Jesus our High Priest. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord.

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1 1 Sunday 2 nd March 2013 Jesus our High Priest Hebrews v14 5v10 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord. I feel after spending Saturday afternoon with 50 kids its only right that I share a joke with you this morning How does Moses makes his tea He brews it The Hebrews passage looks at Jesus as our priest, our intercessor and it relates a lot to Jewish understanding and the Old Testament. There are some real depths in this passage that we can identify with and understand. Hebrews might not have made a lot of sense to the Gentiles who didn t have this background, but to the 1 st century Jewish Christians, this was talking their language that s why it s sometimes a bit complicated to follow. The writer of Hebrews demands much from us in relentless pilgrimage, he is encouraging the Jewish Christians to hang on, to be bold and not to go backwards to their old religion, despite the temptation to do so with the opposition they are facing. He is encouraging us also to hang on and to be bold. He points to Jesus who is able and willing to help them and us on our way. Let s delve in, if you have your bible opened it would help Hebrews Opens with the difference between Moses and Jesus. This was important for the Hebrews as Moses was one of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith. He was the witness to the law whereas Jesus was the fulfiller of the law.

2 2 The Jews were encouraged to fix their eyes on Jesus that is the for him to be in the fore front of their minds, they were going through tough times and they needed to be reminded on how to cope and that it was no use going back to their old Jewish beliefs as Moses may have been the builder of the house but Jesus owned it. It was to him and to his family that they now belonged. They and we are his brothers and sisters. How do we ensure that Jesus is at the forefront of our minds? That he is in our daily lives and is our motivator? How s our walk with Jesus doing? Are we feeling discouraged at all? Let s us seek encouragement in this passage and remember. We don t place our hope in what we do but what he has done. Not to rely on who we are but what he is. John 3 v16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Having established that there was no point going back to the old covenant of Jews, the writer in chapter 4 goes on to talk about the priesthood of Jesus. Priests and priestly duties of course came into being with Moses, it was to him that the instructions were given and the author shows not only that Jesus is better than Moses as he is the one who came to gather the redeemed, he shows how Jesus came to fulfill the priestly laws which Moses were witness to. Let us get to know this God man Jesus more: Jesus the High Priest his 4 characteristics priest a mediator between God and man. His criteria for selection In the Anglican Church there are 9 Criteria for Ordained ministry of course they don t match up to the qualification Jesus had; 1) Able to identify with mankind and sensitive to the humans 2) Appointed by God 3) Obedient to God 4) Source of eternal salvation- the ultimate sacrifice.

3 1) Able to identify with mankind and sensitive to the humans 4v15 for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet was without sin. He is able to sympathise- so he knows, he knows what it s like for you and me in this fallen mortal world. To experience the struggles in fact as H Robinson comments His whole life was one of temptation and the very fact he had powers and abilities which we do not only added to the stress. He was the fullest and most vivid personality that this world has ever known and the very richness of his human nature exposed him all the more fully to the assaults of temptation. This enables us to then approach the throne of grace 4v16 with confidence in our time or need. As he understands what we have faced and are facing, how hard temptation is to do the wrong thing. A Jewish priest was able to offer sacrifices on behalf of his own sin because he was aware of his own weaknesses. Jesus is able to be the ultimate sacrifice because he is aware of our weaknesses; although he hasn t given into temptation he has suffered it. I sometimes wonder if on this basis we should be more sympathetic to others and the temptations they face. More often than not it can be easy to point the judging finger at others without the sympathy that Christ gives us! I finger pointing out = 3 fingers pointing back at ourselves. Or as Jesus said remove the plank out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck of dust in the other person s eye. 2) Appointed by God 5 v5-6 The Son was appointed by the father as the 2 prophetic statements show psalm 2 v7 and psalm 110 v4. Messianic passages You are my son and today I have become your father- at Jesus Baptism Matthew 3 v17 3

