The Lamb's Supper

by Scott Hahn

  Sources and References

  Introduction

  The statement by Pope John Paul II is taken from his Angelus Address (Nov. 3, 1996). Pope John Paul II also gave an “Address on Liturgy” to U.S. bishops during their 1998 ad limina visit, in which he states: “The challenge now is to . . . reach the proper point of balance, especially by entering more deeply into the contemplative dimension of worship. . . . This will happen only if we recognize that the liturgy has dimensions both local and universal, time-bound and eternal, horizontal and vertical, subjective and objective. It is precisely those tensions which give to Catholic worship its distinctive character. The universal Church is united in the one great act of praise; but it is always the worship of a particular community in a particular culture. It is the eternal worship of Heaven, but it is also steeped in time.” He then concluded: “At the core of this experience of pilgrimage is our journey as sinners into the unfathomable depths of the Church's liturgy, the liturgy of creation, the liturgy of heaven, all of which are in the end the worship of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Priest, in Whom the Church and all creation are drawn into the life of the Most Holy Trinity, our true home.” See Pope John Paul II, Springtime of Evangelization (San Diego: Basilica Press, 1999), pp. 130, 135. Pope John Paul II elucidates this vision more thoroughly in his 1995 Apostolic Letter, Orientale Lumen (“The Light of the East”).

  In Heaven Right Now

  “In the earthly liturgy . . .”Sacrosanctum Concilium 8.

  “Even a cursory reading . . .” Leonard L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation: Apocalypse and Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 53.

  Given for You

  On the number of lambs sacrificed. Josephus, Wars of the Jews VI.9.424.

  From the Beginning

  “this is the sacrifice . . .” Didache 14.3.

  “On the Lord's own day . . .” Didache 14.1.

  “As this broken bread . . .” Didache 9.4–5. 10.3, 10.5.

  “Structurally speaking . . .” Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), p. 57. See also pp. 51–60.

  “In the coming . . .” See Hartmut Gese,Essays on Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1981), pp. 128–133.

  “the place of sacrifice” See his letters to theEphesians (5.2), Trallians (7.2), andPhiladelphians (4) all cited in Johannes Quasten'sPatrology, Vol. 1 (Allen, Texas: Christian Classics, 1988).

  “Take care, then . . .” St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letters to the Philadelphians, 4.

  “From the Eucharist and prayer . . .” St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 7.

  “Let that be deemed . . .” St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8.1.

  “On the day we call . . .” St. Justin Martyr, Apology 1, 65–67. See alsoCatechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1345.

  “The food that has been . . .” St. Justin Martyr, Apology 1, 66.

  “And the offering of fine flour . . .” St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 41.

  “PRIEST: The Lord be with you . . .” For a good translation of Hippolytus's liturgical text, see Lucien Deiss, Early Sources of the Liturgy (Staten Island, N.Y.: Alba House, 1967), pp. 29–73.

  Taste and See (and Hear and Touch) the Gospel

  “You who are accustomed . . .” Origen,On Exodus, 13.3.

  “Dogma is by definition nothing other than . . .” Joseph Ratzinger, “Crisis in Catechetics,”Canadian Catholic Review (June 1983), p. 8.

  “In the dogma of the Church . . .” International Theological Commission, On the Interpretation of Dogmas (Origins, May 17, 1990), p. 10.

  “There is good reason . . .” Raymond Brown, S.S., New Testament Essays (New York: Doubleday, 1968), p. 307.

  “I Turned to See”

  “a revelation should be revealing.” Cited in Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (New York: Mentor, 1950), p. 261.

  “The millennium is, today . . .” See Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970).

  On the Book of Revelation as a “temple vision,” see R. A. Briggs, Jewish Temple Imagery in the Book of Revelation (New York: Peter Lang, 1999), pp. 45–110; A. Spatofora, From the “Temple of God” to God as the Temple: A Biblical Theological Study of the Temple in the Book of Revelation (Rome: Gregorian University Press, 1997); J. Paulien, “The Role of the Hebrew Cultus, Sanctuary, and Temple in the Plot and Structure of the Book of Revelation,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 33 (1995), pp. 245–64; W. Riley, “Temple Imagery and the Book of Revelation: Ancient Near Eastern Temple Ideology and Cultic Resonances in the Apocalypse,” Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association 6 (1982): 81–102. A majority of modern commentators (e.g., Beale, Aune, Thompson, Caird, Ladd) recognize the numerous features of John's visions as drawn from the temple liturgy (seven lampstands = the menora, the white robe as a priestly garment, etc.).

