The Outlier--June 24, 2021

The Outlier--June 24, 2021

"See how great he [Melchizedek] is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these are also descended from Abraham. But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises." [Hebrews 7:4-6]

I know this can sound really obscure and complicated, but it all comes down to this: God reserves the right to work outside of the systems and structures we expect God to be limited to.

Yes, all the names thrown around even in just these few verses can be hard to keep track of, like listening to Supreme Court wonks throw around the case titles of famous precedents in their casual conversation, or overhearing a row full of super-fans arguing over inside baseball.  But let's try and get to the bottom of this passage, so that we'll maybe understand why this was so important to the writer of these words.  And maybe we'll see, too, the beautiful freedom of God to work outside the lines we have drawn, over and over again.

Okay, so the bigger picture question the writer of Hebrews is trying to answer is something like this:  how can Jesus be like a "high priest" if the actual high priests of ancient Israel all had to be descended from a particular family line, which was different from Jesus' genealogy?  How can we think of Jesus as like a high priest, interceding for us and bearing our sins before God on our behalf, if he wasn't from the right tribal lineage?  

If that seems like a strange question to our ears, maybe we can reframe it a little bit into the ways that our institutional religion sets apart leaders.  For all the differences between church denominations, there is at least usually some expectation that pastors and preachers have some formal training before they step into a pulpit to speak, "Thus says the Lord."  For many, like me, it involved masters-level work at seminary, a hundred hours of Clinical Pastoral Education beyond that, a year of internship, and before all that a bachelors degree and a couple of dead languages.  Churches often come to expect that God only works through people who have those kind of qualifications, or that only congregations led by people with those kinds of degrees on a wall are "valid."  We end up arguing, too, over who has to lay hands on the newly ordained ministers, and just how far back the chain of succession with those hands has to go.  And in a lot of places, that means the unspoken (but still very official) theology is that God isn't allowed to work through someone who doesn't have the title Master of Divinity after their name on their business cards.

So, what if someone came along and insisted that God had worked through a dear lady who had been teaching Sunday School for years but never had completed high school, much less college and divinity school?  What if someone came along and said, "This person here hasn't been able to go to seminary, but they understand the needs of their community and congregation, and they are attuned to what God is doing here for good!"?  What if there were folks who didn't go to seminary for four years but who were courageous and bold enough in their faith to invite a neighbor to worship and to tell them that God's love included them, just as they are?  Could we dare to say with confidence, "Yes, God is using this person, even though they don't have the usual credentials we look for?"

Well, something like that is the driving question here.  If Jesus isn't officially a member of the ancient tribe of people from whom the priests were chosen (that would be the tribe of Levi), then is there some way he can actually be like a priest for us?  Can he still be God's chosen one to be our go-between, bringing our needs and prayers and confessions to God, and speaking a word from God where we need to hear it?  Can Jesus still be worthy of our trust and allegiance if he isn't from the official family where priests come from?

And for the writer of Hebrews, the answer is a resounding yes!  All of this talk of the mysterious figure of Melchizedek is meant to show that there was historical precedent for this other means of being a priest of God.  Even though the later commandments would insist on a certain set of qualifications (coming from the tribe of Levi, being male, wearing certain vestments, and so on), the writer of Hebrews says, "Well, okay, yes, but before all of those rules were given, there was this Melchizedek person who appears out of nowhere and doesn't check all those boxes, and yet he is regarded as a true priest of the same God!  In fact, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, in a way, that Melchizedek person is regarded as greater and even more important than the priestly line from Levi, because even dear old father Abraham, the patriarch of their faith (and the great-grandfather of the original Levi) paid tribute and gave tithes to Melchizedek.  The writer of Hebrews sees all of this as evidence that Abraham, their ancestor, recognized the greatness of Melchizedek, and also the validity of his being a priest.

Again, I know it's easy to get lost in all those names and offices and tribes and hierarchies, but it comes down to this: for folks who were sure there was only one acceptable path to serving God and God's people, and that it came only through one certain system and religious structure, the writer of Hebrews says, "Look at your own story--there have been other ways in the past!  God was never bound to stay inside the lines of our system, even if God also does use people in that system as well!" For the purposes of the book of Hebrews, this is all laying the groundwork for showing how Jesus can really and truthfully be called our "great high priest" even though he doesn't check all the boxes for people's expectations of what a great high priest is supposed to be.  When the rules say, "You're not eligible if you're not from Levi's line," the writer of Hebrews says, "Well, wait just a second here--what about Melchizedek?  In fact, isn't that guy even greater than the whole system of Levi's descendants?"  And from there, all the writer of Hebrews needs to do is to connect the dots to Jesus.

But maybe, too, this is a reminder for all of us--and respectable religious leaders of institutional churches like myself especially--that God is free to call people and use people beyond my expectations or judgments of worthiness.  In fact, to hear the Bible itself tell it, that's what God has done in Jesus, who doesn't fit the bill to qualify for being a priest. And yet, like the proverbial stone that the builders rejected, here Jesus has been made the chief cornerstone and the great high priest of all humanity. 

So, sure, the seminary-trained person in the alb or preacher's robe on Sunday mornings can be used by God... but so can the single mom who is willing, God love her, to teach kids about the story of God in Sunday School. God can use the person who has high-tech video screens, professionally trained guitarists and drummers, and a trendy hipster goatee, but God can also use the person whose church building doesn't have electricity, much less the internet, and who doesn't care about being trendy or polished. And yes, the person with the pointy hat and hooked stick (sorry, the mitre and crozier of a bishop in some traditions) can be used by God, but so can the woman starting a store-front church in a busy city neighborhood with nothing but a couple of folding chairs and her faith that God has called her there.  If Jesus can be the outlier, then maybe so can anybody.

Keep your eyes open for how God uses people both inside and outside the structures we expect.  God will be in all of those places, choosing people to lead and pray and shepherd others through life.

Lord God, be your free self with us and work in unexpected ways and through unexpected people... even like you did in Jesus.