Tradition:
Mass is the repeated un-bloody sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus
Truth: Jesus
suffered, bled and died as God's sacrifice once for all on the Cross
The Catholic tradition of mass began
around A.D. 1100 nearly 700 years after the beginning of the Catholic
church. Mass is defined as the un-bloody
sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus which is contained in the wafer and
wine given by the priest. The word mass means 'to send away' implying
forgiveness of sin. This changing of the elements from wafer and wine to the
actual body and blood of Jesus is known as transubstantiation and constitutes
that 'they crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame'.
(Hebrews 6:6)
This religious tradition is
derived from an inaccurate interpretation of Jesus' Words found in John 6:51-58
when He spoke to the Jews gathered around Him: "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat
of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread I will give is My flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world...Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eats My flesh,
and drinks My Blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last
day; For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My Blood, dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats Me, even he shall live by
Me. This is that Bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat
manna, and are dead; he that eats of this Bread shall live for ever."
Jesus, here, is using His physical body and blood to teach the spiritual
necessity of spiritually consuming and digesting Him/His Word into the heart
and soul by faith that spiritual power and sustenance might be given to those
who are willing to follow His simple but powerful lesson. He is not asking for
the 'First Cannnibals of Christ Church' to be established, but is instead
requiring full and complete surrender to Him and His Word!
Later in this same chapter Jesus emphasizes the significant Spiritual
power of His Word underlining the truth given prior when He says: 'It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh
profits nothing, the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, they are
Life.' (John 6:63) Jesus Who is the
Living Word must be fully digested through memory and meditation if the
believer wants Spiritual power and success (Joshua 1:8) being filled with His
Holy Spirit! (Colossians 3:16, 17; Ephesians 5:18, 19)
Concerning God's requirement for forgiveness of sin, the Scripture
clearly teaches:
"By the which will we are sanctified by
the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands
daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices which can never
take away sins; But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:10-12). One Supreme Sacrifice offered by the
Son of God for the sins of the whole world for all time, not the traditional
and sacrilegious offering of seemingly endless multiple masses 'which can never
take away sins'!
Ephesians 1:7 underlines this foundational Salvation truth: 'In Whom we have redemption through His
Blood, even the forgiveness of sins; according to the riches of His
grace." Colossians 1:14 also teaches the same truth: 'In Whom we have redemption through His
Blood, even the forgiveness of sin' as do these other places in the Word of
God: (John 1:29; 3:16; Romans 6:23; Colossians 2:13; I John 2:12; 5:12). We can therefore accurately say that God's
Truth triumphs over the most ancient Traditions of man regardless of how
tenaciously held or widespread their practice!
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