowed in the law are fulfilled in him. The Old Testament was a type of the things to come. He is the truth of those things. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 82.1. [1]

[1] PG 58:738; NPNF 1 10:491.

26:29-30 | In My Father’s Kingdom

WHETHER THE FATHER WILLED THE SON’S DEATH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The disciples were not merely confused; rather the matter greatly disturbed them, and the knowledge of this mystery was hard to grasp. How could one be raised from the dead, or one with countless signs done on behalf of the people be handed over to death and dishonor? Yet this agrees with what the prophet said: “Strike the shepherd.” [1] David also says to the Father, “Therefore those whom you struck, they will persecute.” [2] However, not all this occurred at the will of the Father; he did not desire for him [the Son] to suffer, if only the Jews would have accepted him. So one cannot say he willed a murder. The Father consented with the Son’s choice to suffer this. So it is written that the Father struck “the shepherd.” He permitted him to suffer yet had the power to prevent the suffering. Something like this is at work in the passage that says Pilate was “over” Christ. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above,” [3] that is, “if the Father had not permitted me to suffer.” FRAGMENT 292. [4]

[1] Zech 13:7.

[2] Ps 69:26 (68:27 LXX). The text here agrees best with LXX.

[3] Jn 19:11.

[4] MKGK 257.

I SHALL NOT DRINK AGAIN OF THIS VINE

CHRYSOSTOM: For because he had discoursed with them concerning his Passion and cross, he again introduces what he has to say about his resurrection. Here he speaks of “my Father’s kingdom,” which was his way of speaking of his own resurrection.

And in what sense did he drink after he was raised again? We must answer carefully to guard against those of low mind who might suppose the resurrection was merely an appearance. The apostles understood themselves after the resurrection to have eaten and drunk with him. He said this to show them that they would see him manifestly risen and that he would be with them once more. They themselves were to be witnesses to these events, in that they both saw them and experienced them. So he says, I will not drink the fruit of this vine again with you “until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” You will see me rise again. You will bear witness to my resurrection. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 82.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:739-40; NPNF 1 10:492.

WHEN I DRINK IT NEW

CHRYSOSTOM: But what is “new”? He will drink it new as having an immortal and incorruptible body, a spiritual body. He will not drink out of need for drink. For it is not a body that suffers or has bodily needs. It was not because he needed to eat and drink after the resurrection that he spoke in this way of that which is new but in order to give them full assurance of his resurrection. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 82.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:740; NPNF 1 10:492.

SINGING A HYMN

ORIGEN: After the disciples celebrated the feast with their teacher and received the bread of blessing and ate the body of the Word and drank the cup of thanksgiving, Christ taught them to sing a hymn to the Father for these gifts and to pass from one height to another height, for the faithful are never able to do anything in the valley. So they went up to “the Mount of Olives,” where each one of them, like a fruitful olive tree, was able to say, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.” [1] And those who had not yet become “like a green olive tree in the house of God” but were still “like olive shoots around the table” of their spiritual father, [2] were also able to be present on the Mount of Olives, about which Zechariah prophesied. [3] And how fitting it was that this mount of mercy be chosen as the place where the disciples would be forewarned of their future weakness. It is fitting because Christ did not wish upon them what he only foretold, for he was then already preparing to receive converts, not to banish defectors. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 86. [4]

[1] Ps 52:8 (51:10 LXX).

[2] HE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST | MATTHEW 14:1-12

[3] Zech 14:4.

[4] GCS 38.2:199-200.