4 His priesthood was in the order of Melchizedek - someone who is talked about in chapter 7 of Hebrews, an interesting guy with no record of his birth or death Priests today go through a long selection process to check whether they are called out of the church family be God to serve it. I have been going through this process for 3 years and its not finished yet and that s before training. This is important for the authority to be given to Jesus to be the high priest. The Jews knew that no one could claim to be a priest without appointment with God as bad things happened to them for example Numbers 16 people who claimed to be priests but were not appointed by God were swallowed up by the earth or consumed by fire. Powerful stuff of which the Jews would be aware. Not that Jesus sought glory for himself v5, So Christ did not take upon himself the glory of becoming high priest. I wonder how many of us could testify that we don t seek glory for ourselves, that we tell God what we think he is calling us to do, what role he has appointed for us. Whether it s making the coffee, being a good neighbour, teacher of children. Do we give God his glory, allowing him to be in control? 3) Obedient to God V7-8 referring to the garden of Gesthamene when Jesus prayed to the father for him to take this cup away from me, showing his ultimate submission to God, willing to die for him and for us. To be the sacrificial lamb. nevertheless your will and not mine One thing that hit me from this passage, which had never struck me before Jesus prayer wasn t answered in the way he hoped it would be. He asked for the cup to be taken away from him but it wasn t. Ever prayed prayers that are answered but not in the way you had secretly hoped? Gone through the bewilderment of what is God doing and why? Well Jesus knew what God was doing! But ; 4

5 5 Did Jesus want to die, I don t think he did, yet he obeyed and was obedient and God answered his prayer in two ways firstly by giving him the peace and comfort Jesus needed to get through his trials and crucifixion and by honouring Jesus prayer not my will but yours God. You know it can be easy to concentrate on the fully God bit of Christ and yet he was fully human and he did suffer for us being fully human. Forgoing his heavenly powers for us. Submitted totally to the will of God so you and I could be rescued from our wrong actions and thoughts. For us. Wow what a man!! Giving Himself to God despite the cost. And guess what he asks us to do the same (gulp) V8 he learned obedience, through his temptations in the desert, his ordeal on the cross he learnt to obey. Not that he was ever disobedient but called to obey in ever circumstance. The temptations he faced were real and where Adam failed he was victorious. His humanity was thereby completed and he could become the source of eternal salvation. 4)Source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and able to be the high priest, as he made the perfect sacrifice, no stain of disobedience or of giving into temptation. A High priest that can identify with us with our failings and temptation as he did really and truly walk on this earth. Sympathizing with us, not floating on a cloud but real and he did because he loves each and every one of us. He wanted to be able to plead with God on our behalf. And he is our eternal priest, continually pleading on our behalf and is constant. This world is temporary but Jesus is forever as he promised he be with us forever. What does this mean to us? Its like this imagine you are a defendant in a court of law and come before a judge, you need

6 6 A lawyer someone who is an expert to mediate and plead on your behalf with the judge and hopefully he will care about your case and outcome. Jesus represents us in this way he mediates on your behalf and he loves each of us deeply. He has insider knowledge of the Judge because he is his son and get this God has appointed him the judge and so when we come before God in our lives and at the end our days we have the insider track. It gets better God has appointed Jesus the Judge and so through no merit of our own we are forgiven of our debts Let s live in this grace which is available now. Jesus s sacrifice for you and me, mean we belong to his family, we have forgiveness for all the things we have done wrong, and so let us turn to him, acknowledge we need his help, Let us learn the obedience to God which Jesus modeled and let us not turn back or even yearn for what life was like before he rescued us. Despite the hardships we go through, the rejection many of us face. Let us pray Lord Jesus, we thank you that you were fully human as well as fully God. That you came down to this earth on a rescue mission for all of us. Help us to give the glory and honour you deserve in our every day lives And help us to follow you. Questions 1) What surprised you about this passage? 2) Do you think of Jesus as our High Priest? 3) How is it comforting that Jesus understands our own sufferings? 4) What do you think about the statement His whole life was one of temptation and the very fact he had powers and abilities

7 which we do not only added to the stress. He was the fullest and most vivid personality that this world has ever known and the very richness of his human nature exposed him all the more fully to the assaults of temptation. 5) How do you keep Jesus at the forefront of your mind? 6) Is there anything that puzzles you from this passage? Ali Middleton 7