A Priest for All
Pentecost 22 – October 20, 2024
Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
The writer of Hebrews had a problem in asserting that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. It was believed by most of the Jews at the time of Jesus that when God saved Israel God would send two people – a king and a priest. Jesus by himself did not fit that description. Although this understanding of the Jews was not universally held. In the time of the Maccabees there were several rulers of the Jews that called themselves both king and high priest. Not everyone agreed and, in part, that is why we have two histories of that time period (First and Second Maccabees). To solve this dilemma the writer of Hebrews reaches back to Genesis. There, in chapter fourteen, is the story of Melchizedek who is both a king and High Priest of Salem. The story is about him blessing Abram after he defeated the kings who had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and taken his nephew Lot hostage. Proof that someone can be both king and high priest. To back up his assertion he also quotes Psalm 110. Although, I don’t think that argument convinced many since Melchizedek was not a king and priest of Israel – Israel was still in the future. It is not even the main point of the argument here. That point is Jesus was different from any other High Priest because he was appointed by God and, because of his suffering, he was able to deal gently with us – the ignorant and wayward. It was through his suffering that he was made perfect and was able to be our salvation. But many did not accept this because it was not how they thought God would save God’s people.
The disciples also did not understand. James and John show this by asking to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus. They still believed that Jesus had come to gather an army, throw the Romans out of Israel, and set up a new kingdom. When this was accomplished they wanted the second and third position of power. Although the other disciples showed by their anger at James and John that they did not understand that Jesus came to change the world, not to fit into it. That change is a reversal of what is important. Jesus called the disciples to lives of service and not lives in which they would be served. Greatness, for Jesus, comes from service to others. If you do not understand this, look to Jesus who is the model of godly life. Jesus for whom Isaiah spoke in our text today came to serve and not to be served.
In our world today we do not hear this message much. We are constantly being bombarded by messages that say the opposite. That we deserve to live a life of luxury and leisure and we have oftentimes bought that hook, line, and sinker. In fact, we said that today when we confessed that we have not loved God with our whole heart and our neighbors as ourselves. But you also heard that God has forgiven you so that you have yet one more chance to answer Jesus’ call to service. A service to share the glorious gifts that God has showered upon you. You do not have to do this to receive God’s salvation; you are made able to do it because God has given you salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s own son Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Live your life freed of the worry about where your place is in the world. You no longer need to worry that you have not lived up to God’s standard to be acceptable. But now, with Jesus’ saving grace, you have been made acceptable in God’s eye and given the opportunity to serve others as Jesus served you.