Corpus Christi   June 10, 2007

Genesis 14:1820  Psalm 110 1 Corinthians 11:2326  Luke 9:1117 

There are three wonderful stories in our readings which are connected with the Eucharist.

The first is that of Melchizedek a King who is also a priest. He offers bread and wine.  He offers the sacrifice in Salem, later Jerusalem: which signifies “Peace”. Abraham prays to a God who protects him personally, and aids Abraham in the time of war. Melchizedek: priest and King prays to a God who creates heaven and earth. It is a picture of a universal God rather than a personal God of Abraham.

We seem to have all the elements of our Mass, our Eucharist: A priest, a God of all creation whose goodness we experience, we have bread and wine, we have the sign of Peace. We have a ritual and a thanksgiving offering: we have our Eucharist. It is good to know that what we do comes down through centuries of tradition and like wine it becomes better with age.

The second comes from Paul who describes a liturgical tradition which he has received. It was not to prepare a custom that we would adopt centuries later, but rather a custom that came from their everyday meal - just like we raise a toast and wish happiness to the married couple at their wedding. 

There was a balanced pattern to this ritual and not much has changed in that pattern in our day. It was a meal that remembered Jesus taking Bread and wine just as Melchizedek had done some centuries before. It was a meal that would precede the death of Jesus, and his followers would continue to remember Jesus through this meal until Jesus would come again in glory.

Paul would exhort his fellow Christians that the breaking of the bread and sharing it with one another was to carry on in their daily secular life. This would be seen in the brokenness of their lives, in the carrying of their own daily crosses, and in loving one another as Jesus had loved them.

The Third picture is the feeding of the multitude. It is getting dark. It is a deserted place (no MacDonalds, no Burger King). God created the universe out of nothing, but today Jesus would use the resources of the Apostles. They would be left with 12 Baskets to signify the 12 Tribes of Israel.

The story is brimming with Old Testament imagery. We see God of Israel feeding the chosen people as they journey through the Sinai Desert.

We remember Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 1 Kings 17. The bowl of flour and the jug of oil never ran out.

We remember Elisha feeding the crowd in time of famine in Gilgal (2 Kings 4:38).

The story also describes the Church as it fulfils it role today:

The Apostles provide the 5 loaves and two fish – our resources are needed.

The Apostles distribute the food.  – we step in to do the needful.

The Apostles gather what is left over. – it has an ecological dimension: no waste.

On the sad side: the Apostles want to shirk their responsibility and “send the people away to get their own food,” but the Lord will have none of it: “You feed them” and so they do.

Jesus had not come to set up the way of our Celebrating the Eucharist, the Mass. He was not there to set up a ritual which would tie us to doing things in a certain way. The Scribes and Pharisees were doing that already - 100 & 1 rules for the Sabbath, and washing of hands after coming from the market.

Jesus was here to set us free - but he would demand all ! He would set the pattern by giving us all: His Body and His Blood.

One can only wonder: what was more spectacular on that hillside: the multiplication of the loaves and fish, or the fact that they shared the bread and fish with love and with a concern for one another. They were a motley crew, they were strangers caught up with one who spoke with authority, unlike the Scribes and Pharisees. Now they were bound together

in love?

In thanksgiving and wonder?

In understanding and wisdom?

But these are the gifts of the Holy Spirit - there is a re-creation, a new creation taking place and all are invited to this banquet. There is no need to RSVP just come as you are.