25 January 2010
Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54

Abram is forced by circumstances to mount a force, a private army, and rescue Lot. It is a sign that Abram has become an important personage in the area and that God has blessed him. He is able to bring out a force of 318 men who have been “born in his house” to make this rescue. His wealth must be substantial if this many have been born within his house and yet none of these are his own children. We meet in this passage the king of Salem, Melchizedek, who comes and pronounces blessing over Abram and Abram’s God, maker of heaven and earth. Just who is this king and priest to whom Abram gives tithes? This is his only appearance in the Bible but he comes out from Jeru-salem, the city of the Lord at a much later time. Abram refuses any tribute from the king of Sodom and insists that he will not be in any way beholden to him. Abram surely knew the kind of people he was dealing with here and we see in his dealings with these two men that he made a distinction.

It is likely that the royal official is not a Jew and yet Jesus performs this healing on his behalf. His first response to the request is to call faith into question, but the verbs here are plural verbs, “Unless y’all see signs and wonders, y’all won’t believe” (My own vernacular translation). John has told us that the people of Galilee welcomed Jesus because of what they had seen Him do in Jerusalem, so we know that the signs mattered. This man, however, believes first, going at the command of Jesus in the belief that his son would be healed. Our faith must be first in the person of Jesus and the signs simply confirm what we already believe. If faith is dependent on signs, what happens when we don’t see what we hope for in this life?

There is a bit of the philosophy of Plato in this passage. The earthly tent and temple for worship are copies of the heavenly ideal and Jesus, in his priesthood is the ideal priest, of which the earthly priesthood is not exactly a copy. These priests are not like Jesus in that they offer animal sacrifices continually, Jesus, perfection in Himself, offers His sacrifice of Himself, once for all. In the new covenant there is no new priesthood, that is done away with in the giving of the Spirit and the writing of the laws in our hearts. We all “know” the Lord. It doesn’t mean we don’t need one another and we don’t need instruction, we simply don’t need a mediator between us and God, we all have Jesus who intercedes on our behalf. The work of the priest in the old covenant was, in essence, that of mediator and intercessor, offering sacrifices as a form of intercession. The idea is something like, I, the priest, have found this offering acceptable which tells me that this person understands their sin and the price for reconciliation and I now offer it to you on their behalf, please find it acceptable as I have. In the new covenant, there is no need for priestly intercession, we all have access to God through the one mediator, intercessor and priest, Jesus.

I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.