Gordon McPhee

JUST AS WE DO

Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10 [MSG]

Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.

No one elects himself to this honoured position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”

While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honoured God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.

INTRODUCTION:

We have some remarkable, uplifting passages of scripture to choose from this morning. The Psalmist extols the faithfulness and wonders of God in creation. God expounds to Job on the power and majesty of His agency in the world. Mark shows us the humble servant heart of Jesus, which should also be the heart of the church. So, which one did I choose to speak on today? Hebrews, a complicated Pauline expose on the high priestly office with disparaging phrases like “cried out in pain and wept in sorrow.” But hey, that’s just me.

Don’t be discouraged, however. The author of Hebrews has some enlightening points about Jesus that help us understand what happened and why so we can have confidence that He truly is the “source of eternal salvation.” We’ll better understand what “trusting-obedience” meant to Christ and something essential for our daily lives: “He learned trusting-obedience by what He suffered, just as we do.”

SERMON:

I’m sure in every home, we all have forbidden phrases and words. In our house, one of them is, “Oh oooh!” which in and of itself seems pretty innocuous. But for some reason, Hunter has picked that up as a cue word that something has happened that requires immediate and attentive barking. Another word that has fallen into disuse is also an ‘O’ word. Can anybody guess what the ‘O’ word would be? Obedience! I’m not ashamed, however. This has become a taboo word in today’s society. It evokes images of totalitarianism, oppression, stifling of potential and more.

However, obedience isn’t all that bad. If I ordered everyone to assemble downstairs for a 5-course gourmet lunch free of charge, I’m sure there would be few dissenters. There is a considerable difference in response when you tell a child to get in the car to go to the dentist versus going to Dairy Queen. So, there is obviously nothing intrinsically wrong with obeying. The matter seems to boil down to what prospects obedience sends us to.

This snip-it from Hebrews concludes with Jesus “having arrived at the full stature of his maturity.” To which we ask, “What is that maturity?” And we are not disappointed as the author continues, “having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.” Jesus is announced by God as “high priest in the order of Melchizedek,” and, as unconnected as this seems, this is the key to our salvation. So, it would appear vitally important to pay some attention to the two points being made about the high priest in the preceding verses.

The first is about the nature of a high priest. And the first thing we’re told is that they are selected from the people to represent the people, men and women, before God. In other words, they are you and me, an ordinary person but with a special responsibility. They offer sacrifices for the sins of their fellows, the men and women out of whom they were selected.

What are we told are the principal characteristics a high priest must possess to hold this elevated office? Compassion and empathy, the ability to deal gently with the failings of others. The high priest is someone who has lived all the weaknesses of the human experience. This is also the first way in which Jesus is the distinctive high priest. Unlike us who succumb to our weaknesses and so, to be high priest, must first offer oblation for our own sins, Jesus was tempted as we are, so he understands and is “able to deal gently with [our] failings,” but never sinned, as it says in Hebrews 4:15. Jesus simply remains in the presence of God His Father mercifully arbitrating on our behalf, without interruption.

The second point addresses the qualifications that make a high priest. The first two we’ve already established. They must be human, one of us, to be able to do effectively and gently what they are called to do, which is to intercede with offerings and sacrifices in atonement for their sins and the sins of all of us. Without this office, these sacrifices, there is no hope of salvation. This is why, as we said earlier, understanding Jesus as our high priest is vital for our daily lives. It is our hope, so let me help you understand it better.

The third and equally important qualification for a high priest is that they must be called to the office by God. We might recall the final failing of King Saul, who, out of fear, took upon himself to offer sacrifices for his army in preparation for battle, an office God had reserved for His servant Samuel. God called Aaron, Moses' brother, a Levite, to be high priest along with all of his descendants after him. So how does Jesus, who Matthew and Luke both attest is of the line of Judah, not Levi, fulfill the prerequisites of a high priest?