  See Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology (Washington, D.C.: Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1988), p. 39 “[I]t is extremely important to note how these two aspects—the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and the Parousia—are temporarily related. . . . The fall of Jerusalem is not the end of the world but the start of a new age in salvation history” He further observes: “Nevertheless, the impression persists that the trials and tribulations entailed in the destruction of Jerusalem are connected in time with the events of the end of the world” (p. 40).

  Who's Who in Heaven

  For a popular presentation of all four interpretive approaches to Revelation (presented side by side on every page), see S. Gregg (ed.), Revelation: Four Views—A Parallel Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).

  On the identification of “the Woman” in Rev. 12 with the Blessed Virgin Mary (who was foreshadowed in the Old Testament by “Daughter Zion,” just as she prefigures and embodies Christ's Church in the New Testament, as virgin-bride and fruitful mother), see Ignace de la Potterie, S.J., Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant (New York: Alba House, 1992), p. 253–63; George Montague, S.M., “Mary and the Church in the Fathers,” American Ecclesiastical Review 123 (1950): 153; Bernard J. Le Frois, S.V.D., The Woman Clothed with the Sun (Apoc. 12)—Individual or Collective: An Exegetical Study (Rome: Herder, 1954); idem, “The Woman Clothed with the Sun,” American Ecclesiastical Review 126 (1952): 161–80; D. J. Unger, “Did Saint John See the Virgin Mary in Glory?,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 11–12 (1949-50): 75–83, 155–61, 249–62, 292–300, 392–405, 405–415.

  “Everyone knows that this . . .” Pope Pius X, Encyclical Letter Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum 24, 1904.

  On the essential reality underlying John's figurative description of the “mystery of iniquity” (e.g., “the Beasts”), seeChristian Faith and Demonology, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1975), p. 14: “It is in effect the Book of Revelation which by revealing the enigma of the different names and symbols of Satan in Scripture, definitively unmasks his identity.”

  For more on the possible Solomonic background to 666 (1 Kgs 10:14), see A. Farrer. A Rebirth of Images: The Making of St. John's Apocalypse (London: Dacre Press, 1949), pp. 256–60. Farrer also notes: “On the sixth day of the week, and the sixth hour, says St. John, the kingdoms of Christ and Antichrist looked one another in the face in Pilate's court, and the adherents of the False Prophet (Caiaphas) firmly wrote on their foreheads the mark of the Beast, when they said, “We have no king but Caesar'. . . . Christ's Friday victory is the supreme manifestation also of the Antichrist” (p. 259).

  Apocalypse Then!

  See Ignace de la Potterie, “The Apocalypse Has Already Happened,” 30 Days 9 (1995): 56–57.

  “But it is not easy . . .” Summa Theologica III, Supplemental Question 73; see also St. Augustine, Epistle 80, which St. Thomas cites.

  Joseph Ratzinger,Eschatology, pp. 201–202: “Of its nature, the return of the Lord can be described o
nly in images. The New Testament drew its imaginative material in this connection from Old Testament descriptions of the Day of Yahweh. . . . Other material was added by way of borrowing from the cultus . . . and the Liturgy. . . . On this basis, we can offer a faithful evaluation of the language of cosmic symbolism in the New Testament. This language is liturgical language. . . .” He continues: “This analysis allows us to draw two conclusions. The cosmic imagery of the New Testament cannot be used as a source for the description of a future chain of cosmic events. All attempts of this kind are misplaced. Instead these texts form part of a description of the mystery of the Parousia in the language of the liturgical tradition. The New Testament conceals and reveals the unspeakable coming of Christ, using language borrowed from that sphere, which is graciously enabled to express in this world the point of contact with God.The Parousia is the highest intensification and fulfillment of the Liturgy. And the Liturgy is Parousia, a Parousia-like event taking place in our midst” (pp. 202–203). Ratzinger adds: “Every Eucharist is Parousia, the Lord's coming, and yet the Eucharist is even more truly the tensed yearning that He would reveal His hidden Glory” (p. 203). He thus concludes: “Seen in this perspective, the theme of the Parousia ceases to be a speculation about the unknown. It becomes an interpretation of the Liturgy and the Christian life in their intimate connection. . . .” (p. 204) [emphasis added].

