This week in Elder Benson’s email home to us he related an interesting account he had with an Assistant Minister of a church in Houston.
Forever ago the Elders who were in our area before us helped a woman who had locked her keys in her car. We switched companions for a day and the District Leader, who was one of those Elders, and I went out to talk with people on the street. We bumped into the woman with the car keys problem. We asked if we could visit her. She said yes. Later my companion and I arrived at the appointed time and she wasn’t there, but her husband David was. He said if I could answer his question correctly he would listen to us. The question was, “If Jesus had wanted to be a priest could he have become one?” I answered, “no, because Jesus was not a Levite”. He let us in.
“For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law” (Hebrews 8: 4).
At first I was perplexed by Elder Benson’s answer, after all essentially Jesus (in Hebrew Yeshuah) IS the Priesthood, right? I spent a few hours studying Jesus’ Priesthood position during his earthly ministry. Hebrews was the source for me to gain understanding. What I learned was Jesus was not permitted to be a Levite priest on earth according to the laws of Aaron. Obviously, only a man who was born as a Levite could be eligible to be a Priest of Aaron. The Epistle to Hebrews sheds some light on this doctrine. Many Jewish coverts were still committed to the Law of Moses. The Jewish converts were taught by the author * of Hebrews that Jesus was the High Priest of the greater priesthood of Melchizdek and Jesus was not just another in a long succession of Aaronic Priests. To the masses he would have been a great teacher or a Rabbi.
Up until the ministry of Christ, the Mosaic ordinances prepared the People of Israel for His ministry. The earthly mission of Jesus Christ ended The Law of Moses. The old covenant Moses made with God used the blood of sacrificed animals to atone for the sins of Israel. Christ did as His Father willed and became the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus who is the mediator for us, and with God made a new and everlasting covenant. This new covenant nullified the sacrifice of animals because the death of an animal could not truly pay for the sins of mankind. Jesus does not need to make any more sacrificial offerings, nor do we, for His one offering was for all time. He lives on forever to intercede for His own.
*As a bit of trivia, Biblical scholars theorize the author of Hebrews is probably Paul, but might be Peter.
Thoughts anyone?