Melchizedek

Melchizedek is an interesting and obscure figure in the Old Testament. He suddenly appears during the life of Abram (before God renamed him Abraham). Melchizedek has no ancestry or length of life mentioned, which is odd in the Old Testament. Almost always anyone of any significance is mentioned in terms of his lineage – of the tribe of so-and-so, son of whomever, father of such-and-such – and the longevity of the man is commonly mentioned, especially for a king. He is mentioned once in Genesis: “Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High” (Gen 14:18). Melchizedek was certainly a king, the king of Salem, which was later known as Jerusalem. Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament: once in Genesis as noted above and once in Psalm 110. And all that is said of Melchizedek in the psalm is “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). Forever references the lack of any ancestry or length of days, implying immortality. The word ‘order’ is often translated as ‘line’ meaning that Melchizedek is not a one-off priest. The implication here is that Psalm 110 applies to David, King of Jerusalem and priest apart from the line of Aaron son of Levi and apart from the Law of Moses, a priesthood that predates the Jewish Temple priests by 800 years.

David was the priestly King of Jerusalem, and God promised that his line would have no end, he was to have a son on the throne for ever. Psalm 132 tells us of this promise: “The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies which I shall teach them, their sons also for ever shall sit upon your throne.’” (Ps 132:11-12). However, the last enthroned king of David’s line died almost 590 years before Jesus. God’s promise was not fulfilled by earthly kings reigning in Jerusalem because those kings were unfaithful to God’s covenant. Instead, this promise to David is fulfilled uniquely in Jesus. St Paul in the Letter to the Hebrews makes the point that Melchizedek prefigured Jesus. Like Melchizedek, Jesus has no beginning in His personhood and no end. He is a Priest but not of the line of Aaron or the tribe of Levi. Humanly speaking, Jesus was of the tribe of Judah and the Son of David. Jesus needed a human ancestry to be a Son of David while remaining the Son of God without ancestry or length of days. And like Melchizedek, Jesus offered bread and wine.

The primary offering of Jesus was His life on the cross. At the Last Supper Jesus links His offering of bread and wine to His offering on the cross. “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in remembrance of me… This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you” (Lk 22:19-20). In other words, the sacrifice of the cross is inseparable from Jesus’ offering of wine and bread, a priestly sacrifice first offered by Melchizedek symbolically but offered by Jesus truly and substantially. And this is not a one-off offering of His Body and Blood. No, it is to be offered in remembrance of Jesus. Not just to recall the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, but offered as a remembrance offering: He says do this in remembrance of Me. A remembrance offering was not about calling to mind a past event. No, it was to participate in that past event even if that event happened hundreds of years prior. It was also a sacrifice offered by a priest.

So what Jesus does at the Last Supper is to replace the various sacrifices of the Old Testament with one sacrifice, a sacrifice that we participate in through the priesthood He established at the Last Supper. This is a priesthood not by descent from Aaron or Levi, not even of a Jewish line of priests, but according to the line of Melchizedek. And it is a participation in the one sacrifice of Christ.

Thus, the Eucharist is truly a sacrifice – the re-presentation of Jesus’ unique sacrifice – offered that we might die with Jesus and rise again with Him. Indeed, the Eucharist is a participation in Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and His eternal life in heaven. It is little wonder that Jesus says “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn 6:53-54).

—Fr Booth