See how great he is!
I must admit that this is probably the most confusing sections thus far in our walk through Scripture. I attribute this to several things including: Paul’s lengthy and complicated sentences; the use of words like “it”, that leave me wondering what “it” is that’s referenced; the use of arguments with the Jewish people from the New Testament, that they don’t endorse; the use of heady theological arguments that I don’t understand. So I picked a brief, understandable sentences that is not contingent on understanding what came before, or after.
Some of the arguments Paul is making to the Jewish people revolve around the fact that Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek, that Jesus is the new high priest, and that only if the old high priests were insufficient would there be need for a new one, that he receives tithes from great people and is holy, that the former great high priests went into the innermost portion of the temple with animal blood sacrifices every year, but Jesus dismantled that structure and offered his own blood as a sacrifice once – and for all.
I think I understand most of these concepts, but just barely. And I couldn’t explain them without a lot of research. Even then, I might fall into the trap of using source documents that aren’t validated by the audience I’m addressing. This reminds me of talking with atheists. You can’t use Scripture to defend God if you’re talking with people who don’t believe anything from Scripture.
It's also possible that I don’t understand these ideas at all; understanding involves some amount of cognitive recognition. I suspect it’s more likely that I don’t understand these at all, because I can’t wrap my head around these concepts. Rather, I can say I believe them, not through cognitive understanding but by God-given faith.
Reading through Scripture has been an interesting exercise for me, as it’s been a great exercise in different kinds of thinking. I spend a lot of time in my cognitive understanding way of thinking. When I’m challenged to just believe, it’s like driving a stick shift car, and not shifting smoothly. Clunk, grind. The more I work on the different ways of understanding, believing, and knowing, my shifting is getting smoother.
At the end of the day, I’m grateful for the exercise, and for simple sentences like, “See how great he is!”
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