Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 313

It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up
after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so,
not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent
but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
For it is testified:
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The Author of Hebrews engages his readers in wonderful creative leaps as he teaches us that Jesus is after the likeness of Melchizedek. Apparently it made sense to his initial audience of converted Jews, and with some stretching we can understand it also. In fact, given the ubiquitous presence of movie and television fantasies, we might understand it very well.

Melchizedek appears in Genesis wearing two hats; he is priest and king of Salem, the city we know as Jerusalem. Salem is the same word as the Jewish shalom and Arabic salaam, meaning peace. It might be translated also as whole, safe or intact.

So Melchizedek appears in Genesis to congratulate Abraham in his rout of several armies and to offer his own homage to the peaceful warrior. As a priest he blesses Abraham; as king he gives him a tithe of his wealth, which is considerable.

But who is Melchizedek? The modern person might suppose we know enough already; he is a royal priest. But the Jewish scribe wanted to know his ascendants and descendants. Can you know a person without knowing his family? Nobody comes from nobody! Who is he? Genesis tells us nothing of that.

Now Jesus’ ancestry is well documented, but he was not a Levite. How can he be a priest if he is not born into the Levite tribe? Answer: in the same way that Melchizedek was a priest! To borrow a Hollywood trope, the priesthood of Melchizedek abided in Jerusalem, a forgotten blessing lurking among the stones until it fell upon the new priest/king, who is Jesus. That blessing is “the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.”

And, because Melchizedek’s death is also unrecorded, his priesthood abides forever, as Psalm 110 indicated: The LORD has sworn and will not waver: “You are a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek.”

Jesus' priesthood is a spirit that began before time and cannot be destroyed. Whether you go along with the Author’s imaginative leaps or not, you have to agree he arrived at a wonderful place. 

The Hebrew Author could assure his people, "The priesthood of the temple has died when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD; but it has been raised up in Jesus. He is the True Priest, the Only Priest. He alone is worthy to enter the Holy of Holys and pray before His Heavenly Father on our behalf.