June 8, 2008
Background Scripture: Hebrews 7
Devotional Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34

There are two passages from the Letter to the Hebrews that are popular: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for …” (Heb. 11:1ff) and “Therefore, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses …” (12:1,2). Nevertheless, except for those two passages, Hebrews is among the least known New Testament books.

The reason is that the author of Hebrews is dealing with a background experience that is virtually alien to most of us. As I’ve previously observed, this letter was sent to a group of Jewish Christians who were tempted to return to Judaism.

The author is attempting to reach them through their heritage as Jews, and so he writes of Judaism’s traditional Levitical priesthood, as well as a mystical non-Hebrew priest named Melchizedek, mentioned in Genesis 14:17-20 and Psalms 110:4. Unfortunately, that is where Hebrews loses a lot of readers.

Once again, we need to look past the details – which are alien to us – to his purpose, which is pertinent to Christians of the 21st century. It is not that he wants us to become interested in the Levites and to tantalize us with the mysterious Melchizedek, but to realize the vast superiority of the priesthood of Jesus over that of sons of Levi – they who were Hebrew priests not because of any merit of their own, but because they belonged to the same priestly tribe.

Melchizedek is spotlighted because he was a priest before the Levites were established in that role, and he was priest not because of his family, but because of his relationship with God.

A great high priest

We ascribe to Jesus a fairly large number of titles and designations. As Christ, he is the long-awaited Messiah. The writer of the fourth gospel calls Jesus the “Logos” or Word. We call him “Lord,” “Savior,” “Redeemer,” “King,” “Son of God,” “Son of Man,” “Third Person of the Trinity” and lots more. So, why do we need to think of Jesus as the Great High Priest?

The key to this question is found in what the term “priest” suggests to us. There were priests before Judaism and Christianity. The father-in-law of Joseph was an Egyptian priest of the great temple of On. There were priests in ancient Sumer, Babylonia, Canaan and Phoenicia. Wherever there were religions, there were usually priests.

My Random House Dictionary tells me that a priest is “one whose office is to perform religious rites, and especially to make sacrificial offerings.” So generally, the role of a priest was to represent a person or people to his god. This, he or she – there were some female priests, but not in Judaism – accomplished through prayers, worship and sacrifices.

Our advocate

So, you still want to know, what does this have to do with Christians in the 21st century? The answer is that while we have no need for Levite priests or Melchizedek, we do need some help in approaching the God of the Universe.

Without any help we can go directly to God, but there are times when we need someone else to represent us and intercede for us. “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John. 2:1).

Martin Luther tells us that “In his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession, a high priest.”

But, in the Reformation which Luther touched off, he went a step further in speaking of the priesthood of all believers.

As disciples of Christ, we share in his priesthood, to help others to approach God as well as to approach God for them.

Paul Althaus reminds us that Christians “have mutual responsibility for the Christian condition of others … Universal priesthood … is the binding of every member to every other member in the inner structure of the fellowship.

Priesthood, in the Reformation sense, means ‘the communion of saints.’”

It is not enough to be our own priests; we must also serve as priests to and for one another.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.