An Eternal Priest In A Changing World

Our world is changing. Not only is it changing, but it is changing at an accelerating pace. The difference between our times and earlier times is not that now the world is changing whereas in earlier ages it wasn't. The world has always been on the go. Customs, institutions, knowledge, have never stood still. Today, however, the changes seem to be more rapid than ever. It is said that until about 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. By today, of course, with the advent of ever more rapid methods of communication, human knowledge is increasing at an exponential rate.

What is true in the world around us is true in the church as well. Christian theology, which is simply the formulated expression which we give to what we believe, has also been always on the move. We can think of the changes brought about by the Reformation in the 1500's, followed by other theories in subsequent years. Classic modernism arose in the mid 1800's and remained dominant until about the 1920's. From about 1930 to 1950 the theology of Karl Barth was in the forefront of theological discussion. Next came the years dominated by the so-called liberalism of Rudolf Bultman, followed by the “God is Dead” movement. Since that time we have seen the rise of liberation theology, fundamentalist theology, feminist theology, radical orthodoxy, and any number of other systems of religious thought.

Amid the rapid changes of our age, both on the secular front and on the religious front, we need an anchor for our souls lest we find ourselves at sea, being swept away in all the confusion. In the epistle to the Hebrews, the “non-Gentiles,” as the author is trying to explain how the life and death of Jesus relates to their history as a chosen people, he writes in chapter 6 of “the hope set before us...as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” He explains this hope by pointing to the fact that Jesus has “become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

What is a high priest? The line of Jewish high priests begins with the appointment of Moses' brother, Aaron, as the first high priest of the newly constructed tabernacle after the Israelites fled the land of Egypt and wandered the desert on their way to the promised land. Aaron was descended from the tribe of Levi, the tribe who were set aside as priests in perpetuity, He was, we could say, the administrator over the rest of the priests. Priests were tasked with care of the tabernacle, and, later, of the temple, and they had various duties having to do with worship and sacrifice. The high priest—Aaron and those who succeeded him in this role—were the only persons allowed to enter the “Holy of Holies” behind the veil and stand before God, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Priests were responsible for receiving from the people, and offering to God, multiple sorts of offerings—animals, grains, olive oil—and for carrying out the rituals associated with these sacrifices, as well as communicating the law and adjudicating legal matters. In all of these ways they functioned as the link between God and the people of Israel.

And who is Melchizedek? Melchizedek is a rather strange figure. Strange because, on the one hand, he doesn't seem to belong in the picture, but, on the other hand, is given a place of exceptional importance. He comes on the scene in the Old Testament, way back in the 14th chapter of Genesis, in Abraham's time, before the birth of Isaac, before Jacob, and, thus, before Jacob's twelve sons became the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. Melchizedek suddenly appears here, seemingly from nowhere, blessing Abram, whose name had not yet been changed to “Abraham,” and receiving from Abram a tithe offering. And then he is gone. He is described as “without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever.” We are told that he was “king of Salem” (later called Jerusalem), and a priest of “God Most High,” the God whom Abram also served. How a priest of the Most High God happened to be also a king in Jerusalem in the time of Abraham we don't know. He simply appears in a story in Genesis for a moment as one greater than Abraham, and then that's all.

And yet, David, speaking prophetically in Psalm 110, writes about the coming Messiah and says of him, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” And now, in the passage of Scripture that is our focus today, the author of the letter to the Hebrews, quoting from David's Psalm, again picks up this thread of divine revelation and emphasizes repeatedly that Jesus Christ is our priest “after the order of Melchizedek.” What does this mean--”after the order of Melchizedek”?