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."

Let This Mind Be In You

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ~ Philippians 2:5-11

Here's a neat little dissertation from the Bible on what humility is. Although Jesus is God, He decided to "make himself of no reputation." What does it mean to make ourselves of no reputation? It's the attitude that Jesus had when he put on the towel and washed the disciples' feet. What really should have been happening? They all should have been on their faces on the ground, being that Jesus is God (and there are instances where people worshipped Jesus in the gospels). But Jesus, setting an example for us, decided to wash their nasty, dirty, gross feet. I don't know if you've ever seen the feet of several men all lined up, but I bet it's pretty gross.

So I guess here's what we should think on:

Do you have reputation? Is your attitude such that you think others should serve you? Or, are you ready to put on the towel and scrub some gross feet? It doesn't sound prestigious or dignified, does it? So many of us in the church want prestige and dignity. But that's how the kingdom is run: on humility. After all, it's how the kingdom was initiated: by Jesus becoming a bondservant and washing our nasty, gross feet.

By the way, when I say "you," I'm including myself in that. I'm just as guilty as the next guy that wants prestige and dignity.

Humility

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." ~ 1 Peter 5:5

I like that phrase, "...be clothed with humility...." I'm definitely not an expert on being clothed with humility, but I still like the phrase. Why? Because humility is beautiful, and arrogance is downright ugly.

So what exactly is humility? What does it look like? How can I be clothed with it? Is it something that we can naturally produce, or does God have to work it in us? How does He do that?

I think these are some good questions to ponder. Thoughts anyone?