Christ, Melchizedek, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice

 

 

Christ, Melchizedek, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice: Homiletic and Pastoral Review: September 2, 2018 by Marcus Benedict Peter

 

 

St. Thomas Aquinas treats the Melchizedek-Christ typology, quoting how Melchizedek is said to be “without father and without mother and to have neither beginning of days nor end” (Hebrews 7:3). Aquinas states that this is not simply because he truly lacked, or did not have these, but more because Scripture made no allusion to them. In fact, he mentions how Hebrews posits that Melchizedek “is likened unto the Son of God, who on earth, is without father, and in heaven is without mother, and without genealogy,” ultimately concluding that he is most like God in this sense simply because he appears in Scripture, as having “neither beginning nor end of days.”5 This point is imperative when considering that the New and Eternal Covenant necessitated one who would be an eternal liturgical high priest for that Covenant. As such, in dealing with Melchizedek’s priesthood, Aquinas writes that “it was precisely this pre-eminence of Christ’s priesthood in relation to that of the Levites which was foreshadowed by the priesthood of Melchizedek.”6

 

He continues by demonstrating that because Abraham was the father of Israel, and because Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham, in that act, the whole priestly order of the Old law paid tithes to Melchizedek. As such, Christ’s priesthood is “said to be according to the order of Melchizedek by reason of the pre-eminence of his true priesthood over its symbol, the priesthood of the Law.”7

 

“…in relation to our fellowship in the sacrifice and its fruits, where the pre-eminence of Christ’s priesthood over that of the Old Law principally lies, the priesthood of Melchizedek was a more explicit symbol. For he offered bread and wine, these symbolizing, as Augustine remarks, the unity of the Church, which is the fruit of our fellowship in Christ’s sacrifice. This symbolism is, accordingly, still preserved in the New Law where the true sacrifice of Christ is communicated to the faithful under the appearance of bread and wine.”9

 

 

5. O’Neill, Colman E. Summa Theologiae: Volume 50, The One Mediator: 3a. 16-26. Vol. 50. Cambridge University Press, 2006., 157.

6. O’Neill, Colman E. Summa Theologiae: Volume 50, The One Mediator: 3a. 16-26. Vol. 50. Cambridge University Press, 2006., 155.

7. Ibid

9. O’Neill, Colman E. Summa Theologiae: Volume 50, The One Mediator: 3a. 16-26. Vol. 50. Cambridge University Press, 2006., 157