Metaphorical Bonsai

So...

Hmmm...

Oh...

Ok.

Somewhere in my mind there is a thought that has been there for a while. I'm not sure how long, but it has been a long time. It's one of those thoughts that gets planted, and grows in very short spurts, and only a little at a time. This one has been growing for quite a few years. It still isn't fully grown, nor will it be for quite some time. But none the less there it is, in a corner of my mind. Not one of those dark back corners, not right at the front either. Just off to the side, enough to be out of the way, but visible none the less. Every once in a while, I take notice, and ponder for a bit. Sometimes I notice that the thougth has grown just a bit. Sometimes it hasn't changed at all. But it's there. I suppose it's some kind of cactus or maybe one of those pine trees or cedar trees you see growing out on a mountain top all by itself. Only this one is still a bonsai, if you need a picture/metaphore.

Anyhow, what thought is that? What would it mean to be a priest of the order of Melchizedek? He was "a priest of the Most High God," and the writer of Hebrews said that Jesus Christ is of his order, not by ancestral right to the priesthood, but by the power of an indestructable life. Now I know that the most often theological explanation of this is that Jesus, through the resurrection has become our new hight priest... but.

The implication here is that Mechizedek was a priest, not by right, but by the power of an indestructable life. And that is almost all we know about him. Was he indestructable? Where did he learn about God? How did he become a priest for God, back in the days of Abraham? The only followers of God mentioned in the Bible for this time frame are Abraham and his family. No one else, except this Melchizedek who was a priest for God and indestructable (and the king of Salem, which later became Jerusalem, small detail of course, along with the fact that Salem means "peace", king of peace - has a nice ring to it, don't it?)

Anyhow, that thought sticks in my brain, a slow growing bonsai in a corner. If we are to be like Christ, how are we also to become priests of the order of Melchizedek? Is it simply by the fact that believers will partake in the ressurection and thus are indestructable? Or is there more to it than that?

Ok, enough questions... time to push that bonsai behind that chair for another year... or so...