Wednesday Huddle – Hebrews 7:23-28

FIRST MESSAGE

• Refuge in the Storm
  
• Cara Garrity

From the transcript …

Have you ever been caught in a hurricane or a tornado? It can be a harrowing experience. If you are lucky, the only experience you’ve had with these monsters is footage from the news. But these images don’t give you a good picture of the devastation occurring. That only becomes clear after the clouds depart and the sun returns. Only then can you see that everything was being mercilessly tossed about, scrambled, and shredded.

Yards have found new decorations and some houses have found new yards. Cars have mysteriously traveled on their own and park in the most unusual places. Neighbors who have never met are now intimately acquainted with each other’s belongings. The familiar landmarks that were reminders of home, have now been reduced to litter strewn across an unrecognizable landscape. Some things that once seemed secure and permanent had been exposed as weak and temporary.

Any sound advice for those caught in the path of a destructive storm will include seeking shelter in a structure that is stable enough to withstand powerful winds. Some houses that are frequented by storms have built-in, concrete safe rooms or underground storm shelters. If these are not available people are encouraged to move to the most central room in their homes. If caught outdoors in a storm it may seem instinctive to hide in a car or under a tree. But these are the last places to be.

Where do you run when the winds of devastation blow your way? And I don’t mean just the literal storms but I’m referring to the life-altering storms that we all face. Scripture has always pointed us to our one true place of safety and that is in Jesus Christ. He is the one sure rock of refuge that no storm can move. Many who have taken shelter in him call out to others to do the same.

Here’s one such example recorded in Psalm 34:

“O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.  I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.  This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD, and was saved from every trouble.  The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.  O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”    
Psalm 34:3-8 (NRSV)

The Psalmist knew where his safety was found.  If at any time you find yourself being tossed about, scrambled, and shredded in a raging storm, there is a place of safety that no storm can move.  His name is Jesus.  Others can attest to the fact that he is your reliable rock and solid refuge in the storm.

I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.

SECOND MESSAGE

Humility and Our High Priest

Hebrews 7:23-28 NRSVUE    

In his book Mere Christianity, author C.S. Lewis writes about pride as “the great sin.” Lewis says this:

The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride.  Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison … Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind … it is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 109, 111).

Pride is a universal human problem.  This was especially true back in Jesus’ day for those who had power and status, particularly the priesthood.  Josephus reports in Antiquities of the Jews  that the high priest Ananias was corrupt:

But as for the high priest Ananias … he was a great hoarder up of money … he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest sort of the people, and went to the thrashing floors, and took away the tithes that belonged to the priests by violence and did not refrain from beating such as would not give these tithes to them.  So the other high priests acted in the like manner, as did those his servants, without anyone being able to prohibit them; so that [some of the] priests, that of old were wont to be supported with those tithes, died for want of food. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9.2)   

So the people’s opinion about the priesthood and the high priest in Jesus’ day was probably pretty low.  It’s hard to have confidence in a religious system when leaders seem to have their own interests at the forefront rather than those of God or the people they serve.  Jewish Christians, the audience for the book of Hebrews, needed to be convinced that there was a high priest who would be there for them.  Their experience with the Jewish priesthood had made them cynical.  Why would Jesus be different?

Our sermon text summarizes what we’ve been studying for the past few weeks. Let’s read Hebrews 7:23-28 together …

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The context of Hebrews 7:23-28

We are reminded that the unknown author of Hebrews was writing a sermon or homily to encourage their Jewish Christian audience to continue in the faith.  These believers were experiencing suffering, feeling cut off from their Jewish connections, roots, and former cultural practices. They needed to know why this high priest was different than anything they had ever known before.  To persuade them, the author of Hebrews needed to contrast the deficiencies of the Levitical priesthood with Jesus as high priest.

This passage emphasizes the permanency of Jesus’ priesthood, contrasting it with the human mortality of the temple priests.  It also focuses on the character of Jesus, as one who was “made perfect” through suffering (Hebrews 7:28, NRSVUE).  The phrase “made perfect” might be better translated as “a sense of finished or completed” mission, rather than moral perfection.  Jesus, as the Son of God, was already morally perfect.  He demonstrated his perfect morality in his response to the temptations of Satan and in all his efforts in preparing a people for salvation.  Jesus understood our human condition fully, including suffering.  Let’s consider these qualities and how they relate to humility.

