Today’s question is for movie buffs. One of my favorite actors is Mel Gibson. Since this weekend we celebrate Fathers’ Day, you might think my question is going to be about “The Patriot,” the movie in which Mel Gibson played a father who was deeply interested in the welfare of his children. But I have a different question for you.
My question is this: Where was Mel Gibson born? No, it was not in Australia. He was born on January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children in a good-old, Irish-Catholic family. However, they moved to Australia during the Vietnam war years and Mel attended an all-boys Catholic high school in Sydney.
Now for my second question. Where was Mel-chizedek from? And no, “chizedek” is not his last name! The whole name is “Melchizedek,” all one word. OK, I admit the “question” I ask is often a stretch! I also admit that the relationship of “Mel Gibson” and “Mel Chizedek” is the greatest of all of them. But how else does one get to Melchizedek in the modern world? So, again, I ask you: where is Melchizedek from? It’s really not an unfair question, if you were listening to the first reading for today from the Book of Genesis.
A few minutes ago, we heard: “In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God most high, he blessed [Abraham] … “And then it goes on to say that in return “ … [Abraham] gave him a tenth of everything … [he had.]”
So Melchizedek was a king of Salem and a priest. According to biblical scholars, “Salem” is the old name for what was later called “Jerusalem.” So Melchizedek was a king and priest in Jerusalem in the days of Abraham.
You may wonder why this is such a big deal and why we read this passage on today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, the special celebration of the body and blood of Christ, a feast day that brings our Easter season to its annual conclusion.
Well, we make a big deal of Melchizedek because Saint Paul does. In the early days of Christianity, Jewish Christians were puzzled by how Jesus could be considered to be a “priest” offering himself as a sacrifice to God, when he was not from either the tribe of Aaron or the tribe of Levi, the Israelite tribes charged with the responsibility of ministering to the religious needs of the people.
Saint Paul in his letter to the Hebrews, points out that Melchizedek was a priest who had the authority to bless Abraham and how Abraham paid a tithe, a tenth of all he owned, to Melchizedek, thus indicating that Melchizedek out-ranked father Abraham, the patriarch of all the tribes of Israel. And finally, Saint Paul says that Jesus’ priestly functions derive from Melchizedek rather than from either the tribe of Aaron or of Levi.
Now today, tribal relationships among the Israelites are not as important to us as they were to the first Christians. However, even today we speak of our own priests being of the “order of Melchizedek.” And you will still hear his name in the first Eucharistic prayer used in the modern mass.
So perhaps on this day when this passage is read, it’s appropriate that we be asked to support the formation and education of our own priests in our own seminary. As you may recall: today’s entire collection will go to St Mary Seminary for its continuing operation.
But back to Saint Paul. Saint Paul in the passage we heard today from his Letter to the Corinthians takes up another major component of our Eucharistic celebration. Once more we heard the words of blessing that Jesus, himself, used when he took up the bread and the cup on the evening before he suffered and died on the cross. “[He said] … ‘this is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ …. ‘this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’”
The “cup of the new covenant.” How many times have we heard these words without truly appreciating what they mean? Do we recall the older covenant God made with his people: the covenant God made with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses? Do we remember how, each time, God said: I will be your God and you will be my people. I will protect you, nurture you, guide you. And in return, you will trust and follow me.
And now we have the new covenant in which God once more says: I will be your God and you will be my people. I will protect you, nurture you, guide you. You will trust and follow me. Follow me. Follow me into the new kingdom, the new reign of God that is proclaimed to you. And just what is this new kingdom, this new reign of God?
Jesus spoke about it at the beginning of today’s gospel reading. Do you remember the opening line I read: “Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured?”
Yes, it would appear that “speaking” about the kingdom of God was not enough. Jesus needed to show them what he meant about this heavenly kingdom, this heavenly banquet, this celebration. They needed to experience it.
And so he suggested feeding them, nourishing them with real food. But his disciples were disturbed. In response to his desire to feed the crowds, his disciples said, basically: We can’t do that. We don’t have enough food “… unless we, ourselves, go and buy food for all these people.”
But Jesus did not ask the disciples to supply the crowds from their own efforts. Rather Jesus, himself, blessed the bread and the fish, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. Jesus, himself, nourished the crowds. All he asked was that his disciples, his faithful followers, help him in his efforts. Jesus asked them, and asks us, to distribute the gifts that he creates through his own blessings.
Today we celebrate the Feast Day of the Body and Blood of Jesus the Christ. We celebrate that which appears to us as bread and wine are, in faith, the body and blood of Jesus the Christ. Yet, we are called to do more than merely attend a celebration of the mass, a celebration when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ.
At the completion of each Eucharistic celebration, we are sent forth to be Eucharist to one another, to everyone we meet. We are to realize that it not through our own efforts that we accomplish our responsibilities. No, it is, rather, the body and blood of Christ, himself, his body and blood which we carry within each one of us. It is his body and blood that enable us to do whatever we can to help others.
Just as the five loaves and two fish became multiplied to fill twelve wicker baskets, we are called to multiple the gifts bestowed on us by Jesus as in our daily lives we become the body and blood of Christ. Today and every day, may each one of us become a “Corpus Christi.”
Corpus Christi Sunday; June 17, 2001
Gn 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11b – 17