“The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied: those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live for ever” – Psalm 22:26

God reveals His plan to feed us in the Holy Eucharist throughout Sacred Scripture. We can see this revealed in events of the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament. Here we will briefly highlight some of these prefigurements and fulfillments.

It is no coincidence that our Blessed Lord was laid in a manger at His Birth (Lk 2:7). A foreshadowing of Jesus feeding us in the Eucharist (Mt 26:26-28). A manger is an open box designed to feed livestock. The word “manger” comes from the Latin word “mandere” which means to chew. Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, means “House of Bread” in Hebrew and Aramaic, and “House of Meat” in Arabic. From the very birth of Christ, we see an orientation towards the Last Supper.

Jesus is a priest in the order of Malchizedek who, in Genesis, offered the non-bloody sacrifice of bread and wine (Heb 7:11-27, Gen 14:18, & Ps 110:04).

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb that was to be sacrificed and eaten with unleavened bread by the Israelites when God saved them from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land (Ex 12, Lev 23:4-14). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes a way the sins of the world! (Jn 1:24). He is our pascal lamb (1 Cor 5:7). Jesus Christ, who nourishes us in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, stands before the Father, as our slain Paschal Lamb (𝘙𝘦𝘷 5:6, 5:12).

God fed the Israelites with Manna (Bread from Heaven) & quail meat as they journeyed through the desert to the Promised Land (Ex 16:4-13). Jesus fulfills the miracle of Manna & quail meat in Exodus, because He is the bread from heaven and we must eat his flesh to have eternal life (see Bread of Life discourse in Jn 6:22-52).

The Bread of Presence in the Old Covenant Temple was to be eaten by the priests and given every Sabbath as a holy offering to God (Lev 24:5-9); and be kept always before the Lord (Ex 25:30). This was a sign of the everlasting covenant between God and His people. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus’ Real Presence (1 Cor 10:15-16). In the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, Jesus states, “for this is my blood of the covenant”. The new covenant is the everlasting covenant.

From the very beginning God was telling us how He intended to feed us. Our Lord instructed Adam and Eve in the garden that they could eat from any tree, except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 2:16). It’s easy to overlook, but important to note, that of the trees they could eat from was also the Tree of Life. After the fall… “lest he put fort his hand and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever”-therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden (Gen 3:23). Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6). St. Peter, referring to the Cross, tells us Jesus was hung from a tree for our sins (1 Pt 2:24). Here St. Peter is calling us back to the Tree of Life from the garden. In John 6, Jesus tells us He is the bread from Heaven and if we eat His flesh and drink his blood we will live forever (v51), have eternal life and be raised on the last day (v54), He will abide in us and we will live because of Him (v56), and “he who eats this bread will live forever” (v58). Considering this imagery, and all mentioned so far, we can see how Jesus fulfills the Tree of Life from whom we eat and have His life in us, that we will live forever.

We began referencing Psalm 22. Jesus referenced Psalm 22 while nailed to the cross, when He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Mt 27:46, Ps 22:1). Psalm 22 reveals to us how God intends to save us from the slavery of sin through Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection; and that He intends to feed us through Christ.  Jesus fulfills what is revealed in Psalm 22. Read this Psalm, John 6 and the accounts of the Last Supper and pray. Ask God our Father for the grace of repentance and to draw you into a more intimate union with Him through the Holy Eucharist in the Holy Spirit. Spend time with our Lord, in the Blessed Sacrament, at adoration.

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” (Jn 6:35). At the King’s table we shall eat and be satisfied. Our hearts will live for ever.

- Jake

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