Lent B 05: What a Priest We Have in Jesus!

We all have our favorite ways of referring to Jesus. We often describe the Son of Man by using titles that are both comfortable and comforting: Jesus is our “Savior” and “Redeemer.” Jesus is our “Lord” and “God.” Jesus is our “Brother” and “Friend,” our “Great Physician” and “Good Shepherd.” Each of these titles highlights a different dimension of our Savior’s service and sacrifice for sinners.

But it’s far less frequent for us to describe Jesus as our “Priest,” and that’s unfortunate. In today’s Epistle, the author of Hebrews sets us straight concerning the priestly service of our Savior. He highlights how Jesus is our perfect High Priest. In fact, he mines this priestly moniker for all it’s worth and, in the process, delivers all the comfort and confidence that comes to us from the Christ. Today we ponder the priesthood of Jesus beneath this theme:

What a Priest We Have in Jesus!

The author of Hebrews helpfully provides some history concerning the high priesthood. Priestly service was part and parcel of the Lord’s design for the life of his Old Testament people. He specifically selected the sons of Aaron to provide this priestly service for his people. They served on behalf of their fellow Israelites, regularly offering gifts and sacrifices to God—both for the sins of the people and for their own sin. God himself appointed them for priestly service.

Because the priesthood was reserved for those who were chosen by God, the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus, too, was appointed to priestly service. Jesus’ priestly appointment was made public in a big way at his Baptism. There Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and set apart to serve as our great High Priest. There God declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).

II.

God appointed Jesus as our great High Priest so that he can serve us and help us. Jesus is immensely qualified to do this because he is one of us—bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, a human man among men. As one of us, Jesus knows. He knows our weaknesses and frailties. In the passage immediately preceding today’s text, the author of Hebrews spells out the comfort we have in Jesus as our High Priest: “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” (4:15). Jesus willingly accepted our human weaknesses to suffer temptation, hunger, fatigue, sadness, loneliness, rejection, persecution.

Because Jesus knows our every weakness, he deals gently with those under his care who are ignorant and wayward. That’s us, by the way—ignorant and wayward. Unlike Jesus, we are notwithout sin. Temptations tangle us up. Sin clings closely to us along every step of the way. We have a habit of straying from our Lord’s plans and purposes. We deviate from his desires, always seeking to serve ourselves rather than those around us.

We can see both our sin and the amazing gentleness of Jesus in today’s Holy Gospel. Imagine it: Nearing Jerusalem, Jesus had just predicted his death and resurrection. This makes at least three times that Jesus told the disciples he would suffer and die. But rather than pray and prepare for the Lord’s Passion, James and John hatched their own plan. They were looking for ways to get ahead. They came to Jesus seeking to sit in glory, longing to get a leg up on the competition, and climbing all over their fellow disciples in a mad dash to the top of the heap, no matter who they had to step on in the process. When the ten heard about this power play, they were indignant—angry—ready to retaliate against the brazen audacity of James and John. As Jesus made his way to Calvary, a civil war was about to erupt among his disciples. It was more than enough reason to ignite the anger and the wrath of the Rabbi from Nazareth.

But the Rabbi’s wrath was not kindled. As a priest, Jesus dealt gently with his wayward disciples. He neither condemned nor condoned their sin. He did not excuse their conduct, but he set them straight with measured, priestly sympathy. He corrected them lovingly and patiently: “It shall not be so among you,” he said (Mk 10:43). He reminded them of his priestly purpose: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45).

Because Jesus is our great High Priest, we have this comfort for ourselves. He deals gently with us. He knows our sins. He knows our ignorance. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our struggles and our sufferings. And Jesus knows these things about us not merely as facts, knowledge, or data; he knows it all as if it was happening to him. He feels for us and suffers with us precisely because he is a human being—like us in every way yet without sin. Not only does our great High Priest know and feel our weakness, but he alone can do something about it. He alone will offer his life as a ransom for us all. What a priest we have in Jesus!

III.

One of the biggest surprises concerning our Savior’s priestly service is that it was a learning process for him. In fact, we could say that Jesus learned to be a priest the hard way—through the school of suffering. According to our text, “Although [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (v 8). As our priest, Jesus was a learner like us. Our Savior was a student in the school of suffering—a divine disciple who learned obedience alongside his human brothers and sisters. Although he’s God and could always know everything, Jesus never used his omniscience when it would just serve himself. He didn’t cut corners. He didn’t cheat. He didn’t jump to the front of the line. Rather, Jesus reverently and prayerfully learned obedience through what he suffered.

When was the last time you tried to learn something new and difficult? Perhaps you downloaded an app to help you learn a new language. Perhaps you watched hours of YouTube videos to learn for yourself how to do a major home improvement project. Perhaps you downloaded a complicated recipe that you might sauté your way to success with a new culinary creation in the kitchen. Whatever you’ve attempted to learn, how did it go for you? Were you ultimately successful? Or did you bite off more than you could chew? Perhaps what you actually learned was that difficult work is sometimes best left to the experts.

Jesus learned to be your priest in the most difficult way imaginable. He learned through what he suffered. Tears would be his teacher. Pain would be his preceptor. Neither nails nor thorns would deter him from learning to be our perfect priest. No pain, no gain. Where others would falter and fail, Jesus pressed on. Today’s text alludes to the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus prayed as our perfect priest. There he “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” (v 7). Those perfect, priestly prayers continued even as Jesus suffered for our salvation on the cross: “Father, forgive them.” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (cf Lk 23:34, 46; Mt 27:46).

Those perfect prayers were an expression of our Lord’s perfect obedience to his Father. Through the school of suffering, Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (v 9). Only this reverent priest, Jesus, has secured our salvation. What he suffered was on account of our sin. The pain he endured was a penalty meant for us. The death he died was the necessary ransom to redeem a world of sinful, wayward rebels. Because of his reverence—his perfect, prayerful obedience—his Father raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in glory, where Jesus continues to intercede for us as our great High Priest. Our salvation is found in no one else. What a priest we have in Jesus!

IV.

There’s one final surprise concerning the priestly work of Jesus. He invites us to share in his priestly work. We are also priests—priests of the perfect priest, called to present our bodies “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). As God’s baptized and holy people, we have priestly prayers to offer—priestly service to render to those around us. As priests of the perfect Priest, we are perennial students in the school of suffering, following in the footsteps of our great High Priest. When we seek to be served, we sin. When our prayers for others falter, we sin. But our Lord’s perfect, priestly service counts for us. His obedience counts for us. He invites us to learn obedience as we follow him. He promises to perfect our lives through his perfect forgiveness and love. He is, indeed, the source of eternal salvation.