What Even Is A High Priest
Hebrews: A Story Worth Sharing • Sermon • Submitted
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Good morning!
Last week we finished up chapter 2 in Hebrews discussing the humanity of Jesus.
In our life group, like yours, when we first gather up we eat, talk about our week, and laugh a lot.
Last week was no exception and as we sat around the table talking and laughing together, our attention was drawn to the fact that Jesus did the same thing.
He gathered, ate, laughed at jokes, and genuinely enjoyed the company of his friends.
We discussed the fact that most of us never think about Jesus in that kind of setting.
The focus of this study is A Story Worth Sharing.
It did us so much good to think of Jesus in such human terms.
To imagine him at our table laughing with us.
We agreed that most people don’t think about Jesus in that way, and what an idea worth sharing!
One of our church's distinctives is to know God progressively, and that is what has been happening over the course of this study.
Last week is a great example of that.
We are learning that Jesus was just like us and that is a truth that our world, our friends need to hear and understand.
Today we are going to learn more about the person of Jesus and one of the roles that he plays on our behalf.
Last week in our reading, there was a mention of Jesus being a high priest.
Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
I didn’t mention it because I wanted to wait until today so that we could discuss, What Even Is A High Priest.
Like so many other things that we encounter in scripture, it isn’t part of our daily lives.
Without that knowledge, some of the meaning is lost.
Our goal today is to simply understand the role of a High Priest, why it was important to Israel, and why it matters for us.
If we want to understand this concept it is helpful for us to think of it in terms of things we do understand.
To put it simply, a High Priest was a representative or mediator between people and God.
He was also tasked with making sure that all the requirements of the law were met.
What immediately comes to mind when you think of a representative? A politician
A person that has been selected from among the people, given authority over them, and represents that group with others that are in power.
At least that is how it is supposed to work.
Me
I remember a few years ago an issue came up that was extremely significant to a friend of mine.
There was an amendment that was snuck into a completely unrelated bill.
That amendment would change the name of their school and with it, the sense of identity that all the alumni held.
Imagine what it would do to our state if one day it was announced that LSU was no longer LSU, but had some long, ridiculous name.
It would be significant.
So, I called my representative, shared my concerns, and he told me that he had received countless calls that day of people asking the same thing I was.
We wanted him to vote no on the amendment.
We were asking him to do what we had elected him to do.
He told all of us the same thing.
No, he would not vote it down because it would be political suicide.
He was putting his own reputation and desires above the desires of the people that put in that office to represent them.
It was infuriating.
He even told me that it was cowardly, but it was what he was going to do.
We
Many of us have had similar experiences in which we were part of a group and the person or people representing that group did something that we didn’t agree with.
You may have experienced that working on a group project in school when someone didn’t do what they were supposed to do and it affected your grade.
With your fellow employees at work when your boss made a decision that affected everyone but him/herself but didn’t discuss it with anyone.
Perhaps in a social group where someone else’s actions affected public perception of that group.
The issue that all people have with being represented by someone else is that we don’t always agree with the person that is representing us.
sometimes we are on the right side of the issue and sometimes we aren’t.
Regardless of whether we are right or wrong, what we really want to know that we are heard.
Not like your kids say they “heard” you when you told them something.
Really heard, understood, empathized with...
Look back with me at the end of chapter 2 and the first verse of chapter 3.
God
Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
The author is telling the church that Jesus made himself just like them, lived through the same things they did so that he could completely understand.
This process was purposeful so that Jesus could become a merciful and faithful high priest.
If our desire is to be heard and understood, right where we are, there is no one that is more qualified than Jesus.
In order for us to understand what a High Priest is supposed to do, let’s look Numbers 16:47-48.
Hopefully, you saw my message on Facebook Friday evening asking everyone to read this chapter in advance.
If you didn’t see it or read it, here is the scope of what is going on. There were three men who were inciting a revolt against Moses and Aaron.
They wanted to be in charge, but obviously, that is not what God wanted and their rebellion against Moses and Aaron was also a rebellion against God.
