1

The Lamb’s Supper

Week 18 The Real Presence & The Second Coming – Part 1

One of the main themes of the Book of Revelation is this idea of Jesus coming soon. The last couple of generations, this present generation and the one before, have made this last book of the Bible all about the second coming and final coming of Jesus at the end of “days”. The book itself seems to make this clear both at the first part of the book and the last.

Revelation 1:3 (RSV2CE) 3 Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near.

Revelation 22:7 (RSV2CE) 7 And behold, I am coming soon.” Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

This is confusing to say the least, because if this is speaking of the second coming of Jesus, the word soon seems to be just plain wrong. He hasn’t come back yet and its been over 2000 years. Either the word soon is a wrong interpretation of the original Greek, or soon doesn’t mean back then, what it means today. Scott then begins to correct a literal interpretation of these verses, common in our times, that incorrectly changes the whole meaning of these verses. The modern literal interpretation of these verses speaks only to the second and final coming of Jesus and leaves no room for a different understanding. Since Jesus hasn’t come yet, could it be the word “soon” has a different meaning in the 1st century than it does in our time. We must not forget the overriding theme of the heavenly liturgy throughout the entire Book of Revelation, it is all about the Mass going on in heaven.

2

In fact, Scott begins to make the case that the word soon, in a liturgical context, may mean the coming of Jesus was sooner than anyone could have imagined. Remember how many times “the Lamb” is spoken of in these passages. Why does the book speak of the Lamb coming soon, could that have a liturgical meaning in relation to the Mass, instead of the second and final coming of Jesus in the last

days? Scott believes that the word “soon” here meant for those 1st century Christians, the “soon coming of the Lamb of God”, that was in reality the Real Presence of Jesus coming to those early Christians through the Eucharist of the Holy

Mass. Scott bases this understanding on the Greek word, parousia, translated as the word “coming” in several passages of Revelation. The literal meaning of the word is “presence”. Used in a context, it speaks of someone who shows up at an event, you would say they are present, it is their parousia. St. Paul uses a form of this word in this passage: 1 Corinthians 5:3 (RSV2CE) 3 For though absent in body I am present (parousia) in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment

There is the implied meaning of coming, but the primary understanding of parousia is “presence”. Scott goes on to say that we could call the Eucharist, the sacrament of parousia. Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist as the second “person” of the Godhead. We keep saying, we receive in the Eucharist the body, blood, soul, and divinity, but that is simply describing the total and personal presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine, becoming His Body and Blood. Mike pointed out that the Book of Revelation says He will come in glory, but

3

what glory are we talking about, most of us do not see that amazing glory at Mass…where’s the glory? The problem is our present state, living in the flesh of our human bodies, acting as a veil, preventing us from seeing the full glory of God.

Remember when Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of Peter James, and John up on the mountain, what happened? He pulled the veil of their flesh back for a

just a few moments, so they could see Him in all His glory, the glory that was there all the time. Luke 9:28–32 (RSV2CE) 28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was

altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep but kept awake, and they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Peter was so overwhelmed with the glory of Jesus, he wanted to build a permanent structure up on that mountain and just stay right there. But they had to come down from that mountain into the reality of everyday life.

The fact is Jesus did come to us in all His glory at the last Mass we celebrated, and He will be present again in all His glory in the next one. His glory comes to us every time we hear the priest say the heavenly liturgy, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of world…blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb”. But the glory we are talking about, described over and over in this Book of

4

Revelation, is the glory of the Lamb of God. Yes, He comes to us as our High Priest in heaven, but also as the eternal sacrifice of His own body and blood, soul and divinity. Not as the bloody and beaten corpse who died on the cross, but instead He comes to each and every one of us, as Jesus Christ glorified, Son of the living God deified. The resurrected Lamb of God, wrapped in heavenly glory, comes to earth at every Mass, veiled in the appearance of bread and wine, to feed all who will come to be strengthened by the body and blood of Jesus Himself. He comes as the hidden manna from heaven.

Revelation 2:17 (RSV2CE) 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.’

