Hebrews 7:23-27 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Easter Festival April 1, 2018 “Jesus Christ Is Our Eternal High Priest”
It was a solemn and somber event. Moses, the leader of God’s people, took his brother Aaron, who had served as Israel’s High Priest, up on Mount Hor. Along with them came Aaron’s son Eleazar. The solemn ceremony saw the removal of each special garment of the high priestly office from Aaron and the passing of both the office and the priestly garb to Eleazar. It was significant because it was the first time it needed to happen. Aaron was the first to hold that position, the first high priest to preside over Israelite offerings at the wilderness church called the tabernacle. But at that time someone needed to take his place. It was necessary because Aaron would not come back down that mountain. He died there, and the new high priest and Moses returned to the people. That was the first time that the high priestly office was passed on to someone else, but it was certainly not the last. Various estimates can be found about how many different high priests served in the history of Israel, many putting the number in the 80s. And each and every one of these priests ultimately met the same fate as Aaron. They passed their responsibilities on to someone else, and they died. That probably sounds very much like just about anything you or I know. Everything changes. Nothing lasts forever. Everyone who lives eventually reaches the end of their earthly journey. And not all examples are exactly the same. Not all priests knew to climb a mountain and to perform a solemn ceremony of succession before God took them out of this world. But the cycle itself remains familiar. The priesthood gets passed from generation to generation. The head of a company will eventually be replaced by someone else. Presidents and governors and other politicians come and go. We even lose our close friends and our family members. And, yes, let’s admit the fact that hits as close to home as any of these: there will come a time when you and I will be forced to climb that mountain—perhaps not literally, but figuratively—and will pass the mantle on to a new generation. And someone else will take over whatever roles and responsibilities we have. Now maybe you are already thinking to yourself: this is not what I came for, Pastor. I did not come to church on Easter Sunday to be depressed. This day is supposed to be amazing and wonderful and joyful. And you are right. This day is so special and so happy precisely because of how sad and dark and deadly this world is without Easter. Did you catch that concept in our Second Lesson today? “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19-26). You know what kind of world we live in. The endless drumbeat of death has sounded in it ever since Adam and Eve. It has captured not only priests but everyone. We hear its sound. We read of passing generations, and we recall those who were close to us who have reached that end. And that constant drumbeat just about defines our existence in this world. And it pounds into our head—at least it ought to—that things are not right. We shouldn’t have to go through this. It ought to pound into our heads: you are a sinner. You cannot serve God. You are not good enough. You, too, are going to die. And then on one Sunday morning, that drumbeat suddenly stopped. Women hurried to a tomb expecting to find there exactly what everyone expects to find at a tomb. They went there to find the same dead body that had been laid in the tomb just days before. They expected that it would do what dead bodies do: they stay dead. But that’s not what they found. They found a tomb without a body. They found an angel messenger who explained to them that they would see Jesus—Alive! You come to church on Easter looking for good news, and there it is! Jesus is alive! He is not in the tomb. He has risen just as he said! But this was too much. It was too much to take, too much to comprehend. The women trembled. They were bewildered. They were afraid. They fled and did not tell anyone. Why? Because the one thing that they knew as an absolute and constant in their lives was suddenly taken away. It was no longer constant. And it takes time to adjust to that truth. It would take time for the women to understand what this all meant. It would take time for the disciples to come to terms with Jesus being alive after they knew that he was dead. It would take Jesus appearing to them and meeting with them and eating with them and speaking with them before they would finally
get it. This is good news. Jesus didn’t have to pass his high priestly office on to anyone else. He didn’t have to hand over the garments that marked him as a special servant of God. He climbed that mountain. And then he came back to the people. He was their eternal high priest. He is our eternal high priest. That is the assurance that Hebrews 7:23-27 offers to you and to me. It says: 23 Now
there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
24 but
26 Such
a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. There were many of those other priests. There was a reason for this, a reason for the seemingly endless cycle of death. It is called sin. God, who created us, has certain expectations of us. First and foremost, he expects our love, our thanks, our devotion. But for all of time people like you and like me have been turning away from that, turning in on ourselves, serving ourselves. From our first parents on, we have sought what seems right to us instead of what is right for us. 1 Corinthians reminds us that sin and death entered our world together and have plagued it ever since. We read earlier: “since death came through a man,” and, “For as in Adam all die.” And the counterpoint is Christ. “[T]he resurrection of the dead comes also through a man…so in Christ all will be made alive.” The reason that Jesus Christ is our eternal high priest is that he did not sin. In him was no sin at all. True God, one with the Father from all eternity, he was born into our world and under the expectations and laws that God has for us. He became a true human being. And he grew up always respecting his parents, always caring for his friends, always submitting to authority, and always obeying his heavenly Father. Our verses describe him as “one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners.” In every way that we sinned, he remained pure. In every way that we failed, he succeeded. In everything that we did to deserve death, he earned life. And then he died. He didn’t need to. He didn’t need to offer up sacrifices for himself that way that all other priests needed to. He died willingly to offer himself as a sacrifice, for all sins, once and for all. And we know that his sacrifice is different. We know that it is complete. We know that it has forever satisfied the justice of our holy God. We know because he lives. He lay down his life only to pick it up again. “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” We have in the risen Jesus a high priest who truly meets our needs, who saved us from our sins and now lives to help us, to intercede for us. He is exalted above the heavens to do exactly that. And his help, his accomplishment, his priesthood, our salvation will never end. It is eternal. The encouragement found in these verses was first addressed many years ago to Christians who struggled with persecution and doubt. They were nearly ready to abandon Jesus and to turn back to their upbringing in the Jewish religion. That’s why these verses and many like them in the book of Hebrews draw such a sharp distinction between the priests of Old Testament Judaism and Jesus the perfect and eternal high priest. Why go back? Why look for a priest whose priesthood is limited? Why look for a priest who will pass away. You have in Jesus an eternal priest! He died for you and rose again! Receive the same encouragement. It may not always be easy for you to be a Christian and to live for Jesus. There are all sorts of options that may present themselves in your life—things that you might turn to for security and comfort and meaning, or even just for escape from the troubles of this mortal world. But anything other than Jesus Christ will disappoint. Everything else may bring some temporary pleasure or comfort, but it will fade away. It will pass away. It can only be for this life and this world. Not Jesus. He lives forever and will deliver all who trust in him to eternal life with him. Praise be to God through Jesus Christ. Praise be to our eternal high priest. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia. Amen.