St Boniface Catholic Church, Southampton

One who offers

The basic definition of a priest is “one who offers”. So we had better start with Cain and Abel, who both offered to God [Genesis 4:2-8].

The ancient Biblical stories do not tell us why people made offerings. It was taken for granted, as natural as breathing. Cain offered his crops, Abel some livestock. Abel’s offering was more acceptable. We are not told why. This is what causes Cain to kill Abel. It just seems that the smell of burnt meat rising in the air pleased God [incidentally this explains why the human-sacrificing Aztecs of Mexico believed the Christian missionaries – their Christian God liked flesh!]

Other civilisations did other things with their offerings, like burying them in the ground or throwing them in the sea. The Hebrews believed their God to be ‘up there’, and thus offered burnt offerings so that the smoke rose. After the Flood, Noah did the same [Genesis 8:21-22], and God smelt the pleasing smell. It is regrettable for vegetarians, but according to this understanding God really liked his steak.

But note that there is no person to make the offering for them. They do it themselves.

The first Biblical person to be named a “priest” is the mysterious Melchizedek [Genesis 14:18-20]. When Abraham had won a military victory – do we see Abraham like this? – Melchizedek, who was also “king of Salem” met him, blessed him and gave him bread and wine. In return, Abraham offered him a tenth [tithe] of his booty. The odd thing is that Melchizedek, though a “priest” is not offering to God. He is giving Abraham a form of welcome (bread and wine) and a blessing. And Abraham offers him a kind of tribute.

Whatever it was that made Melchizedek a “priest”, it does not seem to be what we might expect.