Yes, Indiana Jones stories are juicy and spicy, for they stoke the fires of inherent sense of discovery in all of us. Add to that breathtaking stunts and adventure, you have a heady mix guaranteed to give one some goose bumps. Trust that ace archaeologist to always “dig up” some rare, priceless treasure outwitting and even out muscling “formidable competition” in search of the same. Now what does this “super hero” usually aspire to lay his hands on, going the whole hog, so to speak? Nine times out of ten, it would be a Biblical treasure like the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail. Stepping into the shoes of this great treasure hunter, what would ordinary folks not do to get close to these invaluable items of indescribable spiritual and historical import? However by strange contrast, while the Biblical Holy items seem to evoke unrivalled interest in the public sadly the Original Bible or the God of the Bible do not seem to be generating same kind of interest in the hearts and minds of the common folk?
Oh yes, coming back to the innate “sense of discovery” in all of us and the associated excitement which comes as an irresistible package deal on discovering “something rare”, can anybody forget the joyous exclamation “Eureka” and the related Archimedean story of that “Genius Dude” running out nude after an mental acquisition of a historical scientific truth in a bath tub! Trust me, the “same treasures” (read illuminative knowledge-the punch line of the story of Crystal skull!)) Indy sets out to discover are available in plenty in God’s Word which on discovery is bound to make us go gaga with Eurekas…nay…Hallelujahs!
Take the Scripture portion Zechariah 6:13 for instance which prophesies the Royal and Priestly ministry of the Messiah…“Yes, he will build the Temple of the LORD. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne, and there will be perfect harmony between his two roles.”
There is no dispute amongst Christians that Christ the Saviour is both their King and High Priest but what is discomfiting is lack of Scripture-based emphasis in the Pulpits on the Priestly work of Christ. For one thing if the Redeemer is also the High-Priest, then he has to have connection with the Priestly tribe of Levi. So where then is the Scripture portion which links Christ to the Priestly tribe?
In this 3- part series, I propose to weave around some important (sadly not stressed often in the Church pulpits) Scripture portions the truths about Christ’s priestly role, using three sub-heading. Firstly…
1. Origination
As mentioned before in this essay, if Christ is called our great High Priest, then firstly a clear Priesthood connection has to be established with the Priestly tribe of Levi, just as the roots of His Kinghood is traced to King David through comprehensive genealogical accounts of Matthew’s (Matt 1:6-16) and the Luke’s Gospel (Luke 3:23-32), with the former enlisting the ancestry of Joseph (earthly guardian of Christ) and the latter enlisting that of Mary (double proof, if one was needed that Jesus was Royal descendant of the greatest King of Israel…David, both from the earthly father and the mother’s side).
So do these Gospels with the elaborate Davidic genealogies close all routes on mapping Jesus’ ancestry to the Levitical Tribe? NAY! Praise God for the good Doctor Jones…opps sorry… I mean Doctor Luke “who having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, decided to write a careful account of the Jesus story” (Luke 1:3)… starting with some very important history…oh boy…oh boy…the account of the Priestly family of Zacharias and Elizabeth (a direct descendant of the Aaron).
Now who was Elizabeth? OK, OK, mother of John the Baptist but is that all? As we “dig through the tunnels of Lukes Gospel”- oh boy..oh boy… we discover that she was A RELATIVE OF MARY (Luke 1:36)! You want “double witness” (another Scripture portion besides the AFORE-REFFERED ONE where Mary and Elizabeth are seen together) in line with the Scriptural instructions (John 8:17/Deu 19:15) that there have to be “two witnesses” to authenticate a fact? Then hurry with me -now Dr. Jones, doesn’t believe in waiting once he wears the hat of an explorer- to Luke 1:40-45, which reads thus: “A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
“Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, ‘God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.””
From the visible blessed warmth in the interaction of these two blessed Biblical mothers, you get a picture of two strangers meeting or two close relatives greeting one another? The answer is obvious, isn’t not? While Mary’s father was a Judean, Mary’s mother could have been a Levite and a sister of Elizabeth. A precedent of Judeans and Levites intermarrying is very much there in the Scriptures (2 Chronicles 22:11)! While the Scripture involving Elizabeth and Mary is quite familiar, it is the ANGLE from which the Holy Spirit makes us perceive the well-known account that makes the whole story revelatory. Thank you, Holy Spirit, there is no teacher greater than you (John 14:26/1 John 2:27)!
Prayer: Father, for giving Your Son to us both as a King as well as High Priest. Amen
Suresh Manoharan
(To access the entire “Of Indy, Community and the Almighty” mini-series, please click here.)