MELCHIZEDEK.......WHO??
(A serrmon preached at St..Luke’s church Queen’s Park Brighton on 17th October 2021)
Text: Hebrews 5.1-10
Let’s have a look this morning at a book we don’t often talk about: HEBREWS.
“Hebrews” is the right name, not “the letter to the Hebrews” because it isn’t really a letter (certainly not the sort Paul writes). Whoever wrote it, it’s actually a sermon preached to certain Hebrews i.e. Jewish converts, telling them to concentrate on Christ as the answer to everything and NOT, whatever they do, be tempted to go back to Judaism.
It’s a great message for us too because the importance of Christ is brought home to us in an unusual way.
In the gospels, we hear all about His ministry, His healings, His miracles, His death on the cross and His resurrection as if He were a layman, or an unofficial and unqualified Rabbi getting up the noses of the Pharisees, although we are invited to accept and believe that He is the Son of God.
In Hebrews, Christ is pictured as a priest or a high priest.
And this approach is all part of showing that He is different from, and superior to, the Jewish priests of the Old Testament.
So, to make sense of this, we need to go back to the beginnings of the priestly cult.
Moses was ordered by God to consecrate Aaron and his three sons to provide priestly ministry to the people. Hence grew up the tribe of Aaron and the tribe of Levi which were set apart for this purpose. But what was a priest, exactly?
Their function was to mediate between God and the people through performing sacrifices at the altar.
But, as Hebrews points out, these sons of Aaron and Levi were subject to human weakness and therefore they had to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well as those of others.
Now Hebrews famously describes Jesus as being like us in every way except that He was without sin. So when He allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross and to die on it, He did not do so as a consequence of any fault or weakness of His own. It was as a result of our sins.
And if you look on the crucifixion in terms of priestly sacrifice, then of course we have Jesus playing two parts, the priest performing the sacrifice and at the same time, Himself the victim of the sacrifice – instead of a lamb or other animal slain on an altar.
And so we Christians see Jesus Christ as “our great high priest” whose one sacrifice of Himself has replaced and rendered pointless all the animal sacrifices ever made on the altar in the holy of holies of the Jewish temple.
And Jesus Christ remains our great high priest but, as the Christian church grew, the idea soon developed of a human Christian priesthood so that the offering of Christ’s sacrifice could in some way be continued.
The church felt that this was implied in Christ’s own teaching – particularly His words regarding the bread and wine at the last supper. This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
If your mind does not wander, as it might, during the words of the Eucharistic prayer, you may remember that one version includes the following:
He instituted, and in His holy gospel commanded us to continue, a perpetual memory of His most precious death.
Now to get back to the description of Jesus in Hebrews.
As it says in today’s reading, Jesus was appointed by God His Father as a priest. In fact as a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Er, by the way, who is this mysterious character who is only referred to three times in the whole bible – once in Genesis, once in the Psalms and once here?
Well, apparently Melchizedek was a very early king of Salem (later called Jerusalem) who on a single occasion brought some bread and wine to Abraham and then blessed Abraham in the name of God most high. There you go.
Anyway, Hebrews not only says that God appointed His Son a priest. It also says that Jesus shared in our suffering and that He is the means of salvation for all.
This mirrors what Hebrews says any human priest should be:
Called by God
To act on behalf of all
And to be gentle and pastoral with them.
Now we need to understand two separate but equally important things – the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of all Christians.
I was ordained to the official priesthood because I felt I was called by God to that office and luckily the Diocese, having examined me fairly thoroughly , agreed.
As a result, I am authorised to re-enact the sacrifice which we talked about of Christ giving His body and blood for us by consecrating the bread and wine of the altar.
I am also under a duty, as Hebrews says, to act on behalf of anyone I have care of and to be gentle and pastoral with them.
That’s a cue to bring in for a moment this morning’s unedifying gospel story in Mark about James and John jostling for positions of power and status among their fellow apostles.
Jesus has no patience with this. “The rulers of the Gentiles” he says “lord it over them, but it shall not be so among you. Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.
Priests are supposed to be the successors of the apostles so this stern lecture obviously applies to them.
And it doesn’t square at all well with ambitious priests who plot, gossip and manoeuvre their way up the ladder of promotion. Nor does it square with bullies and control-freaks. Nor with those bishops and priests who like to parade themselves in gorgeous vestments, strutting around like peacocks to impress the laity.
John Pridmore, a retired East End vicar and friend of mine used to tell a wonderful story.
“At an African airport, a scruffy and clearly impoverished porter seized my heavy and expensive suitcases and staggered off towards a row of clapped out taxis. I hurried after him, fuming that there was no-one to meet me. Then my scruffy porter introduced himself. He was the diocesan bishop.”
Well I’ve talked about Christ’s priesthood and the ordained priesthood but it’s high time I talked about you. Sorry it’s taken so long to get round to. But you see you are all priests too.
St.Peter tells you in his first letter:
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
It’s called THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS.
In other words, if you are a believer in, and a follower of, Christ (and I assume you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t), then you are a member of a chosen, holy people and you have the responsibilities of a priest.
You may not be authorised to celebrate Mass or to give sacramental absolution in the Confessions but you have taken a duty upon yourself
· As S.Peter says, to declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness, and
· As Hebrews says, to look after the welfare of those around you and to be as gentle and pastoral with them as you can.
Don’t worry if you don’t make a very good fist of it sometimes. To admit that is a sign of humility, which is a very good thing.
And God is very forgiving. Slow to chide and swift to bless.