To speak of people as priests
is different from calling them clergy. Clergy serve some particular
forms of service, as suggested by their various titles. They
are called pastors, those who shepherd a flock. Most are called
preachers, those who proclaim the word of God. In the Reformed
tradition they are titled ministers of the Word and Sacrament,
those who exercise those particular functions of ministry.
But the priestly function is one of bridge-building, mediating,
connecting people with God.
Speaking with God
At the heart of it, a priest is one who speaks with God directly.
The Book of Hebrews elaborates: "Since, then, we have a great
high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast to
our confession [the faith we profess] .... Let us therefore approach the
throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need" 4:14,16). Whereas ancient priests needed
to present blood sacrifices to qualify for access to God, Jesus' own
sacrifice provided a once-for-all, access-qualifying atonement. Since he
died for our sins, we now are empowered to converse with God confidently,
even boldly.
Yes, boldly! The commission
to serve as priests is one that carries with it all the legal
authority implicit in the title.
As priests, God's people are given the same kind of
access to God that the Internet has given us to people worldwide.
We can upload and download direct communications with God. Speaking for others
Such a blessing is not intended to be hoarded. Consistent with
God's commission to Abram and Sarah to be "a
blessing to all the nations," the priest is one who
mediates between God and those who do not know God. In the
Temple era most of the priests' blood sacrifices were
done on behalf of soliciting Israelites. Like a negotiator,
they would carry their clients' appeals to the one
in power. They would stand in the gap, interceding on behalf
of their neighbors.
While moderns may dismiss the ancient sacrificial system,
we cannot discount the sincere intentions of the millions who
presented to the priests their finest heads of livestock or
the first fruits of their harvest as acts of sacrificial devotion
to God. Their sincere desire was for the priests to make a
compelling appeal on their behalf for God to save their souls,
or to heal their diseases, or to restore their land and livelihood.
This aspect of priesthood is implemented whenever a church
activates its prayer chain. Christians have discovered that
their intercessory prayers can yield miracles in many lives.
Jesus himself taught, "If two of you agree on earth
about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father
in heaven" (Matthew 18:19). While any individual may
appeal to God in prayer, a special power is bestowed on those
who pray in agreement with others.
How many persons' hopes and needs have gone wanting
just because those who could have interceded on their behalf
have failed to accept their calling to do so?
Speaking for God
Just as a priest helps people connect with God, a priest also
connects God with people. While the more charismatic office
of prophet came to be associated with the task of speaking
God's word in the Biblical days, the priests were
not disinterested listeners. They too were teachers of God's
word to the people. They were commissioned to take the good
news of God's love and mercy to a world in need.
This priestly function is evident whenever Christians show
and tell the power of the gospel. By both word and deed, believers
are called to convey God's love to everyone. And unlike
the equivocating Pharisees of Jesus' day, we are empowered
to present the gifts and claims of Christ with confidence and
prophetic unction.
As the story of Jonah illustrates, God will go to great lengths—even
using fish taxis!—to get the word of God's mercy
out to the nations. As several epistles state, God has granted
every member of Christ's body gifts and callings with
which we can extend that mercy.
So who are the priests?
When Moses presented this bold commission to the people, "the
people all answered as one: 'Everything that the Lord
has spoken we will do'" (Exodus 19:8). They accepted
their call enthusiastically. Moses conveyed their response
to God and then consecrated the people. But when God delivered
the Ten Commandments to Moses in the midst of phenomena akin
to a fireworks display, the people's mood changed: "When
all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound
of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid
and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, 'You
speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to
us, or we will die'" (20:18-19). The awesomeness
of their calling overwhelmed them.
The people changed their minds. They chose not to be the priests
God called them to be. They delegated that task to their leader.
He held forth, conversing with God regularly in the "tent
of meeting" and consecrating a special group of priests
for the nation. Their national task of being priests was rejected.
"All Christians are priests
In the days of the apostles, the calling to serve as priests
was revived. Peter declared, "You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people,
in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1
Peter 2:9). In this case God's word has not come as
a promise for the future but as a declaration for the present:
"You are ... a royal priesthood."
However, around 200 A.D. two of the church's leaders,
Hippolytus and Tertullian, revived the notion of a "special
priesthood," with that title to be worn only by the
clergy. By the end of the fourth century that office had been
formalized, and the "laity" accepted second-class
status in ministry.
As a priest-in-training Martin Luther rediscovered the claims
of Scripture, with its gift of justification by grace through
faith and its commission to serve in the "priesthood
of all believers." He minced no words: "All Christians
are priests, and all priests are Christians. Worthy of anathema
is any assertion that a priest is anything else than a Christian."
John Calvin applied that message by forming a polity wherein
laity and clergy alike would serve in ordained offices of leadership—as
peers in proclamation of the Word, peers in intercessory prayer,
and peers in mission service.
"Creeping clericalism" among the clergy plus
a spiritual inferiority complex among the laity have continued
to minimize believers' perception and fulfillment of
their priestly call. But that call remains God's call
and commission for all God's people to fulfill.
Are you connected with God? Do you upload and download direct
communications with Almighty God? Are you exercising your calling
and commissioning to be the means by which God connects with
others? Are you a priest of the Most High God?
|
