Prepare for Christmas: The Eleventh Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we possess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet without sin. Hebrews 4:14-15

These two verses should be as comforting to us as any in the Bible, yet we seldom hear them mentioned, and I don’t believe I have ever heard a sermon based on verse 15.

Though I am not a counselor, I make myself available as a listening ear when people tell me they just “need someone to talk to.” And how do they often begin our conversation? Like this: “I don’t know anyone who really understands me, really knows what I am going through, or cares about how I hurt.”

I seldom stop them there. I just let them talk. But when I have listened to all their agony, all their feeling of being rejected or misunderstood, or unloved, I read Hebrews 4:15 to them. Who better to listen than someone who has been tempted to do all the bad things we have done, but resisted the temptation and didn’t do those things? Who better to talk to than someone who can sympathize with what we are saying because he has been there? Our high priest is not one of a cloister who does not come in contact with the ugliness of the world that we face daily. He has heard the cursing in the streets. He has seen man’s inhumanity to man. He has been enticed by his adversary the devil who tried to get him to do all the bad things that God abhors! Yet he did not give in, even when he sweated blood as he dreaded the cross that was before him. He knows how hard it is to resist, but he also knows it is possible to succeed in resisting. We have a great high priest who not only tells us what is right but also empathizes with our struggle to do what we know is right.

I can almost hear him, sometimes, when I tell him something I want to do that I know is not right. Speaking in the vernacular of our time, he’d probably say something like, “Been there! I know how you’re struggling, but remember my challenge. Just ‘Hold on to the faith you possess.’ And Remember, I am right there with you.”

Our high priest doesn’t wear a fancy robe or speak in lofty language. We don’t have to make an appointment to see him. When he diagnoses our problem, we will understand what he is saying. He knows sin, and he successfully stood firm against it during his whole life. He’s right there in the midst of our marital struggles, our bruised relationships, or our desires to do things that we see others doing that we know are wrong. He understands our mundane sins like overeating or gossiping or being in a bad mood or being irritated by someone who talks too much or seems to be nosy! Common ordinary things of our lives that we face and try to avoid calling them sin, Jesus understands! But understanding doesn’t mean he overlooks them! Someone has to pay for all the evil of the world, and in his understanding our weakness, he took our place, allowing our ugly sins and our sin nature to be nailed with him to the cross, replacing all the evil with a heart-felt desire to please God.

That’s our high priest! He is the one about whom the whole Bible is written as God reveals himself to us. He is the Melchizedek we met in Genesis and the one we find here in Hebrews who, when he sees us tempted to sin said to himself, “Hold firmly to the faith.”

Prayer: Father, thank you for reminding us that you know us as no one else does. Forgive us when we cry that no one understands. Remind us that you not only understand but empathize and forgive. Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

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