It is a sure sign of our own sense of self-importance that we all tend to put ourselves in the center of the story. We’re the princess locked in the tower, never the scullery maid that brings her her food. When it comes to advent, we do much the same thing. We imagine ourselves in the place of Mary or Joseph. Or we see the story from the perspective of the wise men. If we have any humility at all, we’d see ourselves as the shepherds. What if, though, we were none of these but were among the millions across the globe who had no idea what was happening? What if, while the glory of the heavenly host shone round about the shepherds we were sound asleep in Ephesus or the Isle of Skye?
God’s Word blesses us with close-up shots of God at work. The gospel accounts zero in on the most earth shaking event in history, the incarnation of the Son of God. They give us a front row seat for His preaching and His power, His passion and His resurrection. Meanwhile, back at the oasis, or back at the steppe, or back in the Alps or back in the North American high desert, God was at work. Doing what? We don’t know. He doesn’t tell us.
What He does tell us, however, is that He doesn’t tell us everything. There is no Directory of Priestly Orders in our Bibles. You won’t learn much about the Order of Melchizadek. In fact, you won’t learn much about Melchizadek. He was, before Moses, before the written Word, and with no introduction along the way, priest of God most high, king of peace and king of righteousness. It’s like he was starring in another movie and somehow walked onto the wrong sound stage. Except that it was all part of God’s one story.
How many parts of the story, however, never visibly intersect with the parts we are familiar with? Was there a priest in the Order of Melchizadek in the new world? Are there other orders of priests we know not of? These things we don’t know. These things our Lord has not been pleased to reveal to us. What He revealed is that His Father is the Most High, I Am, that He is the God above all gods. The Word tells us that He has not only written the story, but that He has written each one of our stories before the curtain ever rose on the creation (Psalm 139:16). Not a word is wasted. Not a scene can be cut.
My earthly father used to write a monthly column he wisely titled “Right Now Counts Forever.” Forever true. It is also important that we remember, as we struggle to understand our place and our calling in the kingdom that right here counts everywhere. Pastoring a small church that doesn’t qualify as Big Eva, raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in private, making better widgets to the glory of the Lord, all these are the kingdom at work. We don’t get a bigger part by wanting a bigger part. We get a bigger part by embracing how small we are.