I'm With Him

The Word is first...

Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

When Christ ascended into Heaven, he was enthroned at the right-hand of God. Now my natural inclination is to consider him in a state of repose, looking out over the kingdom and commenting to God now and then about something interesting that piques his interest. But I know that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Recently, I had the good fortune to learn just a little bit about what it is Jesus is doing in Heaven right now. Now, there wasn't anything really new but it was presented to me as a list and being a list-maker myself, it seemed particularly real to me and I want to share it with you. So, here's Jesus's "to-do" list;

1. Be your Savior
2. Be your Intercessor
3. Be your High Priest
4. Be your Mediator
5. Be your Advocate (Lawyer)

I'm sure that I could extract a 12 week sermon series on this concept and on the verses underlying this little list but today, I am struck by the fact that God presented me with Hebrews 4:15 to study and therein we see a reference to the role of Jesus as my High Priest.

Many may not even realize they have a High Priest (by name) but indeed we do in Jesus Christ. He has fulfilled his chief obligation associated with this role in that he has made atonement for my sin according to God's laws. In the course of this great task, he has presented me with a path to God for it is 'through the Son' that I must go in order to be reconciled to God.

Now, as today's study verse reveals, our High Priest is no high-minded, elitist, out-of-touch functionary. The verse teaches that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses." This means that Jesus, our High Priest, is not detached from our suffering or our human condition.

Thank about the implications of that truth. In the hour of our need, we cannot rationalize bad behavior or decisions becauce "you don't know what it's like..." The fact of the matter is that Jesus does know what it's like; exactly what it's like. Consider the second half of the verse "but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin."

In order to make the connection with us, Jesus was born just as you and I were born. He grew up enduring all the trials and tribulations of childhood and walked the Earth as a man, same as us. Along the way, he faced all the same temptations that we face. Do you think that Jesus was never hungry? angry? lonely? tired? His friends betrayed and abandoned him. The general population mobbed him. Religious leaders despised him and ultimately murdered him. Yet through it all, he did not sin.

I submit that Jesus knows far more about temptation than you and I ever will. Consider this thought... I have given into temptation. It's true. More than once. By giving in, I cut off the temptation because once you're in the middle of sin, the temptation is gone. That means that I never experienced the full force of the temptation. Somewhere between slightly tempted and overwhelmingly tempted, I would capitulate to stop the temptation. Jesus never did that. That means, to me, that the temptation he experienced was as intense as it could possibly be. In that he experienced more temptation than I have ever known.

To be sure, things are different for me now in that temptation no longer holds dominion over me. But it's not because of anything I've done. Rather, it is the power of The Holy Spirit and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that cuts off the temptation before capitulation. So even today, it is Jesus that deals with the temptation that is more than I can bear.

As a result, Jesus can relate to me, to us. When he goes before the Father as our High Priest, he does so with a fervor that is rooted in his own visceral experience. He has sympathy for us as well as empathy and this adds to his motivation that is rooted in God's will that we be reconciled.

There is no other high priest with His qualifications. And I for one am ecstatic that I have Jesus preparing a way for me.

Shalom,
Carl