Corpus Christi
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
In the Roman Catholic calendar and the ORDO, the Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity is celebrated as the feast of Corpus Christi. It is also a doctrinal feast, which had its beginnings in the 12th century and became a feast of the church in 1246, largely through the efforts of an Augustinian nun, Juliana of Liege, Belgium. There were several reasons for the institution of this feast; the most important was that many people doubted the real presence of the Lord in the eucharistic meal, according to Father Adrian Nocent, O.S.B., and did not participate in the eucharistic meal. Celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, in many places, it emphasized the descent of the Lord "at the consecration" and promulgated the doctrine of transubstantiation, as well. Processionals, with the host displayed in a monstrance, became quite common and encouraged a kind of eucharistic devotion that many of the church leaders believed to be quite providential. Some argue that it was catechetical in nature and meant to teach the people eucharistic theology, which would encourage their attendance and participation in the meal at mass. It highlights the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, and from this point of view would probably be of benefit to all of the liturgical churches. As is the case with several other feasts (the Epiphany, for example), Corpus Christi is celebrated on Sunday (the first Sunday after the Holy Trinity), which means that two doctrines are celebrated consecutively.
The Psalm For The Day
Psalm 110:1-4 - The last three verses are omitted from this psalmody for very good reason; they turn God into something of a homicidal maniac, because he will "smite Kings," "heap high the corpses," and "smash heads over the wide earth." The psalm - one of the Royal psalms - was chosen because it refers to Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the "priest of the Most High God," who is central to the first reading of the day from Genesis 14. It is argued that this is a picture of the Messiah, who is to be both priest and king, and that this accommodates the Feast of Corpus Christi and the doctrine of the eucharist as transubstantiation, which it celebrates.
Psalm prayer (LBW) - In this prayer, the emphasis is on Jesus' self-offering of himself as "high priest of the new Jerusalem:" "Almighty God, make known in every place the perfect offering of your Son, the eternal high priest of the new Jerusalem, and so consecrate all nations to be your holy people, that the kingdom of Christ, your anointed one, may come in its fullness; and to you, Father, Son, and Holy spirit, be all honor and praise now and forever."
The Readings
Genesis 14:18-20 - Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God, gives bread and wine to Abram, prefiguring the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord, telling him, as a blessing to Abram, that he has been blessed by "God Most High," the maker of heaven and earth. Little is know about Melchizedek, but he is an important Old Testament figure for this reason alone. There is also, from the Christian point of view, an eschatological element in verse 20 ("[God] has delivered your enemies into your hand.") that points to the final return of Christ to judge and reign over the everlasting kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 11:27-36 - Here is Paul's account of the institution of the eucharistic meal. It is read annually on Holy Thursday in various of the liturgical churches, and comments on it may be located in the Maundy Thursday section of this book.
Luke 9:11b-17 - It all began when Jesus went to Bethsaida, after he had heard reports from the 12, whom he had sent out to preach and heal; it was intended to be a kind of mini-retreat, but so many people heard about Jesus' presence that a crowd gathered and Jesus preached and taught them for many hours and healed the sick and infirm, as well. Then follows the familiar sequence in which the disciples ask Jesus to send the people away to obtain food and lodging for the night (the inns would be jammed with people!). Instead, Jesus asks them what food they have; they answer, "We have ... five loaves and two fish." Jesus replies, "Make them sit down in companies, about 50 each." They did - "5,000 men." Jesus took the fish and the loaves, blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the crowd. Twelve baskets of broken pieces were left over after everyone had eaten.
The actions of the eucharistic meal - taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread and the wine to the people are spelled out here, prefiguring what Jesus did when he instituted the sacrament of the bread and the wine. Of course, Jesus was very much present at the miraculous meal; he was the host, and there wouldn't have been any meal at all without him. The church believes that the risen Lord continues to be host at his table, offering the bread and the wine - his body and blood - and his real presence at the meal.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 9:11b-17; 1 Corinthians 11:27-36; Genesis 14:18-20
1. Bread, a "refined" kind of manna from heaven, and wine, made from the crushed grapes and naturally fermented processes of nature, are equally gifts of God that express his love, his concern, and signs of his continuing presence in the world of people.
2. Bread and wine are provided naturally and, sometimes, miraculously in the form of manna (and water) in the wilderness and a "feast of multiplication" outside of the city of Bethsaida.
3. Bread and wine connect the people of Israel with the new Israel, the Christian Church, through and in the person of Jesus Christ. One of William F. Buckley, Jr.'s columns made a similar point; it was called "Meeting Golda Meir." He wrote about a personal experience in Bethlehem about a decade or so ago when he wrote that one day he saw two dozen American Negro women, at the subterranean Church of the Nativity. Their preacher spontaneously delivered a little homily, and led them, then, into song. He remembered Whittaker Chambers' word about the rise of the spiritual among the Negro people, "the most God-obsessed, (and man-despised) people since the ancient Hebrews.... Grief, like a tuning fork, gave the tone, and the Sorrow Songs were uttered." There, at Bethlehem, holding each others' hands, they sang "Little David, Play on your Harp," and one senses why the term JudeoChristian came to be hyphenated.
David, on his harp, and the chorus of the people of Israel sang and, together, furnished dinner music on the night that Jesus was betrayed; he was executed the next day.
4. Bread and wine given to Abraham by a kingly-priest of God, a meal miraculously provided by Jesus outside the city of Bethsaida, and that upper room meal speak of God's goodness and grace, of his continuing activity in the world, especially in the one who seeks to make all people one, Jesus Christ the Lord. He, the host, is always present, giving himself to his own in the bread and the wine.
