Jesus as Our High Priest

I wonder how often we think of Jesus as being in a priestly role? Consider this: We might think of him as a prophet and issuing some significant words for his time and for the future. We certainly think of him as being a king, as we celebrate Christ the King as the last Sunday of the liturgical year. But now we come our reading this Sunday, which refers to Jesus in his role as a high priest.

The role of the high priest was to offer sacrifice on behalf of his people and also to intercede for them. In Hebrews 5:10, it refers to Jesus as "having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek." We come to that mysterious figure of Melchizedek, mentioned in several places in this letter as well as in Genesis and the Psalms. He is the king without genealogy.

As Jesus took on the role of a high priest, he did not come to offer any sacrifice on our behalf. He himself was the sacrifice. He gave his life to pay for our sins.

The text also mentions that Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered. Hebrews 5:8 This fits in with the purpose for which the letter of Hebrews was written. It was written for people who were falling away from their faith in Christ. Let's think of how easy it might be to fall away from one's faith today. Your life isn't going right. You despair of world conditions. Religion just doesn's make sense anymore. Any reason to keep attending church?

I firmly believe that part of our suffering as Christians involves our loyalty to Jesus. There might be times when we are belittled for our faith or maybe we feel our prayers aren't answered. It's easy to get on the bandwagon of saying that religion just isn't working.

Jesus calls us to be obedient through our suffering. Jesus has endured the worst that this world offers. As our high priest, he is one who intercedes on our behalf. We recall how passionate he was in praying with loud cries and tears. He is still praying for you and me.

Do you feel that you are suffering for your faith at all? Have you ever thought much about Jesus as being your high priest?