I Feel Your Pain

I Feel Your Pain

Hebrews 5:5-10

The Epistle to the Hebrews is a treasure trove for Christians, even though one has to have a good understanding of the Old Testament to mine this trove. It shows the relation between the Old Testament and its promises, and their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Let us look at today’s passage from Hebrews 5 and see how our understanding can be enriched.

Some have seen Hebrews as an extended sermon, which would make it the most complete sermon in the New Testament, even longer than Stephen’s sermon in Acts7 and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Others think it was a Pentecost sermon using the texts for the day from the Jewish lectionary. Psalms 2, 95, and 110 receive special treatment, and here Psalm 110:4 is quoted. Psalm 110 begins with “the LORD said unto my Lord, sit here until I make your anemias a footstool. This was quoted earlier. Hebrews begins by revealing Jesus as the most complete revelation of God. The Old Testament contained snippets collected over thousand of years which truly spoke for God, but not completely.

Jesus has been presented as being the express image of God, and divine in every sense. But Jesus is also presented as a human being as well. The relation between Jesus as Son of God and a humans being as well is a profound mystery. It was summed up as well as could be a few centuries later and the Council of Chalcedon, where the two natures, divine and human, that these natures are distinct. However, there is only one Christ.

Psalm 110 was written by King David who is also called a prophet as well. But nowhere is David called a priest. God forbade the ruler from exercising priestly authority because the other rulers in the Ancient world had combined the two, resulting in the oppression of the people. The office of priest and king were to remain separate. Saul was rejected as king because he dared to offer the priestly sacrifice when Samuel was late arriving. King Uzziah, who was otherwise a good king, was struck with leprosy when he attempted to offer incense. And even 150 years before Christ, the Hasmonean kings who were from Judah took over the office of high priest also, which was very unpopular and led to formation of groups such as the Essenes and Qumran. Moses came from a priestly clan and was also a prophet, but not king. The LORD was king then. It was only when Israel rejected the LORD as king that Saul was appointed king.

But Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, the ruling tribe. As Son of David he was entitled to be king. He was also a prophet. What makes Jesus different is that He also serves in the office of High Priest. So Jesus is prophet, priest, and king.

David prophesied about a coming descendant who would be a ruler as well as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. This mysterious person appears out of nowhere in Genesis 14 after Abram defeated the coalition of five kings that had taken his nephew Lot captive. He came and shared wine and bread. His name means “Prince of Righteousness” and He was the prince of Salem or “Prince of Peace.” Many scholars think he was from what would become Jerusalem, and was therefore king there before David who conquered the city from the Jebusites hundreds of years later. Melchizedek was also called a priest unto El-Elyon or (Most high God). So this person was both priest and king as Jesus was. We will find out later in Hebrews a little more about this mysterious person, but this is enough for now.

Hebrews reminds us that Jesus who was from Judah could not be called after the order of the Levitical priests as he belonged to a different tribe. So he had to be a priest of a different order than Levi. He was also to be high priest “for ever” which means his priesthood would not be ended by death. This becomes part of the later argument about the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood over the high priests who descended from Levi. For now, it must also be noted that Melchizedek was from an earlier time in history than Levi.

What Hebrews states is that Jesus did not appoint Himself to this priesthood like The Hasmonean kings had. Rather He was appointed by God in the same way that God had appointed the priesthood of Aaron. This idea of submission is important. We see from Philippians 2 the same humility of Jesus, who even though He was equal with God, He did not take divine authority upon Himself, although entitled, but humbled Himself, even to the point of dying on the cross. This same humility is clearly on display here. Even though He was the Son, he submitted Himself to suffering, and even to learn by suffering. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus, who had just finished astonishing the religious leaders in Jerusalem with His knowledge, being only twelve years of age, and knowing that He was in His Father’s house, submitted Himself to His earthly parents. It says that He grew in grace and favor with God and man. This is a great mystery, indeed. This Jesus, the Divine Son of God, declared king by the Father’s decree as well as made High Priest was humble in His earthly affairs and completely submissive to the will of His Father.