A permanent high priest

Furthermore, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.  Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:23-25, NRSVUE)

The human mortality of the temple priests automatically gave them “term limits.” They died, and they were replaced. However, the author of Hebrews says that “Jesus holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever” (v. 24).  Barclay’s Commentary points out that the word aparabatos, conveying that Jesus’ priesthood will not pass away, is a legal word meaning “unalterable” and “non-transferable.”  Barclay writes, “So then the writer to the Hebrews says that the priesthood of Jesus is something which can never be taken from him, is something that no one else can ever possess, is something that is as lasting as the laws which hold the universe together.”

The phrase “continues forever” also uses a Greek word (paramenein), which is loaded with meaning.  In his commentary on Hebrews 7, Barclay says this:

That verb has two characteristic flavours.  First, it means to remain in office.  No one can ever take the office of Jesus from him; to all eternity he remains the introducer of [all people] to God.  Second, it means to remain in the capacity of a servant … When the writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus remains forever, there is wrapped up in that phrase the amazing thought that Jesus is forever at the service of [humankind].  

As our intercessor and permanent high priest, Jesus exhibits the humility, care, and assurance that we are never alone in our suffering.  We have a high priest who understands and is willing to wade through the difficulties of human life with us.

Suffering, servanthood, and the connection with humility

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests humans, who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:26-28 NRSVUE)

Jesus’ perfected understanding of suffering and sacrifice connects him with humanity, further cementing his credentials as our high priest.  We’ve read in Philippians 2 that Jesus willingly gave up his “rights” as God’s son:

Who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7a, NRSVUE)

We also experience suffering and sacrifice at times, and the account of Job helps us understand that oftentimes our suffering cannot be explained.   Jesus suffered despite his sinless nature, so as we move through this world, we likely will experience suffering, too.

Interestingly, by the end of Job’s suffering, he doesn’t need to prove his integrity.  He gives up the need to be justified or proven blameless.  Job recognizes the futility of needing to know why misfortune happened, and instead, he rests in knowing that God sees him and has always seen him.  Job rests in the freedom of union with God:

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me that I did not know … I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. (Job 42:5, NRSVUE)

The development of humility takes a lifetime.  Author and theologian Richard Rohr writes about the “way of descent” and Job’s experience this way:

Allowing God to be our Lord is not something we can do as easily as believing this, doing that, attending this, or avoiding that.  It is always a process … a movement toward union that will always feel like a loss of self-importance and autonomy … This entire journey of Job can best be seen as the painful path of the soul: the ‘pruning’ of the branch of its pretense of autonomy and all the burden that goes with it — self-validation and self-criticism.  Freedom is when you know that neither of them matters.  (Rohr, Job and the Mystery of Suffering, p. 158)  

We can learn from the story of Job that humility appears in tandem with the freedom we experience when we recognize our union with God.  Jesus enjoys the freedom of union with God and extends that same freedom to us.  It does come with a cost, though: our pride, our need to be right, our desire to be special and receive special treatment, and our self-critical, self-absorbed behavior.

You may want to insert a personal example you observed, or an example from your cultural history that demonstrates a person’s genuine service with humility.

Jesus exhibited the humility and servanthood of a worthy high priest.  We can look back to the Last Supper for evidence, such as the foot washing Jesus performed for all the disciples.  According to author Barbara Brown Taylor, this action not only conveyed his great love and humility but connected them:

If Jesus meant for his followers to rule the world, then why did he teach them to wash feet?  As difficult as it is to accept, I believe that his death on the cross reveals the God who suffers for love instead of punishing the unloving, the God who lays down his life for his friends. (Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith)  

As we consider our high priest for all, we can reflect on Jesus’ qualities of love, humility, and service in spite of suffering.  May we embrace the freedom of union with God we have in our high priest Jesus.

Call to Action:  This week, contemplate ordinary examples you see of great love accompanying great humility and service.  Notice the young parent attentively caring for their toddler’s needs, or maybe someone allowing another to go ahead of them in line.  How can you become the hands and feet of our high priest on earth today?