Jesus Gets Us

I have a confession to make: I scroll Facebook videos way more than I should. Anybody else have that problem? You know, you think: Ah, I’ll just watch one, or maybe two. Before you know if, you’ve given half an hour to mindlessly scrolling along watching crazy people do crazy things.

Sometimes, what might hook our attention is the humorous nature of the video. Or you are riveted watching to see what’ll happen next. But have you ever had it where a video comes on, and your attention is hooked because the more you watch, the more you find yourself really understanding what the person in the video is saying? It’s like they’re talking from your experience. They seem to really get you! you have to watch to find out more!

There is a commonality of shared experience in this type of video that rivets our attention. This same kind of commonality also help glue together friendships, marriages, and partnerships. And the worst thing ever is when someone tries to tell you “I know how you’re feeling” or “I understand” when they really have zero clue. You just want to look at them and go “bud, stop while you’re ahead.”

Today we will be looking at Hebrews 5:1-10. This is week 6 of our 10 week series in Hebrews 1-8. We called the series “Meeting Jesus, Walking through Hebrews 1-8. I brought up this whole phenomenon of common experience because Hebrews 5:1-10 talks about just that, but in relation to Jesus. Let read together:

Hebrews 5:1–10 ESV

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

We have a qualified high priest who understands us.

This morning, we are going to look at three necessary qualifications that Jesus had to meet in order for Him to truly be our qualified High Priest who understands His brothers and sisters.

Jesus Must Get Our Experience

… so that He can understand those He represents.

To start, we need to remember what we read last week at the end of chapter 4. The author says that because we have such a great high priest as Jesus, we need to hold fast to what we believe. The shocking thing is that we have a high priest who is fully God, and yet because He became man understand exactly what we go through in temptation. Why? Because he himself has been tempted in every way. Yet Jesus remained faithful. So we too can remain faithful and even draw near to God’s throne. We get to come before God whenever we want! Through Jesus, we can talk with the Father and have fellowship with Him once again. Here the author is providing the reason for why Jesus is such a faithful and great high priest.

So as we step into chapter 5, the author starts with the word gar, which is Greek for “for”. This means the author is going to give further teaching on how Jesus is great and faithful. The author then appeals to who and what a high priest is.

Often when we think of “priests” we think of the Old Testament. But priests were not exclusive to Israel 5000-6000 years ago. Rather, the idea of a priest, an intermediary between God and man, is common to most cultures in the ancient world. Certainly Israel was no exception, though the high priest would act as a mediator between the true God, and His covenant people. however, the high priests of the past had to offer sacrifices both for themselves and for the people. They too were sinful and weak. As Lev 9:7 tells us:

Leviticus 9:7 ESV

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

So what is a high priest? J Ramsey Michaels put it well:

1-2 Timothy, Titus & Hebrews (Commentary)

The answer is given in the most general of terms. A high priest is a human being chosen to represent other human beings before God by presenting their “gifts to God” and offering “sacrifices for their sins.”

The High Priest works on behalf of himself and the people. He works as a mediator between God and man. The author of Hebrews says that he can have compassion for those in his care because he is one of them. Having known their experience, and understanding through experience their weaknesses. Yet we know that Jesus did not sin. So how do we understand “weakness?”

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus knows the temptation we go through. And yet He is without sin! Therefore He is our perfect high priest. He is appointed by God to pay the price for our sin once for all!

Think about what temptations you face in your life. How many times a day do you struggle with your thoughts. The temptation to lash out at someone who hurts you, and hurt them back. The temptation to take a second look at someone… and just fantasize a bit. No one will ever know! Maybe the temptation to just break check that guy who follows you a little too close and make him one big bumper sticker. Humanity is beset by the weakness of temptation.

Jesus Himself experienced human weakness, though He never gave into temptation. This is the big different between the high priests of old - who sinned and therefore had to offer sacrifice for themselves and others - and Jesus. Jesus NEVER sinned, and so is able to be our perfect high priest. But He knows the weakness that it is to be human, for He Himself is both fully God, and fully Human. Therefore, Jesus can truly be our high priest, because He understands His people, He understand our experience. He is able to have compassion on us.

Jesus Must Be Appointed

… To function as our true high priest

The author doesn’t spend any time pointing out the differences between Christ and priests of old. Instead, he emphasizes a big similarity: The role of high priest is an appointed one. And the one who does the appointing is none other than God Himself. Hebrews looks at the role of the priest in the way it was intended. By the time Jesus walked the earth, the role of the high priest had been seriously corrupted into a political role. But the author here view the role of the high priest as God originally laid it out. Aaron and his family - the first priests of Israel - were appointed by God for service. Similarly, Jesus Christ is appointed by God the Father to be our mediator. He makes atonement not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood for us! He sacrifices Himself, as the perfect one, in our place.

