Reading: Hebrew 7-8, Psalm 28

Yesterday the ancient king Melchizedek came up briefly. In today’s reading we get extensive commentary on the guy, how he relates to Abraham, Moses, and Aaron, and finally how Jesus is like him. Next we see the author of Hebrews take everything he has been arguing about the superiority of Christ and put it in terms of the covenants God has made with his people. As Jesus was a better Moses, he mediates a better covenant than the one God made with Moses. As he is a greater Joshua, he delivers the promise of a better covenant than Joshua did. As he is a better Aaron, he fully fulfills the ministry of a better covenant, which Aaron’s family failed to do. Finally, we will start in on how this covenant is made and maintained in a better place, a better Temple.

For a guy that gets scant mention in the Hebrew Scriptures, Melchizedek has gotten a lot of attention. The author of Hebrews uses him as an example of a priest-king, who deals directly with God on behalf of his people. The name Melchizedek means King of Righteousness, and he rules Salem, making him also the King of Peace. He also reminds us that Abraham, the progenitor of God’s people, rendered tribute to Melchizedek and was blessed by him. What he is doing here is building a case that there is a better kind of person to stand as representative for God’s people, even better than Abraham. There has been rampant speculation through many ages of the Church that Melchizedek was himself a supernatural being, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. I think this is an overreach, but who knows, really? The point here isn’t really about Melchizedek anyway, it is about Jesus and his superior status which allows him to bring about a new covenant between God and humans.

Okay, on to this new covenant. Recall that this book is named to the Hebrews in every case. It is clearly intended to be read by people with a deep knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish worldview. These people lived and breathed the idea of covenant. Of being the chosen people. Of being in a permanent relationship with God. This idea of a new covenant was threatening. In the book of Acts we have seen that while the early church as almost entirely Jewish, its worst persecutors were also almost entirely Jewish. From day one they saw the Christian idea of a new covenant, particularly one that included gentiles. What the author of this letter is arguing is that this was always the plan. He quotes Jeremiah on the prediction of a new covenant, which was to come and supersede the first one. He builds this on the failure of the old covenant. God was faithful, but humans were not. The priesthood failed. The people failed. This is hardly a revolutionary message, as it is the basic story of the Hebrew Scriptures. Humans mess up, God pulls things back together. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Jesus comes and interrupts the cycle. The first covenant failed because humans have a problem. He is the human without a problem. The necessary ingredient for a new covenant that actually does what it was intended to do- make all things new, was a faithful human who could carry the guilt of the humans before God and plead for pardon. The next move the author of Hebrews makes is to say that Jesus is this person. We opened the book with the claim that Jesus was the radiance of the invisible God and the exact imprint of his nature. Now he has claimed that Jesus is the human paragon. The one person who can stand before God as a priest-king and plead the pardon of the human race. The question now is, where does he go to do it. The temple was made for the first covenant. It is corrupt. The glory of God has not occupied it. There needs to be a better Temple.