A New Priesthood Arises

In the television program The Great British Baking Show, contestants in a baking competition must impress two demanding judges. One expects “sheer perfection” from her bakers; few ever deliver such a product.

In our reading, perfection is also the goal, but the Levitical priesthood and the Law were unable to deliver that standard. It was “weak and useless” and “made nothing perfect” (vv. 18–19). Otherwise, why would there be a need for “another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?” (v. 11). That change of priesthood is revealed in Jesus, who came from a nonpriestly tribe (Judah) from which “no one . . . has ever served at the altar” (v. 13). His priesthood, however, is not determined by heredity, but by something else.

Our English translations don’t always capture the subtlety in the original Greek, but three times in this passage the verb arise is used about Christ and the Melchizedek priesthood: there was need for another priest “to come” (literally “arise,” v. 11); Jesus “descended” (literally “arose”) from the tribe of Judah (v. 14); and “another priest like Melchizedek appears” (literally “arises” v. 15). These words are all used elsewhere to speak of Christ’s resurrection, which Hebrews clearly has in mind: Christ has become priest “not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life” (v. 16).

Perfection is God’s goal for each of us, and Christ’s death and resurrection have become the new vehicle by which God’s intentions for us will be achieved. Where the older Levitical system remained ineffective, Christ’s priesthood introduces a “better hope . . . by which we draw near to God” (v. 19).

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