NOTES for Heb 7:1-14
It is remarkable how the text unfolds from the phrase, “Beyond all dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater.” I pictured a mother bringing a small child to a priest and asking for a blessing; after blessing the little one, the priest asks him, “Now you bless me.” I was deeply struck by this at the time. Did that priest see the infant Jesus in the child? Or, more simply, someone who was closer to the Kingdom than any of us? Either way, he did not look down on the child. Nor did Abraham think about who was greater or more important, or who possessed greater gifts from God—he or Melchizedek. When the Lord blesses, He does so through whomever He wishes. And it may turn out that the source of blessing for us will be someone from whom we did not expect it at all.