“He was faithful to the one who appointed him…”

I am not a person that generally shies away from controversy or controversial subjects.  Maybe I’m an idiot or arrogant for being this way, or maybe it’s just my personality, but in my opinion most controversies are problematic usually because hotheads and troublemakers who manufacture them don’t have a real life.  And if you disagree with me, you can go stick your head in a … no, no, no, just kidding!

Here’s an example of controversy (especially in the church): Male leadership or headship in the home and church.  (Now I’ve done it: gone too far!  See what I mean?)  For our feminist thinking and leaning friends, equality is the name of the game.  And I would be the first to stand up and shout in agreement that man and woman are equal.  Absolutely.  Totally.  Unequivocally.  However, equality doesn’t automatically mean egalitarianism (removing all distinctions, roles, responsibilities, classes, etc.), and you never find egalitarian thinking in the Bible.  The reason for this is that egalitarianism is absent in the Godhead.  You see this in Hebrews 3:2, where it says of Jesus, “He was faithful to the one who appointed him…”  Clearly, his Father is the one that did the appointing.  So if the three Persons of the Trinity are all equally one God — and they are — how come the Father seems to be pulling all the strings?  And if they’re all one God, why don’t we know the Spirit’s name?  We have Yahweh and Jesus, but an unnamed third Person.  He’s hardly the “silent partner” since he is the one revealing God to us in and through the Scriptures.  So why is it this way?  Seems like the Father is the one in charge above the others.  Here’s the answer: we’re not told.  It is one of those divine mysteries we’ll understand after this life, and not a moment before.

So the Father appoints Jesus.  Notice the logical outcome that follows: Jesus is responsible to God for the duties his appointment requires.  Those duties include being “the builder of [God’s] house” (v. 3), or God’s family.  Moses served there, but Christ built it, thus “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses.”  That’s what the verse says, but I digress.  With the appointment, Jesus is responsible to and for — to his Father for a responsibility.  And Jesus jumped on the opportunity and never looked back, except on rare occasion when he received a smile from the Father: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5).  No egalitarianism here, not then, and as far as we can tell, not ever.  So when this same Godhead creates marriage with an appointed male head-of-household, we have an example in the Trinity that says it’s not only OK for equals to take on roles and responsibilities, it’s how things get done, most notably our salvation.  Believers that buck this fact fight against God’s eternal provision!  To me, if you want controversy, that’s controversy!

This word appoint is used in one other place in the New Testament: Mark 3:14, of Jesus choosing his 12 disciples.  The verse before it says, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.”  Luke tells us that Jesus was up there all night, consulting with the Father who appointed him.  We can glean some things from this.  First, Jesus appointed those he wanted.  If he wanted them, so did the Father.  Second, Jesus didn’t choose his followers rashly.  It wasn’t an impulse decision.  Whatever limitations Jesus had in his humanity, the Appointed talked things over at length with the Appointer.  Third, Jesus got counsel from his Father privately, not in a public town hall meeting.  Though it doesn’t say so, undoubtedly “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit” (John 14:26) was also an active participant in this prayer meeting.

Here you have the eternal wisdom of the ages consulting with one another atop a dark, lonely mountain, and collectively they “wanted” Judas.  Judas? … Wanted?  Yes, because he was the one person who would make that callous and greedy choice, aided by Satan (John 13:27), to betray Jesus for money, thereby fulfilling Scripture and carrying out God’s plan.  In that sense they wanted him.  And Jesus was “faithful as a son over God’s house” (Hebrews 3:6) fulfilling his role and responsibility as the Appointed.

Life often throws us any number of curve balls that we don’t see coming.  Believe it or not, they are similarly “appointed” by the same Trinitarian counsel that met on the mountain that night.  When we head up that mountain, often we’ll increase our vision and understanding.  When were you last there?