If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? – Hebrews 7:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 22, 2015): Hebrews 7

Anarchist Emma Goldman is often credited with saying that “if voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal,” and this reference is often used in support of the non-voting movement. Non-voting is not an apathetic movement. Rather, it is simply a belief that the current political system cannot be changed from within. Radical restructuring is necessary if real change is going to occur. The hope of the non-voting movement is simply that masses of people will refuse to vote as a political statement on the current system. If the people refuse to buy into that system, then maybe those in power will get the message and allow real change to reform the system.

That is exactly the belief of the author of Hebrews. Hebrews argues that if it were possible for the Levitical priesthood to take care of the sin of the people, then it would have already done so. But the reality is that the system had failed. And it failed in a couple of ways. The Levitical priesthood didn’t work because the same sacrifice was needed year after year. It could not provide the lasting change that was needed. In fact, it was probably needed more often than that because it seemed that as soon as the person walked away from the sacrifice they had already returned to their sin. But there was also a moving away from Judaism among the Jews in the first century, and that moving away was accentuated among those of the diaspora – those Jews who for whatever reason had decided to live outside of Israel. Even though the sacrifices were needed, by some among the population they were not even being offered. The people had given up on the system - the Levitical priesthood had failed.

And since it had failed, the only solution was to move on to something else – some kind of radical restructuring. So the author of Hebrews offers Jesus as the alternative. Jesus was not from the Levitical priesthood. He was a priest in the order of Melchizedek, a priest who, like Melchizedek, was without a beginning and without an end – and a priesthood who was from before the Levitical priesthood. Because it came before the Levitical priesthood, it was superior to the Levitical priesthood.

Jesus was outside the box thinking, and when the Levitical priesthood had failed, he was the only solution. Perfection that had been impossible under the Levitical priesthood, was possible through the priesthood of Jesus. He became both the priest who offered the sacrifice to God, and the perfect sacrifice itself, bringing for the first time a perfect redemption to all of the people – both Jew and Gentile.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hebrews 8