“Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who
takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the
Lamb.”
The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus
coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world! John 1:29
Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give
honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his
bride has prepared herself. Revelation 19:7
Rev. Dwight
Longenecke, parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary parish in
Greenville, South Carolina, tells us:
“Behold” carries a connotation of
contemplation and wonder. We say, “That is something to behold!” when
confronted with a wonder or some great beauty. “Here is” conveys no depth. Then
“Behold” is repeated to bring us to wonder at the truth that the Lamb takes
away the sins of the world....
Then the priest says, “Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the
Lamb.” He says “Blessed” instead of “Happy.” “Happy is just, well, happy….
“Blessed” on the other hand, implies God’s involvement. A Christian person is
blessed by God and therefore has a reason to be happy. Deep down happy.
Existential Happy. Blessing implies a supernatural grace received.
The priest now says, “The supper of the Lamb” instead of
“his supper.” “His supper” just sounds like you’ve been invited around to some
guy’s house for soup and sandwiches….Not really. “The supper of the Lamb”
carries much more meaning — meaning which was lost in the old translation.
First of all, “the supper of the Lamb” refers to the marriage supper of the
Lamb” in the Book of Revelation. (Rev.19:7)
This is the consummation of all
things, and connects with the nuptial imagery in Ephesians where St Paul
describes the church as the Bride of Christ. The Eucharist is therefore an
eschatological wedding feast at which the whole Church and we as individuals
are joined with Christ the Bridegroom. At the Eucharist we “participate fully”
in the union with the Bridegroom….
There is more: the “supper of the Lamb” is
also a reference back to the Passover Feast — which was not only a type of the
sacrifice of Christ, but also a pointer to the Eucharist and the final consummation
of the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Jews referred to the Passover Lamb as
“the Lamb of God” and so this language “the supper of the Lamb” now carries all
these references and meanings…. An allusion is meant to evoke not only the
original literary story or text. It is meant to evoke an entire episode or
story.
The allusions to Scripture in the liturgy are actually allusions to
events and images within salvation history. Here the liturgical concept of
anamnesis holds hands with the literary term allusion. Anamnesis is the idea
that as we remember previous events in a liturgical and ritualistic action we
do not only remember them, but we re-live them. Events from the past are
brought into the present moment. Liturgy makes time travelers of us all.
Thus,
when we recall the Passover we re-live and bring into the present moment that
saving event. With that we gather up that dark Friday afternoon when the Lamb
of God actually took away the sins of the world, and we also bring into the one
present liturgical moment Christ’s words about wedding feasts and brides and
bridegrooms and foolish virgins and keeping lamps lit and we look forward to
that great marriage supper of the Lamb where all things shall be reconciled.
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