Unto God be the glory,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Christian tradition offers a variety of answers to the two questions:
- Who is Jesus?
- What did he accomplish?
The variety is occasioned by the immensity of the mystery.
Jesus is always so much more than even our fullest descriptions.
The same is of course true of our knowledge of one another –even our nearest and dearest.
So much harm is done by our refusal to respect the full mystery of others –settling instead for superficial caricatures. Resisting that impulse, permits us to acknowledge that ‘the more we know one another, the more we know there is to know’.
If that’s true of one another, its true ten times over of our Lord. Happily…,with him, as with the rest of us, the mystery is invitational.
‘The more we know, the more we want to know’ –albeit sometimes – not without fear and trembling. (cf., 2 Cor 7.15; Eph 6.5; Phil 2.12)
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I said the mystery of Christ has elicited numerous approaches to its fuller appreciation. One of them is what the tradition refers to as Christ’s ‘threefold office’. Jesus fulfilled in himself the Old Testament offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. The books of the New Testament may be read for their emphasis on one or other of these.
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His priestly role is most evident in the Book of Hebrews from which we read this morning’s Epistle. Indeed, later in the book, the writer will insist:
The chief point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…. (Heb 8.1) …such a high priest…. That such is filled out in today’s Epistle.
The writer
- succinctly defines the role of the high priest;
- identifies what, under the Old Covenant, were the three essential qualifications for the office;
- and finally, explains how Jesus fulfils, and more than fulfils those qualifications – albeit with certain vital
I propose to touch on each of these in turn.
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First, the High Priest’s role.
Chapter 5, verse 1:
Every high priest… is to act on his people’s behalf in relation to God.
It’s the role of a mediator, a representative, standing in his people’s place – on their behalf – in the presence of their God.
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Next…, his qualifications. In the first place, he must be one with his people chosen, v. 1, from among them. (Heb 5.1)
Which in turn fits him for the 2nd criterion: offering sacrifices for sin in a spirit of empathy, fellow-feeling, with those he represents: in the words of our writer – …able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness…. (Heb 5.1)
And the final qualification.
He may not take this work upon himself, of his own accord.
Again, as our writer puts it: …one does not presume to take this honour, but takes it only when called by God….(Heb 5.1)
Three qualifications then:
- co-humanity,
- sacrificial empathy,
- divine
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Which brings us to the heart of the matter: Jesus’ fulfilment of these criteria. I don’t have time to treat them all. Nor indeed does our writer in these few verses. They’ll preoccupy him for the next three chapters. In our passage, he focuses on Jesus’ comprehensive and empathetic identification with us.
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It’s not the first time he’s touched on this theme.
In earlier chapters he's insisted on the genuineness of Christ’s humanity, and with equal force, on his boundless capacity for sympathy.
Just one example, from the verses immediately prior to this morning’s reading:
…we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested/tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4.15)
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…in every respect… tested/tempted as we are….
That tantalising phrase is now filled out in three of the most remarkable verses in all Scripture.
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Our writer’s in no doubt –indeed, has insisted upon it from the very beginning of his epistle – that Jesus is the divine Son of God – in his own words: …the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being….(Heb 1.3)
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The more remarkable then (and with this we’re back to this morning’s text) – verse 8, …although he was [God’s] Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered…. (Heb 5.8)
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It’s all too easy, I think, to view Jesus, as it were, floating above the nitty-gritty of his daily existence.
Or better perhaps – as an actor on stage, playing his role with exceptional brilliance, but all the time – at one remove – the person he is – outside of, apart from, his role.
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It was a popular view of many in the early centuries of the Church, and continues to hold sway to this day.
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In time however, the Church hammered out its orthodox teaching – safeguarding the much more profound mystery of the incarnation: namely, that there was no gap, not the least separation, between Jesus’ person and his work.
None other than the eternal Son of God – the only-begotten of the Father – was conceived in Mary’s womb, tempted by Satan, hungered and thirsted, enjoyed good food and good wine, wept in agony of spirit, was scourged, mocked, and crucified, died, and was buried.
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The 3rd Century neo-platonist, Porphyry, appreciated the scandalous nature of all this, better than many Christians.
In Against the Christians, he writes: “[Christians] believe that the divinity entered the Virgin Mary's womb, became a foetus, was engendered, and wrapped in clothes, was full of blood, membranes, gall, and even viler things". (end quote) (Porphyry, Against the Christians, fragment 77, ed. A Harnack, AbhBerlAk [1916], 93)
His disgust drips from his words.
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But even yet, we've not plumbed the full depths of Jesus’ identification with us.
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Which brings us back to our Epistle.
…he learned obedience through what he suffered…. (Heb 5.8)
God, the Son of God,…learned obedience….
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Not that he began in disobedience, only to finish in obedience.
Rather…, he matured, learned in practice, grew into the fullness of what it is to be obedient to the Father – to be, in the words of our writer, reverent[ly] submiss[ive]. (Heb 5.7)
And Jesus practiced it within testing and increasingly harsh circumstances – all along the way, assaulted by ever sharper temptations to disobedience.
We see this most vividly in the garden of Gethsemane, where, in an agony of spiritual conflict – in the words of our text – [he] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears….(Heb 5.7)
It’s the same anguish we hear in that terrible cry, wrung from him in his death throes upon the cross: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mk 15.34; Mt 27.46)
Here is no play-acting – but the closest identification with us, so that – again to quote our writer – …we have one who in every respect has been tested [tempted] as we are…. …he learned obedience by what he suffered….(Heb 4.15, Heb 5.8)
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D’you see now that our writer has indeed conducted us some way into the profound mystery that is our Lord’s high priestly ministry on our behalf? What’s his conclusion?
In his own words: …having been made perfect – that is, having perfected, completed, his high priestly work – …he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him….(Heb 5.9)
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…the source of eternal salvation….Precisely that is – his high priesthood.
At the Father’s right hand, still bearing the wounds in his hands and his side, he pleads for us – on our behalf. (cf., Heb 7.25; Rom 8.34)
And he does so as the one who knows, first hand, what we’re going through.
He knows, from his own experience, the sharpness of the temptations that beset us – in our prosperity, and even more in our adversity, all the way to our deathbed.
He knows them, and he’s our closest companion in their midst – with us where we are, in empathy and power.
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Assuredly…, adversity, suffering, doesn’t automatically increase our capacity for obedience – for reverent submission.
Too often, indeed, we succumb to its opposite – resentment, despair, bitterness, self-pity.
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Which is precisely why we can’t go it alone. But nor are we required to. Because that same siren call was all too familiar to our Lord during his sojourn on earth – we … have a high priest who is … able to sympathise with our weaknesses….
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So what, you ask?
Quoting our writer one last time – let him tell us.
Let us, he exhorts us, …approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4.15f.)
Or, in other words, as he is praying for us, so let us – not neglect – but in like manner be ourselves urgent in prayer.
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Do you pray?
When you pray – in church, in your bedroom, in the garden, on the golf course – do you know yourself to be in company with our Lord Jesus –
In such intimate, praying with and for you?
and prayerful companionship with our great high priest, we’ll not so easily succumb to temptation…, but will grow towards maturity in trust and faithfulness – in reverent submission. (Heb 5.7)
Thanks be to God. Amen.
