Good Friday

Hebrews4:14–5:7 - Good Friday - April 3, 2015
Our High Priest

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

What is a priest?  As my members may know, I often like to stress the importance of knowing Old Testament history, because if we don’t know it, we miss out on the context of much of the New Testament.  The fact that it is called the New Testament alone should itself compel us to become at least a little acquainted with the Old.  Now this is not to say that we need to become Jews in order to be true Christians.  God forbid!  The Law of Moses has been fulfilled and all the ceremonies that God commanded him to teach the people have been abrogated.  But why? 

Why do they no longer apply to us?  Is it because a new and nicer God has arrived?  Is it because the God of the Old Covenant was a cruel God who required sacrifice, whereas the God of the New Covenant is kind and easygoing?   Not at all!  He is the same God.  He is the God who both demands satisfaction for sins and who offers satisfaction for sins.  This is the significance of the priesthood.  A priest stands between God and us, and between us and God.  We still need a priest.  Understanding what a priest is is important for tying the Old and New Testaments together.  Jesus Christ is given to us as our High Priest.  And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

So let’s briefly take a look at what Jesus Christ was doing yesterday as our High Priest so that we can see what he is doing today as our High Priest.  Then we will see the enormous comfort of knowing that he will be doing the same work forever. 

First of all, let’s consider: what is a priest? 

In the Old Testament, a priest was one whom God appointed to act on behalf of his people toward God.  But the priest would also act on behalf of God toward his people.  So not only would he offer the people’s sacrifices and prayers to God, but he would also teach God’s people the meaning of these things and the reason why God accepted them.  In other words, he would preach Christ.  By both sacrificing to God and speaking for God, the priest served as an intermediary between the holy God and those whom God promised to redeem. 

God has always chosen his priests.  No priest is self-appointed.  God would choose his priests by anointing them with oil.  This is why the promised Savior was known as the Messiah (in Hebrew), or the Christ (in Greek).  Both these titles simply mean “anointed,” that is to say, chosen by God or elected.  In the law that God gave to Moses, only Levites could be priests.  Moses and Aaron were Levites. 

The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, where the Levitical priests conducted their service was comprised of three parts.  The courtyard was where the teaching would have occurred.  This was where we often found Jesus debating with the Jews. 

The Holy Place was further in.  Only priests could enter.  Here they would offer daily sacrifices.  For this they would have to be ceremonially clean by washing with holy water. 

Once a year the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies alone, which was even further in – in the center, where the Ark of the Covenant was.  It was divided from the Holy Place by a heavy and thick curtain.  Here the high priest who was appointed that year would offer a bloody sacrifice for himself and then also for the people. 

This was the Levitical priesthood.  All of this pointed to Jesus who is our true High Priest.  All duties that the priests performed pointed to the work of Christ as our true Substitute and Mediator.  It continued until Christ died on the cross and the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.  No longer were the Levitical requirements in place.  Jesus atoned for our sins.  God had accepted the sacrifice that our true High Priest had offered – hence the tearing from top to bottom.  Now, by faith, all those who believe in Christ and who are cleansed by the purer waters of Holy Baptism are priests who have access to the Holy of Holies, as St. Paul writes,

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:1-2a). 

So, we are right to regard the Levitical Priesthood as obsolete and over.  We’re done with it.  We don’t need it.  Our worship does not consist of appeasing God with sacrifices, but of hearing the value and eternal benefit of Christ’s one, all-atoning sacrifice.  This is what Christ has done as our High Priest yesterday. 

But what about today?  He remains our Priest.  He no longer offers himself on the altar of God’s justice.  But he still serves as our Priest.  It is he who entered the Holy of Holies, that is – as we just heard from Hebrews – he has passed through the heavens where God dwells.  And it is there at the Right Hand of God that he continues to intercede for us.  He speaks even now on behalf of sinful man.  And he does so because he became true Man.  And as he took mankind’s flesh and blood in order to be our Intercessor, so he also took mankind’s sin so that he could sympathize with all our weaknesses.  He who needed to make no offering for his own sin made the perfect offering for ours.  He satisfied God’s wrath and earned peace between God and Man.  He who needed no oil to anoint him was anointed by the Holy Spirit when he took our sin upon himself in the Jordan River. 

Christ stands before the throne of God speaking to God on behalf of man.  Christ also stands in our midst speaking to man on behalf of God.  He teaches us today the meaning of his suffering and bleeding.  He teaches us what it all means and why God demanded it.  He teaches us to repent of our sin and to see where God’s anger was satisfied against it.  He teaches us why it is that God accepts our feeble sacrifices and hears our prayers.  It is for his sake. 

Jesus serves as our High Priest through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.  In Baptism, you are anointed to be a priest who has constant access to God’s undying grace.  In the Holy Supper you step into the very presence of the Holy, Holy, Holy God.  There the almighty One comes to you lowly in the name of the Lord to perfect your praise by revealing his mercy.  He gives you to eat of the sacrifice and to drink what was always denied to the priest of old – for the life is in the blood.  And this life is given to you.  This is what Christ our High Priest does today. 

Now, what does he do forever?  The Levitical priesthood is done.  So what priesthood lasts forever if there is no need for the Levites or for us to make atonement for our sins?  Well consider: Jesus was not a Levite.  He is a Priest, not according to the order of Moses and Aaron, but according to the order of Melchizedek.  This priestly order is not bound to the law of Sinai.  It is bound to the ancient gospel that God revealed from the beginning. 

Abraham knew Melchizedek.  After he defeated his enemies and rescued his nephew Lot – maybe you recall, in Genesis 14 – suddenly, out of nowhere, Melchizedek is there.  His name means “My King is Righteous.”  He is called the King of Salem, which means Peace.  He gives Abraham bread and wine.  He is called the Priest of God most high.  He repeats God’s promise and blessing to Abraham.  And then we see him no more. 

Jesus is a priest according to this order of Melchizedek.  His priesthood is not contingent upon the law.  It is contingent upon the gospel.  It is contingent upon the fact that Christ vanquishes our enemies in order to rescue us from sin, death, and hell.  His priesthood is revealed where he comes to us – seemingly out of nowhere – but regularly – to give to us bread and wine – his own body and blood.  He gives to us what we need to be refreshed as we fight against sin, death, and the devil, and as we strive to enter our promised rest – as Abraham strove.  He gives us his word and cuts a covenant with us by his own blood that his God is our God and his Father is our Father.  And he does not just disappear like Melchizedek seemed to do.  He remains with you. 

He intercedes for us as he has from the foundation of the world.  We see his priestly duties fulfilled as his blood pleaded for our forgiveness yesterday, as he gives to us the peace that his sacrifice earned today, and as he prepares a place for us in heaven forever.  May your true Melchizedek, your Righteous King, bless your meditation today of his most holy Passion, and accept the prayers and praises of his Royal Priesthood as you “come boldly to the throne of grace, …[and] obtain mercy and … grace to help in time of need.” 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.