A Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Here are some more of my rough notes on Hebrews 2.

Verse 9-Phil. 2:5-11
·This verse talks about Jesus becoming a man (being made a little lower than the angels)
·Jesus became man, thus becoming subject to death (although He was sinless, He laid down His life for us, that the penalty for our sins might be paid through His death)
·This becoming a man also allows for Him to know and live firsthand our curse (this makes Him the perfect High Priest, the go-between, or the Mediator between a holy God and unholy man)

Verse 10-“For it was fitting for Him…to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

What does it mean to make our Captain “perfect?” This is not a question of being “perfect” or sinless or holy as much as it is a statement leading up to the observation made in verses 16-18:

“For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

The perfecting of the Captain of our salvation (that is, His suffering on this earth) causes Him to be a merciful High Priest, and fully able to say with us, in His infinite compassion, “I know what you’re going through.” He is able to help us and console us because He knows exactly what we are going through.

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I'm reminded of something I wrote in a previous post about compassion. Compassion is essentially where Jesus says, "I ache for these people."

With that said, and looking at this chapter about Jesus being a merciful and faithful high priest, I can see Jesus coming alongside us and saying, "I ache for you."