Standing Godward

This week’s appointed reading from the Book of Hebrews comes in two versions: the "required" shorter version, and the "optional" longer version. My general guideline for readers here at St. Patrick’s is to stick with the shorter version unless instructed otherwise. When I first read through this week’s lessons, my initial thought was relief that we didn’t have to read that first bit from Hebrews. I was glad it was optional and could be omitted. It seems so pretentious and esoteric. All that talk about high priests.

But obviously we didn’t omit it; I specifically asked that the full reading from Hebrews be read. I’m preaching on that optional bit that I initially thought I would be glad to omit. Sermons are funny things. I make them into sentences and paragraphs, of course, but I have always felt that the particular seed that starts a sermon’s growth each week is given to me. If you imagine a sermon growing out of a particular place, a particular idea, a particular phrase within the weekly Scriptural readings… the place where that sermon grows and the general sort of plant that the sermon grows into… those are the Holy Spirit’s doing. And this week, much to my surprise, the Holy Spirit was gardening amid those "optional" words in Hebrews about priesthood.

Most commentaries on Hebrews take these first four verses of chapter five together as a unit. And the heading for this passage tends to be something like "qualifications for priesthood" or "the marks of a good priest." Listen again. "Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was."

These are the marks of a good priest. So, according to the standard of Hebrews, how am I doing? How do I measure up? How would you rate my job performance?

You know, the Episcopal Church is the only Protestant denomination that calls our ordained ministers "priests." The Protestant reformation in England took a slightly more circuitous route than in other countries, and the Church of England hung onto the Roman Catholic titles for the ordained ministry. But what if I were not a priest. Would you hear these words from Hebrews differently? If I stood before you as a Lutheran pastor or a Methodist minister, how would you hear this description from Hebrews of the qualities of a priest? If a priest weren’t a regular part of your life in the church, would there really be any point in including these "optional" verses from Hebrews?

If the author of the letter to the Hebrews isn’t talking about your priest, whom is he talking about? The ancient Levitical priesthood associated with the Jewish temple in Jerusalem? The Roman Catholic priesthood? The ordained ministry in general… Some amorphous collection of priests, pastors, elders, and reverends? Do these words about priests have any real, direct relevance?

In a way it’s too bad that Episcopalians call one order of our ordained ministry "priests." Inevitably it leads us to neglect one of the most powerful ideas from our Protestant heritage—the priesthood of all believers.

The argument about priesthood in Hebrews is complex, and I’m certainly not going to go into the person and significance of Melchizedek this morning. But Hebrew’s point is simple—to proclaim the priesthood of Christ. "Christ became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest." Christ is the one true Christian priest. The Body of Christ serves as priest today. Every member of the Body of Christ shares in Christ’s priesthood. In this sense, baptism makes you a priest. You are a priest just as surely as I am. These words from Hebrews are your job description.  So how are you doing?

Every priest is put in charge of things pertaining to God on behalf of others, Hebrews says. He or she is to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since all human priests are also subject to weakness. And no one may presume to take this honor of priesthood, but only receives it through God’s grace. These are the qualities of priesthood. And unless you want to renounce your baptism and forswear your membership in the Body of Christ, which is the church, you are God’s priests. Priests to one another and to the world. Each and every one of us is called to participate in the priesthood of the Body of Christ.

So if these instructions about priesthood pertain to us all, what do they really mean? Primarily, Hebrews tells us, we are to act on behalf of others with respect to God. We are to act on behalf of others with respect to their relationship with God. We are to act. For the good of others. Inaction is not an option. Acting on our own behalf is not the point. We are to act on behalf of others with respect to God.

One writer describes this as standing Godward of our fellow human beings. Standing Godward. Like standing windward, but standing Godward. Standing between God and others.  Standing Godward of our friends. Standing Godward of others in our families. Standing Godward of fellow parishioners. So that we may represent (re-present) God to them. And so that we may re-present them to God. We are to be the link, the bridge, the connection.

We are to represent God to our friends and to the world. It’s also called evangelism. Most of us are wary of evangelism.  Most of us are wary of "imposing" our religion, our God, on others. But listen to these words of Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann. He is talking about being a Christian as the only way to overcome what he calls the demonic:

"According to some modern interpreters of Christianity [this talk of the demonic] belongs to an antiquated world view and cannot be taken seriously by the man who ‘uses electricity’." But, he says, the experience of evil "which we call demonic" is very real in our lives. And it is not just the "absence of good." "Hatred, for example, is not merely absence of love… we recognize hatred's presence as an almost physical burden that we feel in ourselves when we hate… We live in a world in which normal and civilized men ‘use electricity’ to exterminate other human beings… A child born into this world, according to statistics has a great likelihood some day of entering a mental institution, a penitentiary, or at best, the maddening boredom of a universal suburbia. The world from which the human being has received his life, and which will determine this life, is a prison."

Life without God is a prison.  A prison where we have no power against the force of evil. Lent is meant to remind us all that, without God, we are prisoners to the power of evil within our own hearts. To be an evangelist, to fulfill the priesthood of the Body of Christ, is not to impose anything on any one. It is to offer freedom. It is to stand Godward of our friends and throw wide the gates that imprison them. Only God has the power to free us from the evil of sin and death. Surely we would not shrink from offering that freedom, from presenting God’s freedom, to others.

To stand Godwards of others also means, of course, to pray for them. To represent their needs to God. As participants in the priesthood of the Body of Christ, all of us should pray specifically, daily, by name for the needs of others.

And to stand Godwards of others means to mediate God’s presence to them. This is a tricky one. It’s that part of Hebrews where we are encouraged to "deal gently with the ignorant and wayward." (The author of Hebrews means those who are ignorant of or who have strayed from the gospel.)  This is priestly pastoral care in its truest form. Another translator says we are to "deal considerately" with others, "considerately" denoting that "golden mean between indifference and mawkish sentimentality." We cannot be indifferent to one another. Nor, if we are to fulfill the priesthood of the Body of Christ, are we to offer meaningless platitudes or words of comfort that are only mawkish sentimentality. We are to offer God to one another. God’s love. God’s power. Christ died so that we might have life. And have it abundantly. To stand Godward of one another is to act so that others may come to know the abundant freedom of life in Christ. To participate in the priesthood of Christ is to offer that life to the world.

So now I ask everyone here who is a priest to stand. And let us affirm together the faith of our baptism…

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