Why is it that Jesus is given the name of High Priest? What does it mean? In our culture, the words or description of Christ seems strange, but in the jewish culture would have held great meaning.
“Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as their sins.” (Hebrews 5:1-3)
Jesus is our representative before God. Our Ambassador. He goes between us offering all that we need to be purified from our sins and unrighteousness, allowing us to be able to be near God. Unlike a high priest in the ancient days, death would not remove this High Priest. Our High Priest is now holding that position permanently. He will continually advocate for us until we are no longer living here on earth but take up residence in eternity with Him.
“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Jesus understands. Our High Priest is not so far removed or elite that he cannot relate. No, He gets it. Even though He did not sin, the temptations to sin were still very real for Him. Yet Jesus knew who He was. He knew why He was here. He knew what the cost of sin would be, and so He rejected it. Remarkably, Jesus, who could rub all of our sin in our face or take on an attitude of us being “second class” or discard us, instead chooses to extend to us mercy and grace. His desire is to help us. Clean us up. Make us new.
“Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way, God qualified Him as the perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
It is remarkable to me that Jesus was qualified as our High Priest not because of His sonship, but rather by the obedience that came from the things that He suffered. Friend, what can we learn from our suffering? What have we missed by allowing our suffering to cause us to focus on ourselves and remove our focus from our God? Jesus’ focus never shifted. He knew that obedience would lead Him to the cross and He still chose the way of suffering to maintain that obedience. It is because of this action alone – His obedience – His suffering – that we now have a source of eternal salvation.
May we never miss the gift. May we never underestimate the cost. Thank God for giving to us a perfect High Priest!
Blessings!