Mike Aquilina asked the obvious question, why is the manna hidden? Why not just come out into the open for all the world to see? Scott’s obvious answer to Mike’s obvious question is this, if God suddenly appeared to all of us in all His glory, our clay bodies would not survive, we would all be toast. Secondly, it is much more effective to draw somebody closer to you with a lovely carrot, rather than a big ugly stick. I like the way Scott described why God doesn’t just appear, with a voice coming from heaven saying, “I am Almighty God and I am about to appear right here and right now, cover your eyes, and get ready to be fried like a french-fry…3,2,1…bang”. No…He would never do that, in His mercy He comes to us humbly as bread and wine but then transforming it for our spiritual nourishment into heavenly food, hidden manna from heaven. This is one of the reasons that purgatory makes perfect sense to me, nothing unclean, nothing stained with sin will be allowed to enter heaven. We will not see Jesus face to face until we have been completely and perfectly purified.

Mike asked, is it possible to develop our spiritual senses to perceive and even grow in our ability to immerse ourselves in Jesus’ love and glory present to us at

5

every Mass? Scott described how a wise groom will subtly allure the love of his bride, not overwhelming her, in order to draw out of her an even deeper love that will continue to grow over time. I remember when Jackie and I first met, and our love was growing by the day, I tried to be clever, and draw out of her a stronger affection each week that went by. I wasn’t very good at it, but her delicate spirit realized what I was doing, and she responded in such a way that still brings a smile to my face after all these years. She found ways to express her growing love for me, and that love still grows to this day. Every time we come to Mass, Jesus is trying to subtly reveal to you that he loves you more than you know and to give you in this moment more than you can realize, He is giving us Himself, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity hidden in the appearance of bread and wine. Every one of

us here this morning was “loved” into existence, and all our lives God the Father is hourly and daily loving us on our journey progressing through this earth, only to finally love us into our final destination, into Him, at the end of our lives.

At one point in the heavenly liturgy during

the Holy, Holy, Holy, we all sing or say, “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. We are quoting the words of the children of Israel crying out to Jesus during His glorious triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. He was coming into Jerusalem to clean out the temple that day, they had turned it into a den of thieves. We could say the same thing as Jesus comes to us at every Mass, He is coming in glory to clean each of our temples, all of us need to be cleansed as holy temples of God. Scott was reminded of the scene in Isaiah chapter 6, when he saw the Lord in His temple, high and lifted up, imagine yourself with him that day in the temple of Holy God.

6

Isaiah 6:1–8 (RSV2CE) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Even back in the Old Testament we have a picture of the future liturgy of heaven that we have been studying for the past 18 weeks in the Book of Revelation. One of the angels, a seraph flew to the altar and picked up a burning coal from the altar of God and brought to Isaiah to touch his lips with it. Isaiah had just finished confessing his sins, 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost;

7

for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” When I first read this I cringed, all I could think of was Isaiah’s lips being seared with the white-hot coal and being scarred for life. But that is not what happened, instead Isaiah’s lips were cleansed and made holy by the grace of God to prepare him for his prophetic ministry. Scott believes this whole scene is a prophet image of the Eucharist that with the body and blood of Jesus, white-hot with the love of God touching our lips and making us clean, holy set apart for the good works of God coming to us and going through us to serve the Body of Christ, and a lost world in darkness.

Revelation 1:12–13 (RSV2CE) 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest;

Once again here is a picture of Jesus our High Priest in heaven, and I am so thankful for that confession we all share at the very beginning of the Mass. “I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I greatly sinned. In my thoughts and in my words. In what I have done, and what I have failed to do. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord Our God.”

What happens when we say that Confiteor with conviction in our hearts? What happens when we just drone on, mixing our voices with all the others, thinking about Black Friday? This confession is valid to forgive all venial sins, not to replace the sacrament of penitence, but instead to make sure we are ready to receive the precious Body and Blood of Jesus in this present Mass. What about mortal sins?

8

I love the liturgy, we are given the opportunity at every Mass to throw ourselves on the mercy of the court, and who is representing us before the judge in heaven, our elder brother Jesus. What is His defense for us, this offense has no basis, no grounds in this court. The evidence of these offenses has been utterly destroyed, nailed to a cross many centuries ago, which means this one standing before you has confessed and is forgiven, and the memory of all of these venial sins has been thrown into the ocean of forgetfulness by the judge Himself. Let the Mass proceed.