Christ the New Melchisedech

Gospel Reflection for June 22, 2025, Corpus Christi - Luke 9:11-17

Jun 22, 2025

Which when the people knew, they followed him; and he received them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed them who had need of healing.
Now the day began to decline. And the twelve came and said to him: Send away the multitude, that going into the towns and villages round about, they may lodge and get victuals; for we are here in a desert place.
But he said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said: We have no more than five loaves and two fishes; unless perhaps we should go and buy food for all this multitude.
Now there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples: Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
And they did so; and made them all sit down.
And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed them; and he broke, and distributed to his disciples, to set before the multitude.
And they did all eat, and were filled. And there were taken up of fragments that remained to them, twelve baskets. (Luke 9:11-17 DRA)

In this reflection for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, I would like to focus on the first reading from Genesis, specifically the enigmatic figure of Melchisedech. He is one of the many ‘types’ or figures which previewed Christ in the Old Testament, as the shadow of what He would fulfill in the image of His earthly life and the Church He established, yet little is known about Melchisedech. St. Paul in his letter to the Hebrews even states, “Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but likened unto the Son of God, continueth a priest for ever.” (Heb 7:3) Why is this priest-king, who appears in Scripture only for a few verses in Genesis, such an important prefigurement of Christ?

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa theologiae (III, q. 22, a. 6), addresses this question as the conclusion of his consideration of Christ’s priesthood. He observes, as he made clear earlier, that the Levitical priesthood was the most indicative sign of Christ’s priesthood prior to His coming, since Moses received the Law and the priests of Aaron made blood sacrifices in the tabernacle (later situated in the Jerusalem Temple), just as Christ the Logos is the true Law and offered Himself both as priest and victim on the altar of the Cross as a blood sacrifice for our sins. Nevertheless, the Psalmist clearly prophesies, “The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.” (Ps 109:4) Why would this be?

St. Thomas explains, based on Hebrews, that, while the Levitical priesthood was closer to Christ’s in some ways, in other ways it was not. The priests of the Temple descended by blood from the line of Aaron, whereas Christ the High Priest, like Melchisedech, was a priest “for ever.” Like Melchisedech, whose parentage and origin aren’t stated in Scripture, Christ had no earthly father by blood and no heavenly mother, coming instead from God Himself; hence Christ told the Pharisees, “Although I give testimony of myself, my testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go: but you know not whence I come, or whither I go... I am one that give testimony of myself: and the Father that sent me giveth testimony of me.” (John 8:14, 18) Again, Melchisedech, like David after him, was not only a priest but a king, just as Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords as well as High Priest.

St. Thomas says that this superiority of the order of Melchisedech over the Levitical priests, from whom Christ didn’t descend by blood as the Apostle points out in answer to Jewish objections (Heb 7:14), is shown by Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrew nation and father of all Jews and Christians in faith, giving tithes to Melchisedech, despite being in fact superior to him. This is also why, even though the blood sacrifices of the Temple were a clearer prefigurement of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross than was the offering of bread and wine by Melchisedech, the latter is higher in itself because it signifies the means by which we participate in the one sacrifice of Christ which, unlike the Temple sacrifices, could not take away sins: this is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist wherein Christ’s Body and Blood are re-presented under the appearances of bread and wine.

Practically-speaking, this also gives an important lesson for our daily growth in virtue and holiness. Bread and wine can be used symbolically for good or evil. Hence in the advice given by Tobias to his son, he says, “Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and with thy garments cover the naked. Lay out thy bread, and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked.” (Tobit 4:17-18) So bread signifies a sharing in one’s very life, a communion which identifies oneself with good or evil. Proverbs thus teaches that sinners “eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity. But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.” (4:17-18) Ecclesiastes echoes this: “For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may feast: and all things obey money.” (10:19) Yet on the other hand it says, “Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.” (9:7)

As the Epistle today shows, the Eucharist in which we communicate is the very Body and Blood of Christ, given under the accidental species of bread and wine. While Melchisedech signified this great sacrament, his offering was merely bread and wine; nor were the animals in the Temple any more effective. But Christ our High Priest enables us to receive the infinite merits of His charity in sacrificing Himself to the Father for our sins through the Eucharist, reconciling us to God and making us to partake of the divine nature. (2 Pt 1:4)

This is why, as St. Paul says elsewhere, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” (1 Cor 11:29) Though it’s rarely mentioned in homilies, and most Catholics (at least in the Novus Ordo) assume they are entitled to receive the Eucharist at every Mass they attend, if we receive Christ unworthily, whether by unbelief or otherwise being in a state of mortal sin, we not only do not receive His benefits spiritually, we also compound our sin and “eateth and drinketh judgment” upon ourselves. Accordingly, parishes should make Confession available before every Mass, especially for Sundays, and regularly remind people of this in charity for their souls – since if we do not receive the bread and wine of Christ, we will “eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.”

Missio Dei

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