Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:8-10 (NIV)
I have of late been making my way through all seven books of the Harry Potter epic. I just finished the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I sometimes find to be the least enjoyable but have always found to be the most profound in its understanding and expression of the differences between good and evil.
The book concludes with a climactic battle. The evil antagonist, Voldemort, is doing everything in his power to escape death and achieve immortality. He even proclaims amidst the battle that “there is nothing worse than death.” To which the ever-wise sage, Dumbldore, replies, “Yes, there is.” Throughout the book, Harry suffers many things on many different levels from the agonies of a failed teen romance, to heinous oppression and physical suffering at the hands of institutional evil, to the death of the one person he cares for most in the world.
As Dumbledore debriefs with Harry at the conclusion of the book, he shares with Harry about a deep and ancient magic that the evil Voldemort fails to understand, the magic that Harry’s mother accessed the moment she sacrificed her own life for Harry’s when he was an infant. The wise headmaster then explains to Harry another paradoxical truth that evil fails to understand. It is Harry’s suffering that is his greatest strength.
Today’s very short chapter is so packed full of deep and important truths from the Great Story that I’ve sat in the quiet for a long time trying to discern how best to express them. The author speaks to his audience of Jewish believers in Jesus, themselves suffering at the hands of institutional evil, about Jesus who is the “Great High Priest.”
For the Jewish believers, the paradigm of a high priest was well-known to them. It was part of the religious ritual they’d known their whole lives. The high-priest was the only one who entered the most holy place in the temple once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. The priests were always a descendant of Moses’ brother, Aaron.
But, the author reveals that there is mysterious, ancient priestly order that came before God gave the Law through Moses and the human priesthood was established. This mysterious ancient order is tied to an equally mysterious king-priest who appears momentarily in Genesis 14. His name was Melchizedek. Jesus, the Son of God, was not an earthly priest in the order of Aaron, but an eternal and royal high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
He then goes onto explain that what marked Jesus as the Great High Priest, was not power and glory. Power and glory are what evil and the Kingdoms of this world care about most. What marked Jesus as the Great High Priest of God’s Kingdom was his humility, obedience, and suffering.
The author then issues a gentle rebuke to his readers. There is so much more depth and spiritual truth to unpack in this, but his readers aren’t ready for it because they “no longer try to understand.” The Greek word hints at being sluggish and lazy. Along my journey, I’ve come to realize that there are certain spiritual truths that require effort, pursuit, experience, and even suffering in order for them to be revealed. Jesus said, after all, that the things of God’s Kingdom are not for the sluggish and lazy, but for those who ask, seek, and knock — even suffer.
It is at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that the truth is finally revealed to Harry regarding his past, his scar, his place in the story that is unfolding, and the realities that await him in the battle against evil yet to come.
Sometimes the deepest and most important spiritual truths only reveal themselves in suffering.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
