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Someone asked me the other day, ‘Who exactly was Melchizedek?’ Not the most burning issue for 2024 perhaps, but a legitimate question. He cropped up in this afternoon’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, and he appears twice in the Old Testament, first in the book Genesis, and then in Psalm 110.

The so-called letter to the Hebrews probably isn’t a real letter at all like St Paul’s letters. It was a very early treatise to persuade Jews, particularly Jews who’d become Christians, of how Christianity fulfilled the Hebrew scriptures and tradition. The author writes that Jesus had become ‘high priest for ever according the order of Melchizedek’. He then retells the story in Genesis of how Melchizedek met Abraham, who’d just won a decisive military battle. The writer of Hebrews, along with the author in Genesis, describes him as ‘Melchizedek, King of Salem’. ‘Melchizedek’ is made up of two words meaning ‘King of Righteousness’ or ‘King of Justice’. And he is also described as ‘King of Salem’. There is no evidence of an ancient city called ‘Salem’, but there is something important about this name. Hebrew and Arabic, the two main Semitic languages, both rely heavily on the consonants in words, and indeed Hebrew was and is often written without vowels at all. The consonants in ‘Salem’, ‘s’, ‘l’ and ‘m’, stand for ‘shalom’ in Hebrew and ‘salam’ in Arabic, both meaning ‘peace’. So Melchizedek is king of righteousness and peace, or justice and peace.

There is no record of an historical king called Melchizedek, and he is probably a mythical figure, but one with intense meaning. He is described in Genesis as ‘priest of God Most High’, he brings gifts of bread and wine, and he blesses Abraham. Centuries later, Psalm 110 picked this up this theme, and says of King David, ‘You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek’. You can see why all this would have appealed to Christians, particularly Jewish Christians. Priest? Bread and wine’? King of Justice and Peace? Successor to David? The connections for Christians are clear.

The political scene wasn’t so very different for Melchized and Jesus. Both were times of intense hatred and violence. Abraham was surrounded by war when Melchizedek appeared, and, for centuries later, the Jewish people suffered slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon, occupation by successive foreign powers, and scattering into world-wide diaspora. The Jews themselves had had to fight hard to gain and retain their territory, often cruelly with what we might well today call ethnic cleansing. They had revolted against oppressors, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. In other words, their history was characterised by much violence.
It was, of course, during a time of violence and unrest during the Roman occupation of Palestine that Jesus was born. The Holy Family had to flee to temporary exile in Egypt, Romans crop up from time to time during Jesus’s ministry, and they were ultimately responsible for Jesus’s crucifixion.

I will return to Melchizedek and Jesus in a minute. But, turning to the present, what a high degree of conscious and unconscious memory there must be, affecting relationships in Palestine right now. Memories on both sides of being persecuted and subjugated. Memories that seem to justify persecuting and subjugating the other side. Take, for instance, the book of Joshua in our Old Testament – full of cruelty and ethnic cleansing on the part of the ancient Jews as they gradually took possession of Palestine. This must, surely, consciously or unconsciously, seem to justify present activity in the minds of religious Israelis. Indeed, Benjamin Netanyahu actually referred recently to the Jews’ total destruction of the Amalekites in battle under Saul’s command. And the converse too: the persecution that Jews in the diaspora have suffered over centuries, and the appalling atrocities of the Holocaust.
And, on the Palestinian side, memories of constant struggle, and, above all, memories of the horrors of 1948, when the State of Israel was founded and many Palestinians were forcibly ejected from their homes, farms and livelihoods. There’s been continuous persecution by the State of Israel since, Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, and the failure by the international community to enforce a just two-state solution or, even now, a mutual cease-fire.
So is there any wonder that things are as they are? Of course it was extremist Hamas terrible atrocities that precipitated the present horrors. And it’s understandable that Israel is determined to put a final stop to such things. But, whether the dreadful penalty being paid by the innocent Palestinian population can be justified is doubtful. Surely, in default of a long-term just settlement, there should be a cessation of the terrible slaughter and suffering of innocent bystanders.

So where will it all end? We need hope. In the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel film, the young Indian hero is fond of saying this: ‘It will all be alright in the end. And if it’s not all alright, it’s not the end’. A kind of Christian hope we all need for difficult circumstances.
I said I would return to Melchizedek and Jesus. Melchizedek a mythical figure of intense symbolism on the one hand, and on the other hand an historical figure seen by Christians as fulfilling the identity of Melchizedek. Both offered bread and wine. Both gave blessings. Melchizedek the king of righteousness or justice and king of peace. Jesus, full of righteousness and justice, and known as the Prince of Peace. Jews, Muslims and the modicum of Christians still in Palestine, all Abrahamic in religious origin, all worshipping the same God. Even God’s name is similar in Hebrew and Arabic: the Hebrew El and the Arabic Allah have the same root of consonants, and some Christian communities actually call God by his Arabic name, Allah. All share a longing for Salem: that is for Shalom, for Salam, for Peace.
The Isaiah writer of this afternoon’s first reading was speaking on behalf of God of hope, just after the Jews had returned from exile in Babylon. He wrote of a new era:
I will appoint Peace as your overseer and Righteousness as your taskmaster. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, not devastation within your borders . . . .

And so, let us pray, and pray above all for peace.

Prayers
Let’s pray for peace in Palestine: for righteousness, justice and peace to prevail, for mercy on the part of the strong, for relief for those who are powerless and weak, for good judgement for those with influence. Let’s pray too for peace in Ukraine and Yemen, and in all the trouble spots of the world.

Almighty God, we know all thoughts of truth and peace derive from you. Sow seeds of peace in the hearts of all people, we pray. And guide with your wisdom those who represent and speak for the nations of the world, so that your kingdom of love and peace may prevail, until the earth is filled with knowledge of your love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And now let’s pray for all who are suffering in war and through illness.

Lord God, be with those who are suffering across the world, especially those physically or mentally ill or depressed or lonely. Be with those we know and those from our cathedral community who are ill at home, in hospital and in care homes. . . . . To those who have died grant rest and peace, including . . . . And to those who are mourning grant comfort and strength. Lord God, we ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ.

Yesterday our new diocesan bishop, Philip, asked that, if we are praying for him, we should pray for hope in his heart. Let’s pray silently, all of us, for Bishop Philip in his new leadership role, for hope in his heart, and for hope in all our hearts as we, God’s church in the world, try together to contribute to righteousness, justice and peace.

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And now let’s ask for God’s help and strength for the coming week and into the rest of our lives. First, in silence, as we hold our particular difficulties, problems and uncertainties before God, and ask for strength and wisdom in our lives.

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Lord God, be near us each day of our lives, and help us to remember your presence with us, in good times and bad times and in our anxieties. Guide us in all we undertake, in our work and leisure, and help us in our relationships with all the people we encounter. Help us to serve you and each other faithfully. And grant us your peace. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Grace . . .