It was famously said of the Schleswig-Holstein question that only three men ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who was dead, the second was a German professor, who went mad, and the third was Palmerston, never reticent about such things, who used to understand it but had forgotten it. He was the third party.
The name ‘Melchizedek’ reminds us that there is a similar question in the New Testament. It is rarely mentioned but it is a prominent feature in the letter to the Hebrews. Preachers and others fight shy of it because of its problematic nature and the difficulty of placing it alongside Paul’s letter to the Romans and the clarity of justification by faith.
The writer of this letter (Hebrews) takes as his starting-point the place of Jesus as the apostle and high priest of the Christian faith. This is a matter of the first importance to him and he chides his readers for failing to appreciate it. They are lazy and slow-witted in their refusal to attempt to understand it.
Jesus, he says, is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. His priesthood was exercised outside any rules governing the activities of Aaron, His was a permanent priesthood able to accomplish what could be effective in a way that was impossible to the Aaronic priesthood with its passing significance at the hands of mortal men. To say this is to propose the existence of an alternative line of institutional development alongside the familiar one of cult, Temple and prophecy terminating in Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
This leads to a different way of looking at the Gospel and it is hardly surprising that readers found it difficult to swallow. Despite the strictures in the text, we may be content to do without any deep understanding of Melchizedek. We may even take it that Palmerston had common sense on his side and we can hardly do better. We should not be discouraged. The Gospel has many aspects and the high priest’s functions and their fulfilment in Christ are not the first port of call for an inquirer weighing up the Gospel. They are none the less significant.
MIDDLESBROUGH GROCERY
St Barnabas’s church, Middlesbrough, is opening a community grocery. Local supermarkets are co-operating in helping those with food supply problems. St Barnabas’s is also taking part in Transforming Teesside, a joint project with other Middlesbrough churches that explains itself on three lively videos. It also has its own Alpha programme. The Vicar is David Goodhew.
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