Paul and the Traditional Liturgy
There are four places in the New Testament where Jesus’ Last Supper is described. Accounts are found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul. Of these four, Paul is the earliest. Scholars say Paul’s letters were written roughly around the years 45- 50 A.D. Mark was written fifteen years later, Matthew and Luke ten years after that.
This means that Paul’s account in I Corinthians 11 is the oldest Scripture we have concerning the institution of the Mass. If Jesus’ birth starts the clock ticking at zero, and he dies in 33 A.D., then Paul is writing this to the Church in Corinth only fifteen years later.
And yet there is already an element of tradition in Paul. Look how he begins: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you… “ We are as close to the beginning as we can get, and yet tradition is being affirmed. Paul handed on what he received -- that is what the word traditio means.
We sometimes think of tradition as nothing more than “the way it’s been done before.” It’s traditional to have turkey on Thanksgiving, it’s not traditional to have pizza. And because sometimes we like new things, tradition gets the reputation of being boring. But this is not the case at all.
Think of it in a different way. Traditio means literally “to hand on.” If what is being handed on is truly important, vital, if our happiness depended on it, then we would wait impatiently for the traditioning. For instance, suppose a messenger were handing on a letter by a beloved from whom we had not heard for many years.
What did Paul hand on? That’s another way of asking, “What is the Christian tradition?” What did Paul receive that he, in turn, gave to the Church at Corinth?
You know the conclusion of what he wrote. “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread…” Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his friends to eat. After supper, he took the cup, blessed it, and gave it also to his friends to drink.
Paul will not change that practice. He wants to hand it on in the form in which he received it. We could therefore say, Paul understood the liturgy he gave to the Church at Corinth to be traditional.
There is much ink spilled over what “traditional liturgy” means. Our minds go to certain kinds of music, certain kinds of architecture. But it seems to have a deeper meaning, after all. A liturgy is traditional if it hands on Jesus’ sacrificial action to repeat again, and his body and blood to eat and drink. It is traditional if it hands on Christ’s life to us.
There is one more part to the tradition, and Paul hands it on, too. “Do this in remembrance of me.” There was a command that night, and we are not to forget it. To be traditional means not to forget this, either. Keep gathering the people of God to hear the Word and share the meal of life.
That is what the Lord commanded, and Paul handed on (traditionally), and we obey. It is part of the reason why the Church is so careful with her liturgical heritage.
