Gracious God, grant us the gift of eternal life that comes from knowing you to be the only true God and in knowing Jesus Christ, our great high priest, whom you have sent to us. Amen.
“We wish to see Jesus.” This is what some of the Greeks said when they came to Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples. They had likely heard of some of the signs that were pointing to the glory of Jesus and wanted to see him with their own eyes. Several pulpits across the world have that phrase engraved on the inside, as they are for the preacher to see – “We wish to see Jesus.” It’s a reminder to the preacher of what their task is. The sermon is not about saying things to build a fanbase, it is not the opportunity to weigh in with political or social commentary, it is not even to pursue other laudable motivations such as comforting, challenging, or teaching. No, the purpose of the sermon is to point to Jesus and let him do the challenging, comforting, or teaching. An effective sermon is not one that necessarily entertains or inspires, but rather a “good” sermon is one that allows us to see Jesus. You’ll have to forgive me when I get in the way of that – but that’s my goal, to show you Jesus.
The
writer of the book of Hebrews had the same goal – showing people Jesus. The
scholarly consensus is that Hebrews, which was not written by St. Paul, was
actually a sermon, or a series of sermons, written for the early Church. This
preacher was speaking to, as the name of the book suggests, Hebrew, or Jewish,
followers of Jesus. Central to Jewish practice and faith was the idea of
sacrifice and the priesthood in the Temple. How should followers of Jesus
understand their relationship to such Temple sacrifices, especially given the
death of Jesus that is full of sacrificial themes? So the preacher offers this
sermon for people who wish to see Jesus, and the result is a sermon that
portrays Jesus Christ as our great high priest.
To
be sure, a lot is different between us and the original audience of Hebrews. Most
of us do not wonder about how to understand the sacrificial system while we
follow Jesus. And though our questions are certainly different – our anxieties
are the same. Just as much as people have in every other time and place, we wonder
about what the purpose of our lives are, we worry about whether or not we are
forgiven from the wrongs we have done and the things that we have left undone,
we seek joy in the midst of an uncertain world, we live in the shadow of death.
The preacher of Hebrews knows that in seeing Jesus, these questions will be
addressed and the anxieties assuaged. Likewise, this preacher trusts that in
seeing Jesus, we will come to know and trust that all shall be well and all
manner of things shall be well.
And
so the preacher portrays Jesus as the great high priest – that person who stands
in the gap between humanity and God and offers prayers, sacrifices, and words
of mercy. In the portion of the sermon we heard today, two verses from the
Psalms are quoted. First, from Psalm 2, we heard God saying, “You are my Son,
today have I begotten you” and from Psalm 110, “You are a priest forever.” These
are both Messianic Psalms that point us towards God’s salvation. And what the preacher
is doing is to say something like “That hope for salvation that God has
promised and spoken to us about in ages past has come to its fulfillment in
Jesus.” The Son is a priest. Just as a priest takes the sacrifices and prayers
of the people to God and returns with assurances of God’s pardon and peace,
Jesus does this priestly work of reconciliation. But what makes Jesus the
greatest and the highest of all priests is that he himself is the sacrificer,
the sacrificed, and the one to whom the sacrifice is made.
While
this might be an interesting concept for theologians to consider – how does
this speak to our faith? My guess is that none of us have ever taken part in a
ritualistic sacrifice of the sort that Hebrews has in mind. Well, as the
preacher notes, this concerns us because Jesus, “having been made perfect, he
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated
by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Now,
this is an aside – but if you’re looking for a name for pet, I defy you to find
a better name than Melchizedek. Call it “Melchie” for short. Such a good name.
But, you might wonder, “Who or what is Melchizedek?” It’s a rather obscure
reference, but for the preacher of Hebrews, it is foundational. In Genesis 14,
Abraham is meeting with some kings of various warring tribes and out of
nowhere, it says “And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he
was a priest of the God Most High. He blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram
by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has
delivered your enemies into your hand!’ And Abram gave him one-tenth of
everything.” And that’s it. That’s the last we hear of Melchizedek until he is
referred to in one verse of Psalm 110. It’s about as obscure as it gets. Where
this priestly king came from, we don’t know. He sort of just appears and then vanishes.
But
for the preacher of Hebrews, looking at Melchizedek is a way of seeing Jesus.
Eight times in Hebrews, Melchizedek is mentioned. And to understand what is so
important about Melchizedek, we have to know a bit about the meaning of some
Hebrew words. As Genesis tells us, he is Melchizedek of Salem. Melech means
“King.” So Kingship is essential to his identity, as “king” is a part of his
name. Tzedek is a load-bearing word in Hebrew, as it means both “justice”
and “righteousness.” Tzedek describes both the act and the state of
godliness – both the work of justice and the condition of being in alignment
with God. So Melchizedek’s name tells us that he is the King of Justice and Righteousness.
