2025/07/14

204. Revelation and the Letter to the Hebrews

In the latter half of Revelation, the priesthood appears at its beginning symbolically in the form of a woman crowned with twelve stars (cf. Rev. 12:1-2). The Letter to the Hebrews, quoting Genesis 14, develops the theme: "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchiz'edek" (Heb 5:6, etc.). As discussed in the previous article, "Mel-chiz'edek king of Salem ... priest of God Most High," who brought out bread and wine to Abraham after his victory in battle (cf. Gen 14:1-18), symbolises the priesthood of the New Covenant that Jesus showed to the Apostles, who had prepared bread and wine at his last Passover meal, which means that at that time, Jesus was in the position of Abraham in the scene in Genesis. By conferring the priesthood on the Apostles at the same time as instituting the Eucharist, Jesus established the eternal priesthood. 

Just as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father" (Jn 4:21), this priesthood was of a completely different concept from the priesthood of the Old Covenant. In the Letter to the Hebrews, its author emphasises the priesthood of Melchizedek, writing, "He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever" (Heb 7:3). That must be because he was longing for a perfect priest transcending the boundaries of the Law, that is Jesus Christ, for both the Gentile community and the Jewish community. 

In Genesis, after the scene of Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek, a story begins with "After these things ..." (Gen 15:1), in which Abraham, following God's command, brings a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon to God (cf. 15:9). This scene is reminiscent of the people who came by Jesus' cross in the Gospel of John (cf. Jn 19:25-26). The three-year-old heifer corresponds to Mary, the wife of Clopas; the three-year-old female goat to Mary Magdalene; the three-year-old ram to the beloved disciple; and the turtledove and the young pigeon to Jesus' mother. That is because Jesus' mother, together with her husband Joseph, took Jesus to Jerusalem on the day of his presentation "to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons'" (Lk 2:24). The similarity of these two scenes also tells us that Jesus was in the position of Abraham. 

In the scene at Jacob's well, Jesus continued to the Samaritan woman, "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews" (Jn 4:22). Jesus was connected to the priesthood of the Old Covenant. That is because it contains the plan of God, who created human beings, and the prophecies. That is also the reason why Jesus' mother had to be a relative of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, who was from the daughters of Aaron (cf. Lk 1:5). 

Jesus explains why it was necessary to give the priesthood to human beings: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:23-24). God the Father desires that those who seek the truth worship him in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. That is the very image of the priest of the New Covenant, who celebrates the Mass. The words "now is" indicate that Jesus, who is to be worshipped in this way, is here. 

From the above considerations, we can see that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews attempted to position Jesus Christ, the Son f God, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, as the eternal priest of the Church community. It is supposed that under his focus on Melchizedek’s priesthood lay his expectation for the "priesthood" (cf. Heb 7:11-12) that the Church community at that time and everyone who would accept the Gospel could be satisfied. However, that is not all. This letter also contains another thread that expands on the theme of faith. Next time, we will focus on that. 

Maria K. M.