January
18, 2017
Wednesday,
Week Two, Year I
Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalm 109; Mark 3:1-6.
Our Name Is “Peace” And “Justice”
Hebrews tells us three
ways Melchizedek was a preview of Jesus.
1. He was
presented as “eternal.” In Genesis he
appears without genealogy, no “father, mother, ancestry, beginning of days or
end of life; like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”
2. He was of a
higher rank than the priests of Judaism, who were priests by biological descent
from Aaron, of the tribe of Levi. The sign of this was that Abraham (and so
Levi, who was “in the loins of his ancestor" at
the time) paid Melchizedek a tithe. Plus, Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and
“everybody knows that the inferior is blessed by the superior.”
3.
He was a priest “not in virtue of a law based on physical descent, but in
virtue of the power of an indestructible life.” We saw Monday that Jesus, God the Son who
became human, is a priest by nature.
He receives priesthood from his very being
as God and man So Scripture testifies: “You are a priest forever, according to the
order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews concludes from
this that “perfection [was not] attainable through
the Levitical priesthood,” since it had to be replaced by a priesthood
“of the order of Melchizedek.” And so the law that restricted priesthood to the
tribe of Levi (to which Jesus did not belong) was abolished. “When there is a change in the priesthood, there is
necessarily a change in the law as well.”[1]
Hebrews will get to
the “main point” of all this in chapter eight. But what if we want to meditate,
as the Liturgy of the Word invites us
to do, on this text?
It is legitimate to take something that is not
the “main point” of the text. and to let it speak to us with the special
meaning it has in the context of our day even though this goes beyond what the
author had in mind. Let’s take the words: “his name [Melchisedek] means ‘king
of justice.’ He was also king of Salem, that is ‘king of peace.’”
“Justice and peace” are in the forefront of
Christian consciousness today. If they are associated with Christ’s priesthood,
they are religious issues, not just political ones. And they belong to all Christians’
baptismal consecration as “priest”
and “king.” This baptismal consecration is more fundamental than the clergy’s
consecration through Holy Orders.
The Church has no authority whatsoever to
declare positively what should be made a civil law, except to condemn laws that
violate human rights. The Church tells us what is a sin; the government decides
which sins should be punished as crimes. But every Christian has the right and
the obligation to argue for better
legislation, especially in defense and support of the poor and the “unvoiced.”
This is our task as Christians and citizens. The clergy have no right to give
their opinions “in the name of the Church” about what particular issues should
be written into law, because there is no revealed doctrine about this. But all
Christians—laity, priests and bishops—have the right to voice their opinions
and argue for them, provided they don’t try to impose Church sanctions on those
who do not agree with them. The Inquisition showed us what happens when
ecclesiastics presume the power to tell the government what sins should be
punished as crimes!
The name Melchisedek means ‘king of justice.’
And as king of Salem, he was ‘king of peace.’ Melchisedek, as both priest and
king, calls all who are “in Christ” to work for peace and justice.
Meditation:
1.
Am I
both “priest and king”?
2. How do I
combine these in action?
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