SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (YEAR C) — CORPUS CHRISTI

1st Reading              Genesis 14: 18-20

Psalm                         110: 1, 2, 3, 4 (R. 4cd)

R:// "You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek"

2nd Reading           1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

Gospel                     Luke 9: 11b-17

GIFT OF SELF

Peace and Goodness, friends! We celebrate today the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Year C) — Corpus Christi. This is the second of the Solemnities of the Lord during Ordinary Time. Today's celebration has to do with the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life. Let us quickly dive into the readings. 

Our first reading is from Genesis 14: 18-20. This is a relatively short passage but dense from all perspectives. Suddenly, we hear of a mysterious person, Melchizedek. He met Abram when Abram was returning from a war. In fact, that is the first explicit war mentioned in Scripture. Interestingly, the king of Sodom also meets Abram on his return, in the valley of Shaveh (the King's valley) (Gen. 14: 17). This location is just outside the city of Salem. Salem is probably the shortened form of Jerusalem (Psalm 76: 1-2). The tale is quite interesting. While Melchizedek will meet Abram and give him bread and wine and give out blessing, the king of Sodom will request for the goods that Abram had from the war. Thus, "Give me the captives; the goods you keep" (Gen. 14: 21). These are surely two contrasting figures — the King of Salem is a contrast to the King of Sodom. 

What heightens the contrast is that the name of the King of Sodom is "Bera," which means "evil" (Gen. 14: 2), and the name of the King of Salem is "Melchizedek," which means "my king is righteous", from the two Hebrew words "Malki" (my king) and "Ṣaddiq" (righteous). On the one hand is a king who is intently selfish, and on the other hand is another king who is generous. Rather than seeking to take away, the ideal king is not one who cheats and drains the energy of his subjects but feeds and celebrates with them. This theme forms the basis of the 2nd Reading from 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26. Paul gives the earliest words of the institution of the Eucharist as a mark of generosity to counter the looming selfishness in the Christian community of Corinth.

The second detail is that Melchizedek is not only a king but a priest of God Most High (El 'elyon) (Gen. 14: 18). This is a person who had two roles. He is a royal priest. His priesthood is highlighted by two details. First, his presentation of bread and wine, and second by the fact of blessing Abram by God Most High, the maker of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 14: 18b-19). These are two very heavy details. He gives Abram a FEAST and a BLESSING. 

The feast is made up of Bread and Wine. Whenever a battle is over, there is usually a feast marking the victory. That kind of battle aligns with the battle with the snake in the Garden of Eden. Victory over evil is victory over the snake. Every feast is a celebration of victory over evil. As a priest, Melchizedek brings the elements of Bread and Wine to mark that victory of Abram during the war. What are these two elements? Bread, in the eucharistic sense, is the product of plant life. Wine, often associated with grapevines but also symbolising the life-giving aspect of blood, is the product of animal life. What Melchizedek is offering is both plant and animal life. This is creation. These are Eucharistic elements (species). In the Eucharist, we offer nothing but creation. It is a part of what God gives us that we offer to him. These two are the category of elements in the Garden of Eden. Victory over evil, over the ancient snake, grants us access back to the Garden to offer the elements of the Garden to God. To gain access to the Garden to offer the gifts of bread and wine, we need to drive out sin from our lives. I think that could be an image of the penitential rites. Additionally, Paul will caution against partaking of the Eucharist in sin (1 Cor. 11: 27-32). 

The other priestly work Melchizedek does is to BLESS Abram. Remember that as part of God's promises to Abram, God said, "I will BLESS you" (Gen. 12: 2). Is God blessing him now? Melchizedek, as Hebrews 7 will relate to us, is "without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever" (Heb. 7: 3). In here, the author sees Melchizedek as the Son of God. More than that, the description also fits God, who is the Ancient of Days, not born and whose end is unknown. In that vein, Melchizedek blessing Abram is a fulfilment of God's promise to bless Abram. 

The third detail is that "Abram gave him [Melchizedek] a tenth of everything" (Gen. 14: 20). Why 10th? There is a kind of relation here. Melchizedek is the 10th king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. That is quite interesting. More than that, we see that Abram surrenders to God as a form of thanksgiving. Any time, up to now in the Old Testament, when something strange happens, the survivor(s) usually offers thankful sacrifice to God. Remember that after the flood, Noah offers sacrifice to God (Gen. 8: 20). After the war, Abram gives a thankful sacrifice to the priest of God. He gives a 10th. The number 10 is the number of completeness or wholeness. It is primarily occasioned by the 10 commandments. Abram offers himself totally to the priest. Priests offer sacrifice. Therefore, Abram's offering of himself is sacrificial. He adds himself wholly to the sacrifice of the priest. He offers not only the goods but because the goods are his, he gives himself alongside. The Eucharist is nothing but a thanksgiving sacrifice to God for making us survivors. In the Eucharistic celebration, we offer ourselves also. 

The Gospel passage is from Luke 9: 11-17. The setting is Bethsaida (Lk. 9:10), and the time of the event narrated was when "the day began to wear away", thus when evening was drawing near. They were in a lonely place or a deserted place. The Greek word used by he author and translated as lonely or deserted is "ἔρημος" (erēmos), and that is the word for a desert. This makes us remember Israel in the desert while they journeyed from Egypt. This is a kind of victory over sin and slavery. The author used this as a link to Israel in the desert. In that desert, Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law. Here in Luke, we have Jesus speaking to the crowds of the Kingdom of God. He taught them. Jesus is the new Moses. Also, Israel is well aware of the incident of the Manna in the desert when Moses was the leader. They supposed that Moses gave them bread. In Luke, we have Jesus multiplying bread for them in the desert.

From the Gospel, we notice that the disciples cannot feed all the people gathered there. This is because they do not have what it takes to do that. Jesus did it. He provided for them. Jesus was generous to them. He, the new Moses, provided bread for them to eat. Remember, we established that victory over evil calls for feasting. Jesus cured those who needed healing. Their various predicaments are their evils. There should be feasting. The items available are not enough. Jesus provided in abundance. True generosity comes from God. The number 5 is the number of Grace, the gift of God. 5 loaves and 2 fish made in abundance to feed 5 thousand people who were seated in groups of 50 is indeed God's gift. 

The final detail is that Jesus asked the disciples to "make them to sit down in companies [or groups], about 50 each" (Lk. 9: 14). The author adds that there were about 5,000 men. The Greek word used for men is "andres," which is the word used to talk about a male. This means that there were children and women who were not counted. Why put the stress men? Prior to the institutionalisation of the priesthood, fathers of households were the liturgical leaders. By stressing men, the author wants us to go back to the first leaders of the liturgy. 

Mathematically, there were 5,000 men, and the people were to sit in groups of 50. This means that there would be 100 groups. What is special about the number 100? Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, marking the fulfilment of God's promise to make him father of many nations (Gen. 21: 5). 100 is also the number for abundance (Lk. 8:8). What we could get from this is that the author wants us to remember the origin of the priesthood in the family. Fathers have roles to lead the religious affairs of families. With the number 100, the author could be communicating the message of completeness of the provision of God, not only in food terms but also in terms of human resources.

Jesus takes the bread and fish and blessed them. Melchizedek also BLESSED. This is a priestly duty. Jesus is a priest.

Pax et Bonum