Jesus Superior Sympathy Against The Levites

Hebrews 5:2, 7-8, Jesus Superior Sympathy Revealed

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Welcome back to our study of the book of Hebrews, today we’ll give our attention to Hebrews 5:2, 7-8. Last week, we talked about Jesus’ ordination being superior to that of the Levite priests in that He ( Jesus) has been established by God as a Great High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus doesn’t minister in an earthly tabernacle but HE has passed through the heavens and is seated at the right hand of God. We also saw that His ministry was endless because of His endless life. Unlike the Levites, Jesus can’t be succeeded because He lives forever. Today we’ll also see that Jesus reveals a superior sympathy in comparison to the Levites. We’ll zero in on verse 2 and see how the writer connects them to verse 7 and 8 to show us the superiority of Jesus’s compassion

About Jesus  Superior Sympathy

The Passage: Hebrews 5:2, 7-8 

5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you”;

6 as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus[a] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered

Notes

Verse 2

There is a reason why the high priest had to be chosen from among men, and it is laid out for us in verse 2. Since the high priest was also fallible because of his human nature, he could have sympathy for those among the people of Israel that were ignorant and wayward. Let’s first define what the words ignorant and wayward mean before we dive deep into this verse. Ignorant in this case meant to  err, sin through mistake, and the word is spoken mildly of those who are not high-handed or willful transgressors. Wayward means to be led aside from the path of virtue, to go astray, sin. 

In the Old Testament God never made provisions for high handed rebellion ( when people chose to defy God willfully) they were ultimately destroyed. There are two instances that I want bring up for us to understand this passage ( 1 Samuel 2:12-25 and Numbers 15:27-31). The first one gives us the example of the sons of Eli who showed no regard to the offerings of the Lord and were ultimately executed. And Numbers 15:27-31 informs us about what happened to those who were involved in high handed transgressions. 

I also want to make the point that every sin we ever committed was intentional to some extent. We did what we did because we wanted to do it. David, for example knew that he was violating the command of the Lord by coveting another man’s wife and then ordering the murder of her husband. He was forgiven by God but still received chastisement for his sins. So what’s the difference? In the case of David, even though he violated the commands of the Lord knowingly just like all of us in the household of God, when confronted by Nathan, he didn’t insist on defying God, he humbled himself, acknowledged his sin before the Lord and repented of it. But Eli’s sons found no room to repent. Even Paul talks about his wretched condition in Romans 7. 

With that said, now let us unpack this verse. Since the high priest was also fallible because of his human nature, he was to sympathize and show compassion to his fellow humans. But that wasn’t always the case with the high priests of Israel. Aaron on many occasions was weak in his ministry and failed because he gave in to temptations. When Moses was getting the law from God and went away for 40 days , Aaron led the people into sin by making a golden calf. He was supposed to resist  the temptation as a high priest but he  didn’t resist  the people and gave in to fear. Eli the high priest showed no mercy to Hannah as she was crying before the Lord, He actually took her to be a drunken woman. He was supposed to be the one to show compassion but he was callous because his heart was hardened. 

Sympathy, compassion and mercy were supposed to be abundantly present within the high priest DNA because he could identify with mankind weaknesses. We saw in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus unlike the other high priests isn’t unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, HE was tempted in every way yet without sinning. And as a result HE is able to save those who come to HIM by faith. HE is a high priest who ministers at the throne of grace. HE understands the human experience and can relate to mankind in every respect for HE became like us in order to be a merciful high priest in service to God. HE is going to us in action how Jesus showed HIS compassion in verses 7-8

Verses 7-8

To drive his point about Jesus superior sympathy to the Levitical priests, the writer brings up Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden of Gethsemane, we read about the agony of Jesus before His trial and crucifixion. He pleads with the Father with loud cries and tears three times with the same request. That if it’s possible the cup of of the wrath of God might pass from Him. I don’t think I truly understand what that must have been like for Jesus to bear the sins of the whole world on His shoulders. He wasn’t sorrowful because of the physical pain but for the first time in His human nature , His intimacy with His loving father ( the one that told Him this is my beloved son with Him I’m well pleased ) was going to be interrupted. On the cross the Father turned His back on His Son because the sins of the whole world were laid upon Him. It was fitting that He from Whom and by Whom all things exist should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. Jesus suffering was necessary, there was no other way , so Scripture tells us that He remained obedient even obedient to death on the cross. We are told also that His prayers were heard because of His reverence. He exuded the kind of reverence that pleased God and all His prayers were heard. In His humanity , He was human in every aspect so His prayers were heard due to His reverence not because He was the son of God ( even though He had that privilege , He didn’t grab on or hold on to it , He concealed His Glory when He took upon a human nature ). The writer also says that He learned obedience through what He suffered even though He was a son. Hebrews 12:1-4

Jesus didn’t learn obedience because He needed it, HE did it for our sake, to identify with our weakness so He could be a merciful High Priest. As the Eternal Son of God, He lived in a loving relationship with the Father, but as the God-man He grew up like all of us and had to learn the human experience through His suffering ( trials). And all that , not for his own sake, but for our sake, that HE might be a merciful high priest.

All these elements are the reasons why Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. Aaron and His line of priests were weak in that they also succumbed to sin and as a result , they weren’t as sympathetic as Jesus was. They understood what it meant to be weak but they couldn’t help because they didn’t have the compassion and the love Of God flowing to the fullest in them. Jesus said my food is to do the will of Him who sent me, And He lived it out but the Levitical priests were at times corrupted ( Eli sons , indifferent and gave in to peer pressure ), Jesus didn’t.

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