  Karl Adam, The Christ of Faith (New York: Pantheon Books, 1957), pp. 283–84: . . . “So Catholic commentators prefer the explanation that our Lord's utterances in this speech [the Olivet Discourse] are to be interpreted as a prophetic vision. . . . Within this context, the fall of Jerusalem acquires primary significance in the history of salvation. For it is not the fall of any ordinary town, but the fall of the old covenant, divine judgment upon the first-born of Jahweh, because they did not know the time of their visitation. In Jesus' prophetic view, the fall of Jerusalem signifies the first act of the judgment of the world, the true introduction of the looming Last Judgment. To Jesus the town's fall was already part of the great new thing that came unawares into the world with his mission, and will reach its fulfillment in the Parousia of the Lord. And because the fall of Jerusalem, the overture to the last judgment, would take place within this generation, then, indeed, many of Christ's listeners would be witness to this judgment.”

  On the close and profound link between the Real Presence and the Parousia, see P. Hinnebusch, “The Eucharist and the Parousia,”Homiletic and Pastoral Review (November 1994): 15–19; G. Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981); F.-X. Durrwell, The Eucharist: Presence of Christ (Denville, NJ: Dimension, 1974); Jean Galot, “The Theology of the Eucharistic Presence,”Review for Religious 22 (1963: 407–26; A. J. Kenney, “Until He Comes: Eschatology and the Eucharist,” The Clergy Review 41 (1956): 514–26.

  For a good case favoring a pre-70 A.D. date for Revelation (i.e., during the Neronian persecution, before the Jewish Revolt), see K. L. Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (Tyler, Texas: I.C.E., 1989).

  On the ancient traditions surrounding the “foundation stone” (in Hebrew, èben shetiyah), upon which the Jerusalem temple was built (and where the Dome of the Rock is presently located), see B. F. Meyer, “The Temple at the Navel of the Earth,” in Christus Faber: The Master-Builder of the House of God (Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press, 1992), pp. 21–79; idem, The Aims of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979), pp. 185–87; Z. Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1973), pp. 5–49; J. Jeremias,Golgotha (Leipzig: Pfeiffer, 1926), pp. 66–68; A. J. Wensinck, The Idea of the Western Semites Concerning the Navel of the Earth (Amsterdam: Johannes Muller, 1916), pp. 22–35, 54–65. For an interesting treatment of the apparent link in Revelation 20 between the “foundation stone” and “the binding of the Dragon” during “the millennium” (i.e, the Davidic covenant period from the conquest of Jerusalem in 1003 B.C. until the birth of Jesus), when the earthly Jerusalem served as a temporary prototype of the New Covenant Kingdom, see Scott Hahn, “The End: A Bible Study on the Book of Revelation” (a thirteen-tape series distributed by St. Joseph Communication, West Covina, California; 1993); and V. Burch, Anthropology and the Apocalypse (London: Macmillan, 1939), pp. 139–209; E. Corsini,The Apocalypse (Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, 1983), pp. 361–85; and R. A. White, “Preterism and the Orthodox Doctrine of Christ's Parousia” (M.A. Thesis, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1986), pp. 42–46.

  On earthly Jerusalem in A.D. 70 as the primary object of divine covenant judgment in Revelation (vs. Rome), see A. J. Beagley, The “Sitz Im Leben' of the Apocalypse with Particular Reference to the Role of the Church's Enemies (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1987); also see D. Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Tyler, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987).

  “Spiritually, we are Semites.” Cited in J. L. McNulty in “The Bridge,” The Bridge I (1955), p. 12.

  B. F. Westcott, The Historic Faith (New York: Macmillan, 1890), p. 90: “The fall of Jerusalem was for the religious history of the world, an end as complete as death. The establishment of a spiritual Church was a beginning as glorious as the Resurrection.”

  Judgment Day

  See Augustin Cardinal Bea, “The Jewish People in the Divine Plan of Salvation,” Thought 41 (1966): 9–32. Bea states: “[W]e must keep in mind the typical prophetic perspective in which the judgment on Jerusalem is at once the model and symbol of the Last Judgment. . . . Thus, in the well-known discourse of Jesus in Matthew 24, the historical judgment on Jerusalem and the Last Judgment so intermingle as to make it impossible to decide where the one ends and the other begins. Therefore, the judgment on Jerusalem and its destruction are part of the revelation of God to mankind; through it, in one specific episode, God displays something of that terrible reality of the judgment with which the history of mankind will be concluded. Since that reality is of decided importance for mankind, according to the Holy Scripture, it is perfectly consonant with the divine teaching to project some image of it in the history of mankind as a severe but efficacious and salutary admonishment” (pp. 22–23).

