Hebrews Week 3: Jesus was no Angel and 2 Alleluias

I have never been able to resist a good Far Side comic.  There will be another with this Sunday's sermon which I will post on Monday.  Gary Larsen's vision of heaven is great!

Jesus was no Angel!

I borrowed the title of this post from Thomas Long's commentary on Hebrews in the Interpretation series.  What a great line both because of the shock value and its true!  As I said n the first week - every book of the Bible, every sentence, every word is about God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Everyone else is but a supporting actor - including the angels. 

Our writer of Hebrews is convinced (and so should we be) that Jesus is the Son of God!  I am always amused at our attempts to describe an infinite and eternal God using finite and limited words.  "God is ..." has stumped more preachers and followers than perhaps any other statement we can make.  The same is true of Jesus and our Hebrews writer tells us this from the very 1st chapter.  Jesus is not an angel, He is the Son of God.  No angel has ever sat at the right hand of God or formed creation or been the source of Salvation.  Let Handel's Alleluia Chorus play through your mind and think King of Kings and Lord of Lord's.  If you would like inspiration, this is my favorite performance from Kings College, Cambridge.

The Great High Priest

The High Priest of Israel was the senior priest from the family of Aaron in the tribe of Levi.  Once a year, on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices on behalf of himself, the priests, and the people.  This day culminated a 10 day period of repentance in the seventh month on the Jewish calendar that began with Rosh Hashanah.  Jewish Tradition holds that God determines judgment upon the people on Rosh Hashanah and waits until Yom Kippur to seal the verdict in the Book of Life.  The sacrifices of Yom Kippur by the High Priest were made as acts of repentance seeking the forgiveness and mercy of God.  The sacrifices and the High Priest do not save the people from their sins - only God can do that.  Rather he is but the messenger of God's salvation.  Yet, Jesus came not just as a messenger of salvation but the source.  The High Priest had to come each year with new sacrifices, but Jesus's sacrifice on the cross is eternal so that life and forgiveness are eternal.  

A Priest in the Order of Melchizedek

Jesus, though, was from the tribe of Judah and not Levi.  He was not from the priestly family of Aaron.  The writer of Hebrews though is hardly concerned.  Jesus is not an Aaronic priest but rather a priest from the Order of Melchizedek.    This rather shadowy figure appears in the 14th chapter of Genesis in the story of Abraham.  Abram has just won a battle when he is met by Melchizedek, King of Salem.  Abram is blessed by Melchizedek and offers him a tithe of all his spoils of victory.  The significance of this passage in Genesis is that Melchizedek is named a priest of the Most High God.  He is not of the family of Aaron for Aaron had not yet been born.  His priesthood knows no end and he is described as a priest forever.  And then he disappears and is mentioned only one other time in the Hebrew scriptures in Psalm 110.  The writer of Hebrews declares that Christ's priesthood is eternal and comes directly from God rather than family or lineage.  Therefore his sacrifice is forever and does not need to be repeated.

In the final week of our class, we will talk about how we as Christians are called to live as followers of the Great High Priest in Hebrews.

Now I would be remiss if I did not share with you my 2nd favorite performance of the Alleluia chorus.  I first saw this performed at the Red Mountain Theatre Holiday Spectacular.  It is spectacular!  You will find many other similar performances on YouTube, but this is the original group (although a later performance).  Enjoy them both!  Alleluia.