Sunday
June 23rd 2019 Corpus Christi (Cycle C)
Everything Old is New Again
The tie in
between today’s readings: Melchizedek and the New Covenant
A
little background before we get to our reading in Genesis today. There was a
war between five kings of the south against four kings of the east for control
over trade routes. The eastern kings defeated the southern kingdoms, sacked
their cities, and carried off the conquered citizens as slaves. It really
didn’t concern our hero Abram (Abraham) until he got the word that his nephew,
Lot was among the captured. Kin is kin. Saddle up, boys. We’re riding hard to
save the day! Desperately outnumbered,
Abram miraculously routs the eastern kings and recaptures the hostages and the
loot.
Enter
Melchizedek, the mysterious. I believe that he is a Christophany, a bodily
appearance of the preincarnate Jesus. He appears out of nowhere on the pages of
Genesis 14:18-20. He had no father, mother, or genealogy (Hebrews 7:3) His name
means “king of righteousness” also he is the king of Salem, which means “king
of peace”. He feeds Abram and the crowd that’s with him with bread and wine. Is
this starting to sound familiar? Abram knows that a greater king than he has
yet encountered is here. Abram gives him a tithe, a tenth of the spoils, which recognizes
that God was the reason for his stunning victory. Melchizedek blesses him and
that’s the last we hear from him...until Psalm 110.
Jesus
quotes Psalm 110:1 to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:44:
Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the
Spirit call Him Lord? For he says: (44) The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my
right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’” (45) So if David calls
Him Lord, how can He be David’s son?”
David would never call his great, great,
great...grandson, Lord. This shows that the Messiah is more than merely David’s
descendant. Today, we know that He is God’s Son: the Word made flesh. Move down to Psalm 110:4:
The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind:
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
Whoa!
Where is this coming from? During King David’s time and for thousands of years,
the Aaronic priesthood and the tribe of Levi generation after generation
offered animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. Now, from out of
nowhere, Melchizedek is reintroduced and in conjunction with Messiah, Jesus, no
less. Something greater than the Aaronic priesthood is here. But what sacrifice
did Melchizedek offer?
 |
| Google Images |
“...and
He said to His disciples, ‘Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty
each’” (Luke 9:14). Jesus feeds a hungry crowd of five thousand in the miracle
of the fishes and loaves, our reading in Luke 9:11-17. To top it off, they collect twelve baskets of
leftovers. Let’s see twelve apostles...I wonder if anybody got a basket for
Jesus, but I digress. Even though this miracle is recorded in all the gospels,
the real action is in John Chapter 6: The Bread of Life Discourse. The people
think Jesus may be that Prophet which Moses foretold would come. They also made
a quick connection with yesterday’s dinner and manna from heaven. He loses them
trying to relate the physical to the spiritual. He tells them that He is the
living bread that came down from heaven. They’re not buying that. They grew up
with Him. Besides that, all of this talk about eating his flesh and drinking
his blood to live forever...that’s plain crazy! They leave. Jesus is not
surprised. As He said, you need some God input to understand John Chapter 6
and, in all fairness, many of us are still struggling with it today.
1
Corinthians 11:23-26 is the familiar account of the bread and wine at the Last
Supper known to everyone who attends Mass. In fact, it is the climax of the
celebration of the New Covenant. It takes us to the moment when Jesus died on
the cross for our sins. He as high priest in the order of Melchizedek offered
his own battered body and spilled blood in the real Holy of Holies in heaven to
the Father once and for all. The veil in the Jerusalem Temple was torn in two
and the Aaronic priesthood ended. When by faith, we receive His body and blood
we identify with Him as His bride the Church and we become part of each other
in Him.
So
what can we say about Jesus our Prophet, King, and High Priest on the Feast of
Corpus Christi? We see Him bodily as a Christophany in Melchizedek. He is
portrayed in the Old Testament sacrifices of the Aaronic priesthood, which He
fulfills when He comes as the Incarnate Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
the world. We know Him as the God-man who as one of us, died on Calvary's
cross. We know Him in the bread and wine when we worship. We can “see” the body
of Christ in all of these aspects, but there is a best way to know what the
Lord looks like. The most beautiful way of seeing Jesus is when someone sees
Jesus in us. We are His hands, His feet, and His face. We are His reflection. We
are the body of Christ! Let’s let our light shine!
No comments:
Post a Comment