Let’s read verses 4-6 together:

Hebrews 5:4–6 ESV

And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

As we have talked about before, Hebrews uses the Old Testament to shine a big spot light on Jesus. Hebrews is going “there! That’s Him, that’s the One we’re waiting for!!” Again, we see this here:

Jesus Christ is called to be our representative before God by God Himself. How? The author employs two old testament quote. One we have encountered before back in chapter one. It’s a quote from Ps 2 7

Psalm 2:7 ESV

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

God makes a decree over Jesus: You are my Son! The same God who claims Jesus as His Son is the same God who also proclaim Christ the eternal High Priest. To that end, the author then quotes Ps 110 4

Psalm 110:4 ESV

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Ok, let’s stop for a minute. Who is Melchizedek? Most likely, the Jewish audience of the day would have been asking a similar question. To what extend people knew about Melchizedek is up for debate. It is quite possible that many knew about Melchizedek, certainly those who were well educated. But the fact the the author takes a fair chunk of chapter 7 to explain who he was can also tell us that there wasn’t a great understanding of this historical figure. So… who was he? I’m not going to tell you… yet. :) The author of Hebrews does not explain who Melchizedek is here. He just drops the bombshell and leaves it. We have to wait for chapter 7 for the full explanation. Obviously if you really want to know you can head over to Genesis 14 and you can get the story of how he interacted with Abraham. But at this juncture, the author chooses to let it sit as a mystery. So, for now we will too. Haha, guess you better keep coming if you want to find out!

But note this: We know from Leviticus that Aaron was appointed High Priest by God for the Jewish people. So… why is Jesus not after the order of Aaron, but instead Melchizedek? Here’s a hint as to what we will talk about in coming weeks: While Aaron was high priest, Melchizedek was both priest and king. So Jesus is not after the order of Aaron the priest, but rather after the order of Melchizedek, the priest AND king.

Getting back to our original point: Jesus is called and appointed by God to be high priest.

Here in Canada, we are a constitutional Monarchy, and a democracy. The king is our head of state, and we have a constitution which governs how decisions and laws are made. From there, our representatives in the government and our leaders are appointed for set terms to their roles. There are checks and balances in place, to keep our system - flawed though it may be - as just as it can be for as long as it can be. We run by the “power of the people.” This also gives us the ability to hold our leaders accountable. So we should!

By contrast, Jesus is not appointed by the people. If the gospels are any evidence then clearly humanity is too depraved to understand just who it was that came and walked with us for 33 years. The Son of God, the Messiah Himself. Yet what was our response? We condemned Him and nailed Him to a cross. By the power of the people - that worked well. Instead, Christ, despite our best efforts, is appointed once for all to be our mediator. The author of Hebrews shows us that God makes a decree: Jesus is appointed the timeless representative for us. No one can change this decree. No vote can overturn it. No set term can be placed upon it. This is the appointment Jesus has received. So truly, Jesus is again shown our qualified high priest. For He sits by God’s appointment our eternal representative, and our hope. So we move now to a third and final point:

Jesus Must Be Victorious

…So that we can be victorious!

Verses 7-10 let us in on something big about who Jesus is and then by extension, how He gets us. The author of Hebrews expands on the idea we saw at the beginning of chapter 5 on how Christ can sympathize with us, as any good high priest should be able to do. He had to learn obedience, had to experience the human experience, in order to be able to be, as verse 9 puts it:

Hebrews 5:9 (ESV)

the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

But, what does it mean that Jesus had to learn to be obedient, as we read here? Does this not imply then that Jesus was somehow at some time disobedient. But if Jesus is disobedient, how can He be sinless, because He would have disobeyed God, and sinned! If you are like me, my first glance through this passage brought up these concerns. However, we know for a fact that Jesus is sinless. We’ve discussed this together in previous weeks. If we skip ahead further in Hebrews to chapter 10:7 we read:

Hebrews 10:7 ESV

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

This quote comes from Ps 40:7. It is a Messianic prophecy. As we have already seen, the OT and the gospel point to how Christ fulfilled everything that was prophecies about Him, and was obedient to God even to the point of dying on a cross for us, as we are told in Philippians 2:8. We see in Matthew 4:1-13 the temptation of Jesus. That despite being offered it all if He would just bow to Satan, Jesus did not cave. He did not give into temptation or stray from His Father.

