Lent 2021 - 5th Sunday of Lent-March 21st

Hebrews 5:5–10 NRSV

5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews 4:14–5:10; The Merciful Son and High Priest

The reference to Aaron does not serve any special polemical purpose. There is not even the hint of a contrast between Jesus and his ancient counterpart, as there was in the reference to Joshua (4:8*). The superiority of Christ to the whole Levitical priesthood will, however, be fully developed in chap. 7. Neither does Hebrews at this point explicitly express an apologetic concern to defend Christ’s priestly status, despite the fact that he was not of Levitical lineage. A later argument (7:12–17*) will deal with this issue, using Ps 110:4* in a different way. The present point is simply that a high priest must have a divine vocation.

■ 5–6* The second half of the treatment of old and new high priests begins with a direct comparison, introduced by “so” (οὕτως) between the mode of appointment of Aaron and Christ. In the next two verses Christ’s refusal to “glorify himself” (ἑαυτὸν ἐδόξασεν) by assuming the high-priestly honor is demonstrated by the fact that God designated the Son as High Priest. The sentence expresses, through the vehicle of two key texts from the Psalms, the two foci of Hebrews’ christology. The first text is from Ps 2:7*, which was the initial text cited in the opening catena at 1:5*. The passage thus forms an inclusion for the whole of Hebrews to this point. The inclusion is also strengthened by the reference to the one who did glorify Christ, as the “one who said” (ὁ λαλήσας), which recalls the initial description of God (1:1*). Most importantly, the verse recapitulates the theme of Christ’s divine sonship that has been the leitmotif of the christological exposition of the first four chapters.112

The second quotation, from Ps 110(109):4*, derives from the same psalm that concluded the catena at 1:13*. Unlike vs. 1* of the psalm, cited earlier, this verse is not attested elsewhere in early Christian sources and its use by Hebrews is probably original. Like Ps 2:7*, this verse, which attributes a priestly status to a king,113 encapsulates another christological theme. The following will explicate at length the significance of this verse as an attribution of an eternal priesthood to the Son.