In response to that rebellion, God immediately sent a plague upon Israel, not just those that were revolting, but all of them.
Look with me at Moses and Aaron’s response.
So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people.
He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted.
In preparing for today, I read a sermon that Charles Spurgeon wrote on this passage.
He didn’t know it would work.
In preparing for today, I read a sermon that Charles Spurgeon wrote on this passage.
He points out five characteristics exhibited in Aaron and perfected in Jesus.
The Lover.
Aaron loved Isreal.
Jesus loved all.
The Atoner.
Aaron offered a sacrifice to atone for Israel's present sin.
Jesus offers his life as the perfect sacrifice that covers all sin.
The Interposer.
Aaron stood between Israel and the plague saving the lives of his people.
Jesus stands between humanity and the destruction brought on by sin.
The Savior.
Aaron was moved by the love for his people to save their lives.
Jesus is love and offers his life in exchange for yours.
The Divider.
Aaron literally stands with life on one side and death other the other. Where he ran through the people, there was a separation between those that lived and those that died.
Jesus is the division between God’s people and those who are not. Without Jesus, we are unable to go to God.
When the author of Hebrews references a High Priest, the church would have immediately thought of Moses and Aaron.
They would have remembered Moses and Aaron, who delivered them from Egypt and was the mediator between God and Israel in the wilderness.
What is most notable to me in this story is the clear disregard Aaron has for his own life.
The people’s lives were more important than his own.
By running out among the people in the midst of a sweeping plague, he demonstrated his love and obedience to his call as a priest.
The author of Hebrews is making the connection that while what Aaron did for Israel was incredible, it pales in comparison to what Jesus has done for all people.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
Consider!
Think about Jesus in this way!
Jesus was sent on a mission to earth to be the great and perfect mediator between God and His creation.
He wants them to understand the greatness of who Jesus is which is demonstrated by his life, his death, and his Resurrection.
Application:
Think about the degree of separation that existed between people and God prior to Jesus.
The hope of salvation was literally unreachable.
That gap had to be bridged by someone that, while operating with the best of intentions, was fallible.
The author is telling the church that Jesus, this man that was crucified, that the apostles were preaching about, the son of God, came to be the perfect, merciful, high priest.
The reality is that they were separated from God by their sin, but now Jesus bridged that gap AND now the Holy Spirit lived inside of them making a permanent, unbreakable bond between them and God.
People will fail us. They may have the best of intentions, but they will let us down.
Jesus never will.
All morning, we’ve had our minds in the past, thinking about what this meant for the Hebrew people.
Now, let’s jump forward to today.
Read this with me again, but put yourself in the passage.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters
(call out names of people in the congregation),
who share in a heavenly calling
(as followers of a living and loving God),
consider Jesus
(think about Him in this way and share this with everyone),
the apostle
(He was sent on a mission by God)
and high priest
(to perfectly, mercifully, and faithfully represent you)
of our confession
(the message of Christ as the savior of all, the perfect and final sacrifice, whose blood covers all our sins, whose life was given in place of ours, a graceful, loving friend who did what no one else could ever do, redeemed our broken relationship with God).
Do you feel how incredible this is?
This is a message that is as much needed today as it was when it was first written.
We need to be reminded that we are perfectly represented by Jesus.
He was made like us and experienced everything we do so that he could be made merciful and faithful.
Just as importantly, the people in our lives that don’t know Jesus need to hear this message.
They, like us, have never known what it means to be perfectly represented.
They don’t know the hope that comes from being perfectly understood and empathized with.
The vast majority of people in our lives don’t know that Jesus didn’t come to judge them.
Because unfortunately, that is what they have experienced from the church.
Jesus came to love them, right where they are, as they are.
Their value is not in their actions, possessions, or worldly status.
They are loved because they were made in the image of God and that God delights in them.
We have hope that cannot be found anywhere else.
Jesus fixed a broken system.
He gave himself so that each and every person can know God and feel the love of God.
This is the role of a true High Priest.
Jesus sacrificing himself is a story worth sharing!
Pray