In the Roman Catholic calendar and the ORDO, the Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity is celebrated as the feast of Corpus Christi. It is also a doctrinal feast, which had its beginnings in the 12th century and became a feast of the church in 1246, largely through the efforts of an Augustinian nun, Juliana of Liege, Belgium. There were several reasons for the institution of this feast; the most important was that many people doubted the real presence of the Lord in the eucharistic meal, according to Father Adrian Nocent, O.S.B., and did not participate in the eucharistic meal. Celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, in many places, it emphasized the descent of the Lord "at the consecration" and promulgated the doctrine of transubstantiation, as well. Processionals, with the host displayed in a monstrance, became quite common and encouraged a kind of eucharistic devotion that many of the church leaders believed to be quite providential. Some argue that it was catechetical in nature and meant to teach the people eucharistic theology, which would encourage their attendance and participation in the meal at mass. It highlights the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, and from this point of view would probably be of benefit to all of the liturgical churches. As is the case with several other feasts (the Epiphany, for example), Corpus Christi is celebrated on Sunday (the first Sunday after the Holy Trinity), which means that two doctrines are celebrated consecutively.
The Psalm For The Day
Psalm 110:1-4 - The last three verses are omitted from this psalmody for very good reason; they turn God into something of a homicidal maniac, because he will "smite Kings," "heap high the corpses," and "smash heads over the wide earth." The psalm - one of the Royal psalms - was chosen because it refers to Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the "priest of the Most High God," who is central to the first reading of the day from Genesis 14. It is argued that this is a picture of the Messiah, who is to be both priest and king, and that this accommodates the Feast of Corpus Christi and the doctrine of the eucharist as transubstantiation, which it celebrates.
Psalm prayer (LBW) - In this prayer, the emphasis is on Jesus' self-offering of himself as "high priest of the new Jerusalem:" "Almighty God, make known in every place the perfect offering of your Son, the eternal high priest of the new Jerusalem, and so consecrate all nations to be your holy people, that the kingdom of Christ, your anointed one, may come in its fullness; and to you, Father, Son, and Holy spirit, be all honor and praise now and forever."
The Readings
Genesis 14:18-20 - Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God, gives bread and wine to Abram, prefiguring the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord, telling him, as a blessing to Abram, that he has been blessed by "God Most High," the maker of heaven and earth. Little is know about Melchizedek, but he is an important Old Testament figure for this reason alone. There is also, from the Christian point of view, an eschatological element in verse 20 ("[God] has delivered your enemies into your hand.") that points to the final return of Christ to judge and reign over the everlasting kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 11:27-36 - Here is Paul's account of the institution of the eucharistic meal. It is read annually on Holy Thursday in various of the liturgical churches, and comments on it may be located in the Maundy Thursday section of this book.
Luke 9:11b-17 - It all began when Jesus went to Bethsaida, after he had heard reports from the 12, whom he had sent out to preach and heal; it was intended to be a kind of mini-retreat, but so many people heard about Jesus' presence that a crowd gathered and Jesus preached and taught them for many hours and healed the sick and infirm, as well. Then follows the familiar sequence in which the disciples ask Jesus to send the people away to obtain food and lodging for the night (the inns would be jammed with people!). Instead, Jesus asks them what food they have; they answer, "We have ... five loaves and two fish." Jesus replies, "Make them sit down in companies, about 50 each." They did - "5,000 men." Jesus took the fish and the loaves, blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the crowd. Twelve baskets of broken pieces were left over after everyone had eaten.
The actions of the eucharistic meal - taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread and the wine to the people are spelled out here, prefiguring what Jesus did when he instituted the sacrament of the bread and the wine. Of course, Jesus was very much present at the miraculous meal; he was the host, and there wouldn't have been any meal at all without him. The church believes that the risen Lord continues to be host at his table, offering the bread and the wine - his body and blood - and his real presence at the meal.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 9:11b-17; 1 Corinthians 11:27-36; Genesis 14:18-20
1. Bread, a "refined" kind of manna from heaven, and wine, made from the crushed grapes and naturally fermented processes of nature, are equally gifts of God that express his love, his concern, and signs of his continuing presence in the world of people.
2. Bread and wine are provided naturally and, sometimes, miraculously in the form of manna (and water) in the wilderness and a "feast of multiplication" outside of the city of Bethsaida.
3. Bread and wine connect the people of Israel with the new Israel, the Christian Church, through and in the person of Jesus Christ. One of William F. Buckley, Jr.'s columns made a similar point; it was called "Meeting Golda Meir." He wrote about a personal experience in Bethlehem about a decade or so ago when he wrote that one day he saw two dozen American Negro women, at the subterranean Church of the Nativity. Their preacher spontaneously delivered a little homily, and led them, then, into song. He remembered Whittaker Chambers' word about the rise of the spiritual among the Negro people, "the most God-obsessed, (and man-despised) people since the ancient Hebrews.... Grief, like a tuning fork, gave the tone, and the Sorrow Songs were uttered." There, at Bethlehem, holding each others' hands, they sang "Little David, Play on your Harp," and one senses why the term JudeoChristian came to be hyphenated.
David, on his harp, and the chorus of the people of Israel sang and, together, furnished dinner music on the night that Jesus was betrayed; he was executed the next day.
4. Bread and wine given to Abraham by a kingly-priest of God, a meal miraculously provided by Jesus outside the city of Bethsaida, and that upper room meal speak of God's goodness and grace, of his continuing activity in the world, especially in the one who seeks to make all people one, Jesus Christ the Lord. He, the host, is always present, giving himself to his own in the bread and the wine.