Well, first, this makes eminently clear that Jesus was human, just like us, and possessed all of our human weaknesses, or he could not have been selected from amongst us for this office nor truly empathized with our failings. And God did not simply adorn himself with a human body and begin his ministry. Jesus was born as a needy child, suffering all the humiliation of helplessness and even poverty in a world that was not nearly so kind and gentle as ours.

As to offering sacrifices, Jesus himself bore witness to the efficacy of what he sacrificed when he said, as recorded in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That it was a sacrifice is sure, as attested in John 10:18, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus was the ultimate high priest because he offered, as oblation, the ultimate sacrifice.

Satisfying the third requirement, the author of Hebrews gives us two citations showing how Jesus, as the Messiah, does not assume the role of high priest but was “set apart by the One who said to him, ‘You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!’” Also, his qualification is not of the line of Aaron, but is even more legitimate, the order of Melchizedek.

Briefly, Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which is the ancient pre-Israel name for Jerusalem, and the Priest of El Elyon, the most high God. Abraham, who was the ancestor of Moses and notable for our discussion, Aaron, bowed to Melchizedek, showing him honour and gave him a tithe, a tenth, of the spoils of the victory God had given him over the kings of the East. Jesus’ high priesthood is superior to Aaron’s because Melchizedek is above even Abraham. This also links Jesus, through Melchizedek as well as Judah and King David, to the throne of Jerusalem. He is not only a high priest but also legitimately king.

Having established Jesus as a fully qualified and legitimate high priest and king, Hebrews turns to this sober matter concerning Jesus, “While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow.” This is not the description we expect of the high priest and king, the all-powerful son of God who intercedes on our behalf day and night. And yet it is who Isaiah 53:3 portrays as the Messiah, “a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity.” But what was he doing in the midst of this sorrow and pain, even at the point of anticipating his own death? He was offering up priestly prayers.  What did we say priests do? They make sacrifices for others, for the sins of their fellow beings. Jesus, while suffering and facing the terror of His own death, was offering up priestly prayers, prayers for you and me, as He does even now. Prayers that are certain to be answered because Jesus honoured His Father.

And how did he honour His Father? “Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered.” Now let me stop at this so you don’t gloss over it as we are want to do so often in our haste to understand. “Though he was God’s Son, He,” the Almighty, Word of God through whom all things were created, who was and is and is to come, who sits at the right hand of God the Father, “learned trusting-obedience.” This Jesus did not simply waltz through life obeying God because he could do nothing else. He was free, as we were in the garden of Eden at creation. He could have chosen at any time to disobey his Father, as Adam and Eve did. He could have succumbed to the temptations Satan caressed him with in the wilderness. He could have turned from the horror and humiliation of crucifixion and saved himself. But He didn’t.

It was by what he suffered, step by step, from day one as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Cold, hungry, needy, picked on by siblings who didn’t accept him, misunderstood by the very closest friends He gathered around Him, jeered at and mocked by fellow Jews who should have recognized what he was. Torn with sorrow, weeping for a Jerusalem that would not receive him and for his dear friend Lazarus, who had to die to be raised. All this sorrow and pain was the instrument of Jesus’ education in obedience to His Father, and the result was that “God answered Him.”

And here’s the kicker: I love the deliberate way the author phrases this, “just as we do.” We’re not adjured to try to do this suffering and weeping in sorrow thing so that we may become more obedient. It’s not an optional “if you want to be a better Christian” kind of thing. It will happen to you as assuredly as it happened to God’s only Son. If you’ve ever cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as you offer priestly prayers, prayers for your loved ones, prayers for your friends, prayers for this city and this world, then you’re on the right track, and you’re in good company. That’s what Jesus, your high priest and king is doing. In all these sorrows, you will learn trusting obedience, and God will answer you as he answered His Son because you honour Him.

Jesus has arrived at the full stature of His maturity and has been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. He has become the source of eternal salvation to all of us who, having learned trusting-obedience by what we suffered, believingly obey Him.

Amen