Stephen
Terry, Director
The Message of Hebrews
Commentary
for the January 8, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"Your throne, O God, will last for ever
and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love
righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above
your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." Psalm 45:6-7, NIV
The Epistle to the Hebrews reverberates
with mythical elements that are common across cultures and endure through
modern fantasy literature and movies derivative of the same theme. A throne is usurped,
and the rightful heir goes into exile. The tale then plays out of how the dispossessed
prince or princess struggles to regain their throne. Until that happens, the
kingdom groans under the boot heel of a narcissistic usurper and darkness sets
in over the blighted kingdom. In most tellings, after several
severe trials, the heir is successful, and the kingdom's citizens find light
and hope once again under a benevolent and moral ruler.
These tales go back into antiquity
and because they strike a familiar chord with the foundational struggle of the
biblical narrative, scholars often debate whether the Bible is derivative of
those folk tales or if they derive from much earlier biblical events. Those who
advocate for the former view often do so to call into question the veracity of
the overarching theme of the Bible. However, they overlook a significant
difference between those tales and the Bible. The folk tales remain the same over
the millennia with only minor changes to make them more culturally relevant. In
a later example, "Romeo and Juliet" is still "Romeo and Juliet," even with modern
clothing and set in alleyways and under freeways. Despite the trappings, the
folk tales also remain the same. But the opposite is true with the Bible. As
the centuries pass, the narrative evolves and reveals ever more about the
usurpation, why it happened and how it will end. Instead of seeing the entire
story and moving on to another when done, we are the ongoing story. In a sense,
Shakespeare"s "All the world's a stage" is true. We are not just readers and
followers of the story. Whether we live out our roles faithfully or sit back and
criticize the performance, we are all shaped by it. Action or reaction derive
from the narrative. In denial, we may state that we are not
affected by something that does not exist. But when asked what it is that
does not exist, we reveal in our answer that even our indifference is a reaction
to the story. Despite pretensions otherwise, we are no freer of the play's
influence than the players.
In the very first act, we find a
kingdom or dominion ruled over by the first people, Adam and Eve. That kingdom
is usurped by the serpent, who enthralls humanity into subservience to his rule. The majority fall
into willing service to the usurper, craving what he offers, power, wealth, and
a golden carrot they often spend lifetimes pursuing. They are convinced that
they need so many things they can only buy with an illusion of wealth just beyond
their reach, often to find in the end, even if they do obtain what they sought,
they are too old and sickly to enjoy it, and the youth and strength spent in its
pursuit cannot be reclaimed at any price. Repeatedly
the price of such societal vanity has been degradation of the human condition
and often harm to the earth as well. Despite opportunities to begin anew, after
the expulsion from Eden, after the Noahic flood, after the Exodus from Egypt,
after the Babylonian exile, and even after the incarnation of Jesus, humanity
continued to grasp for what the serpent promised. Even after the Aaronic priesthood
came into being with its bloody flood of sacrifices to radically demonstrate
the prohibitive cost of the course they were on, people offered the sacrifices
perfunctorily and still followed the serpent. We might look upon them and think
we would do better, but anyone who has ever chosen a cookie instead of an apple
when given the choice knows how weak we really are when the serpent sings his
song of temptation.
Salvation was not in that sea
of animal blood, nor in the Aaronic priests who shed it. We needed something better,
a permanent fix that would give us a stable foundation to build upon. Instead of
vacillating back and forth, following the serpent's undulations through the
sand, we needed a rock substrate and with the incarnation, God provided one.
With Jesus, God the Father replaced the role played by Aaron and his hapless
descendants with a better priestly order, one not limited to a particular family,
but open to all who would come. That order was prefigured in Genesis by
Melchizedek, one who had no beginning nor end.[i]
Christ, the eternal and righteous One, is the only one suitable to serve as
high priest of that order, for the order is eternal.
When we decide to follow Christ
instead of the serpent's call, we are ordained to the priesthood of
Melchizedek, just as Aaron's descendants were ordained. The elements of our
ordination in type and anti-type are similar yet more efficacious. Those
ancient priests were ordained with animal blood, water, and oil. These carried
no magical import except to prefigure our ordination through accepting the
sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf (blood), being baptized (water), and receiving
the Holy Spirit (oil).[ii] This
is why Peter could refer to the followers of Christ as a "royal priesthood,"[iii]
a declaration founded on the elements of ordination he spoke of at Pentecost.
We might ask, "If the Order of
Melchizedek is an eternal one, how can mortal humans ever serve in its
priesthood?" Our calling to that priesthood is an earnest of our own transformation
at the Parousia, for it says that we also must receive immortality which would allow
us to fully serve.[iv]
In a sense, that eternal life begins the moment we are ordained. Even though
death may pursue and take us in this life, we are no more dead than Christ in
the tomb, asleep and awaiting our moment to come forth. But for now, we are
like strangers in a foreign country. Although he knows his time is short, the
serpent continues to hiss out his song to those who will dance to that music.
With senses overwhelmed by titillation, we can find it hard to see anything
else. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit will speak God's compassion into the life of
each of us at an appropriate moment that we may have the opportunity to hear
something other than the siren call of the serpent. This is only fair. As God
allowed the serpent access to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God also
should have access to each heart that they can meaningfully choose whom they
will follow.
The book of Hebrews will tell
us about the strengths and promises of the Melchizedekian priesthood this
quarter. This is important because, according to the spoiler we find in the book
of Revelation, things will end unexpectedly and cataclysmically. When the hour
of our visitation comes, when the Holy Spirit speaks compassionately into our
lives, we do not want to miss that opportunity. It may come through someone we
least expect. God used the reluctant prophet Jonah to reach out and deliver
compassionate grace to save the entire city of Nineveh. Even the prophet was
reluctant to accept God's compassion toward that city. But when their hour of
visitation came, they humbled themselves and turned from the serpent's path to
follow God's call.
We are no different than the
Ninevites. Caught up in the pursuit of all the things we would like to have and
fearful of the loss we would endure if we chose to abandon that chase, we are
unaware of our own condition. We feel we do not have the time to even consider it.
There is so much to do and so little time to get it all done. We are like
Martha whose busyness kept her from the feet of Jesus, but rather than join her
sister Mary with Jesus, she even sought to deprive Mary of that gift by urging
Jesus to send her away to be busy with the same things as Martha. Fortunately,
Jesus declined to do that and gently chided Martha for failing to understand what
was profoundly important. There are Marthas in this world that would
unwittingly pull us from God's love and compassion so that we might get caught
up in the same hustle and bustle that has entrapped them, but we can, like Mary,
choose a better way and in doing so, light the way for a multitude of Marthas
to join us.
As we study Hebrews, we will
learn of the rest Jesus offers us in place of our anxiety over so many things
that in the end do not matter. In a world filled with turmoil and strife, rest sounds
appealing to me. I hope it does to you, also.