What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

The Sacrament of Holy Orders: A Biblical History

The Sacrament of Holy Orders: A Biblical History

                Like all of the sacraments of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Holy Order finds it roots in the Old Testament.  It’s important to understand these roots because the Apostles were sons of Israel.  After the Ascension, as the Church grew, they used the same tried and true ministerial structure handed down by God to Moses. 

                The first mention we find of a priest of God is in Genesis 14: 18-20, “Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.  He was a priest of God Most High.  He blessed Abram with these words: ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High. Who delivered your foes into your hand.’  Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”  (NABRE)  Those few short verses are the only mention in the Bible of Melchizedek until thousands of years later when the writer of the book of Hebrews, in reference to Jesus, writes: “For it is testified: ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”  (Hebrews 7: 17)  Why did he link Jesus with Melchizedek?  Because, from the time of Moses until the founding of the Christian Church, all priest and Levites were descendants of Aaron and the tribe of Levi.  Only Jesus, our eternal High Priest, in the order of Melchizedek, was not descended from that tribe.  As we all know, Jesus was from the House of David, of the tribe of Judah.

                I mentioned Jesus and Melchizedek and Jesus first, because they occupy a unique place in salvation history.  Melchizedek was a prefigured Jesus, as the writer of Hebrews tells us.  But there would be thousands of years between the two, and God needed to teach his people how to worship him in the meantime.  So we’re going to fast-forward a few hundred years to the time of Moses. 

Anyone who has ever read the first chapters of Exodus (or seen The 10 Commandments) is familiar with the story.  God appears to Moses in a bush that’s on fire, but not burning.  He tells Moses to go and deliver his people from their slavery in Egypt.  Moses, by the way, is from the tribe of Levi.  Moses protests that he’s not a good speaker, so God tells him Aaron, his brother, will be his spokesman.  Here we find the start of the Levitical priesthood.  At Mount Sinai, when Moses comes down with the 10 Commandments, he discovers the Golden Calf and the Israelites going wild around it in worship.  “Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, ‘Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!’  All the Levites then rallied to him, and he told them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Each of you put your sword on your hip!  Go back and forth through the camp, from gate to gate, and kill your brothers, your friends, your neighbors!’  The Levites did as Moses had commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell.  Then Moses said, today you are installed as priests for the Lord, for you went against your own sons and brothers, to bring a blessing upon yourselves this day.’”  (Exodus 32: 25-29 NABRE)

A few years later, after Aaron has been installed as High Priest, with his sons to succeed him upon his death, and the Levites established in their roles as the caretakers of the tabernacle and Aaron’s assistants, the Israelites are once again whining to Moses about the steady diet of Manna.  Moses goes to God and tells him, “’Where can I get meat to give to all this people?  For they are crying to me, “Give us meat for our food.’” I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me.  If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face my distress.’”  (Numbers 11: 13-15 NABRE)  So God has Moses select 70 elders, and distributes some of the sprit that he had given Moses to them.  And they help Moses to lead the people and ease some of Moses’ burden.

                By now you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with the Roman Catholic Church and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  It’s simple; the ordained ministerial office of the Church is contained in the story of Moses and the Israelites.  Just as the Israelites had Moses, so the Church has the Pope.  And just as Moses bore the responsibility for leading and guiding the people, so the Pope is responsible for all Roman Catholics.  But he can’t do it alone.  Just as Moses needed Aaron, so the Pope needs the bishops.  And just as Aaron needed his sons to help him, and Moses needed the 70 elders, so the bishops need the priests.  Just as the Levites were responsible for the care and keeping of the tabernacle and assisting Aaron and his sons, so also the deacons assist both bishops and priests in the care and keeping of the Church.

                The same order of Holy Orders that God gave to Moses, Jesus perfected and gave to his apostles.  By virtue of that Apostolic Succession, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the priestly ministry continues on today.  The line goes from Melchizedek, to Moses and Aaron, through the centuries to Jesus, who elevated our first Pope, St. Peter, then on and on to Pope Benedict XVI, and includes all the local bishops, and the parish priests and deacons.