'TAKE, EAT; THIS IS MY BODY'

In his commentary Aramaic Light on the Gospel of Matthew Rocco A. Errico says the following about the phrase 'Take, eat: this is my body:

This affectionate expression of Jesus was common among Semites at a fraternal supper. Sometimes the men will declare to each other such sayings as: 'My life and my blood are for you; take the very sight of my eyes, if you will.' They will also use other similar expressions. It was not a strange thing that Jesus, whose entire life was a living sacrafice, should say to his intimate disciples/friends as he handed them the bread and the cup, 'Take, eat; this is my body;' and 'Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood.'

I have always thought that Jesus' words to his disciples about the bread and wine would have been new to their experience, as if Jesus were instituting a new thing that they had never heard of or considered before; but instead of being new, these words were likely very familiar to the disciples, words that they themselves had perhaps said to others at ordinary meals where Jesus was not present, but words that were now all the more intimate and powerful because of when and where Jesus was saying them.

It is comforting to me to consider that, at his last meal, Jesus chose ordinary, intimate expressions to convey his love for his friends, rather than feeling the need to institute a religious program that they would, henceforth, be obligated to perpetuate. 'Do this in remembrance of me, whenever you eat and drink' now (as I am thinking out loud about it) takes on the opposite meaning of what it had for me before: the idea is not to turn our ordinary meals into religous observances but to see them as occasions for intimacy with the risen Christ who is indeed present at every meal. R