  Lifting the Veil

  “We did not know . . .” See The Orthodox Church, Timothy Ware (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963), p. 269.

  “Liturgy is anticipated Parousia . . .” Joseph Ratzinger, A New Song for the Lord (New York: Crossroad, 1997), p. 129. He adds: “Hence, it is not the case that you think something up and then sing it; instead the song comes to you from the angels, and you have to lift up your heart so that it may be in tune with the music coming to it. Above all else, this is important: the liturgy is not a thing the monks create. It is already there before them. It is entering into the liturgy of the heavens. . . . Earthly liturgy is liturgy because and only because it joins what is already in process, the greater reality.”

  P. Maniyattu, Heaven on Earth: The Theology of Liturgical Spacetime in the East Syrian Curbana (Rome: Mar Thoma Yogam, 1995), pp. 25–26: “It is the holy eucharist which renders time eternal. Participation in the eucharistic liturgy enables one to transcend the limits of time and enter the sphere of sacred time. . . .”

  For further development of the liturgical structure and elements of the Book of Revelation, see J.-P. Ruiz, “The Apocalypse of John and Contemporary Roman Catholic Liturgy,”;Worship 68 (1994): 482–504; M. M. Thompson, “Worship in the Book of Revelation,” Ex Auditu 8 (1992): 45–54; Ugo Vanni, “Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation,” New Testament Studies 37 (1991): 348–72; B. W. Snyder, “Combat Myth in the Apocalypse: The Liturgy of the Day of the Lord and the Dedication of the Heavenly Temple” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Graduate Theological Union and Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, 1991); G. A. Gray, “The Apocalypse of Saint John the Theologian: Verbal Icon of Liturgy,” (M.A. Thesis, Mount Angel Seminary, 1989); E. Cothenet, “Earthly Liturgy and Heavenly Liturgy according to the Book of Revelation,” in Rol
es in the Liturgical Assembly, XII Liturgical Conference Saint-Serge (New York: Pueblo, 1981), pp. 115–35; L. Thompson, “Cult and Eschatology in the Apocalypse of John,” Journal of Religion 49 (1969): 330–50; M. A. Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse (London: Lutterworth, 1960).

  Significantly, the Catechism states: “The Book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, “A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne': “the Lord God.'. . .” (1137, emphasis added). This teaching of the Catechism underscores how appropriate and illuminating it is to read and interpret the Apocalypse specifically “in the Church's liturgy,” even as the book instructs its readers to do (Rev. 1:3); see J.-P. Ruiz in Ezekiel in the Apocalypse (New York: Peter Lang, 1989), p. 488: “[T]he liturgy was the privileged setting for understanding John's Apocalypse. There the Scriptures were read and interpreted. . . . Cultic vocabulary, liturgical formulae, and hymnic-doxological elements throughout the book offer evidence that this was the case.” Also see Leonard L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 72: “Moreover, the seer receives his visions “on the Lord's Day' (1:10)—in sacro tempore—the day of worship in the early church, just as he expects them to be read in the worshiping community. Prophetic revelation is both received and proclaimed in the context of worship. Those comments by the seer square with Paul's, who states that an “apocalypse' makes up a part of the service when Christians gather for worship (1 Cor. 14:26). At the end of a discussion on spiritual gifts, Paul describes a service of worship: it includes, among other things, the singing of hymns and the proclamation of apocalypses (1 Cor. 14:26). . . . The prophet can use any one of several forms of worship: a prayer, a hymn, a revelation, or even a teaching. The important thing is that the services be orderly and controlled. The true prophet, even when he is “in the Spirit,' has control (1 Cor. 14:32). The close connection between worship and apocalypse in the Book of Revelation thus conforms in several respects to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians.” He concludes: “In both Revelation and the early church, worship serves as the setting in which eschatological narratives (such as the Book of Revelation itself) unfold. Furthermore, in both Revelation and the churches of Asia Minor, worship realizes the kingship of God and his just judgment; through liturgical celebration eschatological expectations are experienced presently. Hymns, thanksgivings, doxologies, and acclamations realize in the context of worship the eschatological message. . . . The Book of Revelation, by functioning in communal worship of Asia Minor as heavenly worship functions in the book itself, links heaven and earth. The work mediates its own message” (pp. 72–73). Also see David E. Aune, The Cultic Setting of Realized Eschatology in Early Christianity (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972).