Mysterious Melchizedek

by Pauline Farrington Pezzino

Hebrews 5:5-10, Lent 5, B                                                                                                                                                 

Do you find yourself drawn to mysteries?  I love a good mystery.  Books, stories, and games…and I have my favorite mystery writers – perhaps you do, as well.

Now, we can’t always solve the mysteries in the books or movies,

But that’s ok, right? Because we know there’s a solution and we eventually get to it. 

Perhaps one of the reasons I love to study the Bible is because there is so much mystery there;

it doesn’t matter that I can’t solve it, I enjoy pondering…   

And that may be why I am so drawn to this Hebrews text;

There is a very compelling mystery there – it makes me want to find out more…

the mysterious Melchizedek!   

We first meet Melchizedek in way back in Genesis 14 where we learn that he is a priest of God Most High and King of Salem (Shalom) - peace.  King of Peace.    

It’s really quite a story, Abram went to rescue Lot and some other people and possessions that had been taken in battle by Chedor-lao-mer (see how much fun this is!) 

Abram was successful, and when he returned with Lot and all the people and the booty,

Melchizedek bestowed a blessing on Abram – “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth.” 

Then, Abram gave Melchizedek 1/10^th of everything. 

So Melchizedek is considered to be superior even to Abram who is later renamed Abraham, the father of our faith!

Melchizedek is also mentioned in In the Dead Sea Scrolls where there are speculations about him as a heavenly being who will judge the world.  Melchizedek is very important, and still mysterious.    

Actually, there’s a lot of mystery in our faith that lingers even after 2000 years,  

There are mysteries in the sacraments, mysteries about God,

even mysteries about Christ, the incarnate God, the one who came to reveal the

 mysterious God.

We certainly can’t solve these mysteries, and that’s ok

most of the time. 

But, sometimes the things we don’t know and can’t solve are frustrating because we want answers that will help us with the mysteries in our lives.  

sometimes life’s mysteries aren’t fun.

Sometimes they’re downright awful –

like:  symptoms that doctors can’t diagnose

            Or knowing you’ll be in the next round of lay-offs and you don’t know how you’ll support your son in college and your daughter in high school, getting ready for college.

            Or your father’s memory is disturbingly elusive and he’s afraid to tell the doctor.    

It might be nothing – but it might be something.                  

I know a story of mom whose daughter died after a long fight with cancer. 

There was an unreal moment when she walked out of the hospital and got into the car

 without her child, she cried out to Jesus

             “I need to know you’re real!  Please tell me you’re real and that she’s with you in heaven.  I can’t stand this if you’re not there!

This woman’s own mother was at her house waiting for her, and the first thing she did was ask her mother, “Is he real?  I need to know he’s real!  Is she in heaven?  Please tell me heaven’s real!  Please tell me.”

This woman’s mother put her arms around her and told her, “Yes, he’s real,” and held her tight.

 

This is when mysteries are not good;

it’s when we need some clarity on the mystery of Christ. 

We need to know Christ is real, like us,

connected to us.

Need to know he understands us and our worry our pain and our grief. 

Listen, Jesus is real. 

He knows our fear, he knows our suffering,

he feels our pain,

he’s familiar with our shame (the cross was a shameful death),

he’s knows our guilt (he took it all on himself),

he felt the emptiness of being lonely, (he had to leave his family, as far as we know never married, never fathered a child, his best friends deserted him when he needed them most.)

 

Jesus was humble.  He didn’t seek glory,

he was obedient to the will of his Father in all things,

obedient even to his death. 

His obedience cost him a lot, though, and he offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to the one who could save him from death. 

Jesus hears our loud cries and tears, and he understands our weakness.

It’s important for us to know that Jesus knows our pain;

it makes a huge difference to know we’re understood. 

Now, it’s also important for us to know that what Jesus did for us on the cross

makes a difference to us,

it really counts. 

What that mom needed that day was to know that her daughter was alive in heaven –

and for that it takes more than an understanding, human Jesus.

Takes more than her mom’s arms,

takes more than a doctor,

more than a pastor’s comfort,

takes more than a human priest to give us heaven and eternal life

Takes a priest on order of Melchizedek – something other than human…

more than human

                                    It takes the Son of God –

King of Peace

                                                Mediator of our salvation and the forgiver of our sins

 

When we face life’s bitterness, if we don’t know that Jesus is enough,

we’ll go looking for solutions on our own.

Then more mysteries come in to play – We hit Barnes & Noble Booksellers,

the aisle of books on how to find spiritual center

Essential Spirituality: 7 Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind: Exercises from the World’s

            Religions to Awaken Kindness, Joy, Love, Peace, Vision, Wisdom, and Generosity[1]

These are all wonderful things – everybody wants to have these in their lives.

But there’s nothing there about heaven.

Another one: The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality[2]  – (it isn’t all that small)

And of course the inevitable, Spirituality for Dummies[3], that instills confidence, right?

I wish this were a fun mystery, but it isn’t. 

These books exist because people are starving for something to believe in and count on. We think it has to come from within ourselves

and we’re looking for instructions on how to find it.

 

Not finding what we need to solve this spiritual emptiness mystery at Barnes & Noble –

we look someplace else, and all too often it’s

 to drugs or alcohol, or food (Doritos is my personal favorite),

 

Or even better, the mind-numbing drug of – entertainment!!! 

And we have much to choose from – Digital, 3D, HD, MP3, DSL, CG, ESPN, CNN, or Turner Classic Movies!  These are all wonderful things…. Things to enjoy.

 

But Jesus is a priest on the order of Melchizedek. 

Jesus’ priesthood is above all things mortal.

                                    Above all things, mortal.

Above all the things we try to satisfy our longings with. 

We have all that we need in him.

We think there’s something we need to do. 

Our culture teaches us that we are autonomous, independent, self-sufficient –

we teach those things to our children –

and when it comes to homework, tying shoes, and brushing teeth it’s pretty much right.  And that’s autonomy we can be thankful for.   

But when it comes to filling that place of hunger in our souls,

and that need for the promise of more than this life –

we must look outside ourselves.

             

Jesus is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek,

he is the source of our salvation. 

He is the perfecter and the finisher of our faith.   

In his obedience, his death, he accomplished the perfection of all humanity.   

He perfected us.

 

And we are privileged to participate in the Holy Community that is his body.

So we pray.  We read Holy Scripture.  Jesus is in our praying and in our reading.

  When we gather for worship, for liturgy,

Jesus reveals himself to us in Scripture, in Baptism, in the Eucharist, in each other.

He nourishes our souls. 

Our sins are erased! 

His prayers and supplications,

with loud cries and tears

offered to the one who saved him from the bonds of death

are for US –

to save us from the bonds of death!

And to rescue us from shame, and guilt,

And to ease our loneliness, and heal heartbreak, our erase fear, and fill loss

To save us from our addiction

to all those ways we to make it without him.  

 

He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek and that’s mysterious, and thanks be to God for that mystery because in that mystery is salvation and heaven!

And, at the same time, though the mystery is not completely unlocked,

Jesus is accessible. 

Because he is also human, a man, and not a mystery.