Eastertide #18

A High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

(Hebrews 5:11)

Okay, what’s Melchizedek got to do with it? “It’s hard to explain,” acknowledges the writer to the Hebrews (Hb 5:11). We'll give it a try nonetheless. He is the first priest mentioned in the Bible. After Abraham had rescued his nephew Lot from the Valley of the Kings, he receives a blessing from a mysterious Melchizedek of Salem, “the priest of God Most High” who brought him bread and wine and blessed him. It is a brief, seemingly inconsequential encounter, only four verses (Gn 14:18-21); but some thousand years later, Melchizedek reappears in Israel’s hymnal: “You are a priest forever,” they would sing, “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). I don’t suppose anyone would make much of Melchizedek if it were not for the Psalm; and now, another thousand years later, the Book of Hebrews. But, why?

The word “Messiah” in Hebrew and “Christ” in Greek means Anointed. When we call Jesus “Christ” we are saying Jesus is God’s Anointed One; or, in the case of the Son of God become man, he is “The Anointed One.” In the O.T. anointing is shared by the king, the prophet and the priest. Jesus is The One Anointed to fulfill all three:

1.      The Anointed King as promised to David (2Sam): The King, like a good shepherd, protects the flock and leads us to green pastures.

2.      The Anointed Prophet as promised to Moses (Dt 18): The Prophet brings God’s Word from above to the people below. Jesus not only brings the word from above, but is the eternal Word from above made flesh below.

3.      The Anointed Priest as promise to, surprise, Melchizedek (Ps 110:4): The Priest brings sacrifices for the sins of the people below before God on high.

That is why we need Melchizedek: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hb 5:6 quoting Ps 110:4). Because Christ is our Anointed High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek, He can make an eternal atoning sacrifice for our sin. He pleads our case before the Father. That’s good news.