The Eucharistic debate in the fourth gospel : a contribution to the meaning of self-giving in Christian life

Abstract

One of the most debated issues in the Fourth Gospel is that of the Eucharist. All the Synoptic Gospels narrate the Institution of the Eucharist by Jesus during the last supper, which was a Passover meal. The Fourth Gospel, however, omits this important narrative from his Gospel. Instead of stating that Jesus presented the bread and the wine as his body and blood, John narrates the unique episode of the foot washing (Jn 13). Scholars are divided about the reason why the Fourth Evangelist, omits this important piece of Christian tradition. In this respect our study will begin with a study of the sacramental debate about the Fourth Gospel. This will be the theme of chapter one. Our conclusions will serve as an aid to the following chapters of this present work. The second chapter will be dedicated to the various New Testament narratives that narrate the Institution of the Eucharist. The importance of such task becomes evident when we compare this tradition with that of the Fourth Gospel. Why does the Fourth Gospel omit the episode of the Institution of the Eucharist? Is John after a theological meaning of the Eucharist? Chapters three to five will seek to give an answer. Chapter three will thus consider the Eucharistic allusions found in Jn 6, that is, in the episode of the multiplication of the loaves and in the immediate discourse on the Bread from Heaven. Chapter four will discuss John's theological understanding of the footwashing episode in relation to the Eucharist. The fifth chapter will focus on the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist which John elucidates through his use of the Lamb motif repeated for various times during the passion narrative. All this ground work serves to show how John's presentation of the Eucharist may be a source and an aid to the meaning of self-giving in Christian life. This will be particularly considered in the conclusion of this dissertation. The methodological method employed in this task is a combination of the Historical Critical Method with the Literary Approach. By the help of these two methods we hope to go behind the text, that is, the history of the transmission of the Fourth Gospel. At the same time we also intend to study this Gospel as a narrative in its final form.