And the place that he is a King over is Salem, which comes from the Hebrew word
shalom which means wholeness, completeness, and peace. Tradition has
said that it is the place that would come to be known as Jerusalem.
This
designation though is so ful of meaning: the King of Justice and Righteous
rules over the City of Peaceful Wholeness. This tells us a few things. For one,
it tells us that if we want to live in peace, we have to have justice and
righteousness. Without justice, there is no peace. This is why Beloved
Community is so integral to our own identity. The abundant life that God has
given us cannot fully come on earth as it is in heaven when our brothers and
sisters suffer under the weight of injustice. From whichever angle we choose to
look at it, injustice in the form of racism and white supremacy shows up in our
boardrooms, banks, churches, schools, courthouses, hospitals, jails, housing
developments, and entertainment. Until this injustice is addressed, there will
never be peace. And the same truth exists for righteousness; peace comes
through right relationship with God.
So
now we’re starting to see why Melchizedek is a helpful way to understand Jesus.
We’ve got a King that shows up with no previously known origin who is also a
priest. Because no one knows where Melchizedek is from or who made him a
priest, it is as if this kingship and priesthood are a part of his very nature.
No one made him a priest, he just is one. This point would have been of
particular surprise and importance for the preacher of Hebrews. He’s saying
that Jesus is the priest who brings validity to Levitical sacrifices of the
Temple, not the other way around. We don’t interpret the Cross of Jesus as a
sacrifice because it reminds us of other sacrifices in Temple, rather those
other sacrifices are derived from the eternal priesthood of Jesus who was
always the pattern of the sacrifices.
When
the Risen Jesus meets two of his followers on the road to Emmaus, he says to
them, “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and
then enter into his glory?” Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus
interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. It’s not
that Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures, rather the Scriptures are fulfilled in
Jesus. Jesus is the trajectory and the fullness of all things because not only
is he the great high priest, he is also the God Most High in the flesh.
And
in Genesis, we see that Melchizedek does three things. One is that he
pronounces a blessing over Abram – something that Jesus does for us, he blesses
us with the grace of God. Second, he receives an offering of thanks from Abram,
and Jesus is the one through whom we offer our thanksgivings to God. And third,
Melchizedek brings out bread and wine to nourish those who have been fighting
in battle. It doesn’t get much more obvious than this one, as we know that
Jesus is the one who brings those us who are weary and carrying heavy burdens
the gifts of God for the people of God in the form of the bread of heaven and the
cup of salvation by his very own body and blood.
As
our great high priest, Jesus makes us righteous and gives us the peace of God
which passes all understanding. This is what we mean when we say that Jesus died
“for us and for our salvation.” When we see Jesus, this is what we see, the
reality of our salvation and the way of love open before us. The final question
in the Human Nature section of the Prayer Book Catechism says that God helps us
by revealing himself and the divine will through nature, history, and the
prophets and people of Israel. In other words, God comes to our aid by becoming
known and visible.
And God is most
fully seen and known as Jesus Christ, our great high priest. This is what is
imagined in Jeremiah in the language about a new covenant that is embedded
within our hearts. The Lord says, “I
will forgive them and remember this sin no more.” How amazing is that? That
God, who knows all things, remembers not our sins. You make one mistake and
thanks to the internet and social media, no one forgets or forgives anything. I
know there are people out there who have disagreed with me on a whole variety
of things through the years, and I can tell that they still harbor resentment
about that. Goodness knows, I do the same thing. What’s the phrase? Fool me
once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Well, it seems that God is into
foolish business because God remembers not our sins. What a gracious and
liberating message this is! Our great high priest has reconciled us to God so
that we are not ever defined by our worst moments. No one is the worst thing
that they have done. No one is their addiction or their condition. No one is
their mistakes. This doesn’t mean we don’t work to address the negative consequences
of our actions, but God does not remember our sin, which means that we don’t
need to dwell on our sins, mistakes, or imperfections.
This way of being is
at the heart of the prayer of Psalm 51, “Wash me through and through from my
wickedness and cleanse me from my sin… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me.” This is exactly what our great high priest has
done for us – with his own blood, he has washed us and made us clean. His
righteousness is given to us and our sins are put away. Just as Melchizedek
brought bread and wine to nourish those weary from battle, Jesus gives us his
own body and blood to nourish us in the grace and love of God. With Jesus as
our great high priest, we can be assured that we always have someone on our
side no matter what we are facing. Jesus stands in the gap for us and for our
salvation. Through Jesus Christ, we are at peace with God and so it really is
true that all shall be well.