Knowing that Jesus is sinless, what do we get from these verses here in Hebrews 5? Amazingly, we learn that Jesus needed to learn what obedience entailed. As F.F. Bruce puts it:

“He sympathizes with His people’s weaknesses because He was exposed to all the tests and trials that they have to endure” - NICNT, Hebrews

Certainly Jesus is, was, and always will be obedient to His Father. We know further that our Triune God works - Father, Son, and Spirit - in perfect harmony. Yet Jesus, if He is really qualified to be our high priest and representative, must experience everything we experience. Even though He is the Son of God, He must be put through the same tests and trials we are put through, even to the point of death on the cross. So as the author points out in verse 7:

Hebrews 5:7 ESV

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Think for a moment with me about everything Jesus went through. Jesus prayed constantly. Yet I imagine a good portion of those prayers found Jesus expressing His angst over the trials He was experiencing. This is not to say that Jesus prayed “God forgive me” but rather that Jesus would have prayed “Oh, how this hurts,” or expressing that fact that the trials He went through were no cake walk.

Perhaps the most vivid picture of this is at Gethsemane, as Jesus prays alone before His arrest.

Luke 22:42–44 ESV

saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus prays earnestly that His Father would remove the cup of suffering Jesus was about to experience. Yet even in this, His most trying hours, He is found faithful, expressing to the Father “Not my will, but yours, be done.”

Jesus didn’t get the luxury of knowing everything that was to come. In coming to earth and being Human, Jesus temporarily set aside this part of who He was. In doing so, He had to trust in the Father to see Him through, even when He Himself did not know the outcome fully. Jesus prays for God to take away that cup of suffering, knowing that God might not do so. Yet He still trusts in His Father, and submits to the Father’s will. Jesus understands your experience, and walks with you even through your hottest fires.

So how then is Jesus victorious? Because He was obedient, even to death. Therefore, Jesus is proven to qualify as our great high priest, and therefore becomes what for us?

Hebrews 5:9 ESV

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him!

Through Jesus then - our great high priest, we receive the victory He accomplished, if we are faithful to Him and obedient to His Word.

So Jesus is found to be victorious. He is therefore our great High priest who understands us. But again at the end, the author says “after the order of Melchizedek.” Who is this guy??? Well, for that you’re just going to have to wait...

Conclusion

Jesus Gets Us

Hebrews 5:1-10 presents Jesus as the appointed High Priest who can sympathize with His people. He had walked the roads we have walked. He has experienced the trials and troubles we have experienced. Jesus is not some far off deity, too aloof to care for the lesser beings on planet earth. Jesus chose to become like you and I so that He could fulfill the role of High Priest. We have seen how Jesus - like any good high priest - understands us and operates out of that understanding. God has chosen Christ to be the appointed high priest, even after Melchizedek, who is both a high priest and king. Yet finally we see that for Jesus to truly bring victory of sin, He had to live as a man and be submitted, even through the hardest of trials, to His Father. Jesus learned what obedience entailed through suffering, even as we must do. And in all of this He remained faithful and never sinned. So Jesus truly is our greatest high priest. He gets your experience, and He gets mine.

So we learned that we have a high priest in Jesus - a representative - who really truly understands us and the human experience. How should this leave us?

Haha, maybe you’re expecting me to tell you that Jesus cares about you, and what you’re going through. You can bring it to Him and rely on Him. That’s all true! But I’m going to take it in a different direction:

Jesus has won the victory for us, if we choose to obey Him. That requires us to be faithful, to walk as He walked and live as He lived. Are we perfect as He was perfect? By no means! Thank God for grace! But even as Paul tells us in Romans, grace is not a license to sin. Instead, now we must walk in the same victory and grace of our great and compassionate high priest, Jesus Christ. Think about the troubles and trials you face currently. Maybe the trials you’re facing is the temptation to fall into that same sin that has you chained. If that’s you, take it from a guy who’s been in those shoes: God can free you! You have to lean on Jesus, hard. But victory is possible, and grace is there for you. So you can be victorious. Maybe you’ve been hurt by someone or something. How many times do you suppose Jesus has been hurt? In His earthly life He faced constant attack. The gospel of John tells us that Jesus:

John 1:11 ESV

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

Ouch. In fact, the very creation Jesus came to save nailed Him to a cross. Big ouch. But even on that cross Jesus was asking forgiveness for those who were hurting Him. If He can do that, then through the power of the Holy Spirit you can too. Who do you need forgive, or ask forgiveness from?

When it comes to Jesus, He gets what you have gone through, or will go through, or have gone through. No matter your hurt, your hang up, or your temptation, Christ can meet you in that. The encouragement from Hebrews this morning is that whatever we are facing, Jesus walks with us. Through His Victory we have victory. Our High Priest calls us to lean on Him, and remain faithful through the trials, temptations, and adversity. Jesus truly does understand you’re experience, and He is with you every step of the way to help you continue remaining faithful, even as He was faithful for us.

Pray