November 10: Hebrews 5

While the end of Hebrews 4 points us to our great high priest Jesus, we learn in the first ten verses of Hebrews 5 that the greatness of Jesus is that he was a priest who cried out. And he cried out not simply because of the pain of his suffering; he cried out because of the problem of his people: our sin. That is the fundamental problem we all face, the source of our entire struggle, all the brokenness of our world, all the breaking down of our bodies. And Jesus came as our great high priest, suffered and cried out on the cross, bearing all that our sin has done, in order to deal with sin once for all. 

In this regard, Jesus is superior to the weak priests of the Old Testament Aaronic order. While these priests were called and cared for God's people, they had significant limitations over which they cried: these priests were clothed with human weakness, but also they were sinners. No matter how holy the Old Testament priest was, he had to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for others. He could not save others because he could not save himself.

But the good news of the Gospel is that we don't rely upon human priests or pastors. Rather, we run to Jesus, the weeping priest who was called and cared, but even more suffered, shed his blood, and died so that he might become the source of eternal salvation for us. Jesus was the son who was appointed a priest and the priest who was appointed to suffer. 

And so, let us run to Jesus as the sympathetic high priest for which our hearts long. But even more let us run to him because he is the source of eternal salvation for us able to deal with our sinful actions and our inward bent toward sinning. This one who "was made perfect" through his suffering is the one who is a complete Savior--Jesus the Crucified. Let us run to this weeping priest and find that his joy might become ours!