In our Knowing Jesus series so far, we have heard some powerful testimonies from our brothers and sisters about how they’ve come to know Jesus. And over the last few weeks, we have considered several different aspects of Jesus’s identity:

• We talked about how He is both Lord and Savior — you can’t have one without the other.
• We took note of the passages where Jesus is called the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for us.
• Last week, we looked at John 14:6, where Jesus declares, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The idea of Jesus as “the truth” really speaks to our minds and we looked at some of the philosophical differences between the Christian faith and other religious movements.
• Today I want to focus on a picture of Jesus that speaks more to our hearts. It’s the picture of Jesus as the sympathetic high priest found in the book of Hebrews. The Bible tells us that Jesus sympathizes with us in our weaknesses and our temptations. What a comforting thought!

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One way to think about the role of a priest is to compare it to the role of the prophet.

• The prophet is God’s mouthpiece to the people. In biblical times, the prophet would hear a word from God and then share it with the people. “Thus sayeth the Lord…” that kind of thing. The prophet’s ministry would be facing the people, speaking on behalf of God.
• But the priest works in the other direction. The priest represents the people before God. Priests would serve in the tabernacle or the temple and they would oversee the sacrifices before the Lord. The priest’s ministry would be facing God, mediating sin on behalf of the people.

You see Jesus fulfilling both of these roles in the Scriptures. And the writer of Hebrews really focuses on Jesus as our priest, “a great high priest.”

• The role of the high priest was to enter into the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement for the sins of the people.
• That was the one time each year that God required the Israelites to participate in fasting. All the other festivals of Judaism were feasts. But the Day of Atonement was a day of fasting and weeping, a day for remembering your sin.
• And even though the priest played a key role in this day of hard reflection, look at what Hebrews 5 says about the high priest:

Hebrews 5:1-3

Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

I love what it says in v2: he deals gently with the people as he mediates on their behalf. A good high priest is aware of his own weakness, his own struggles. He has to make a sacrifice for his own sins before he can make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. But in all of this, he deals gently with people who are going astray, because he understands temptation. He knows what it’s like.

When you’re going through a difficult time, would you rather talk with someone who has been through a similar experience? Does it help you to talk with someone who knows what you’re going through? I think most people are this way. I’d sure rather hear from someone who knows what it’s like as opposed to someone who hasn’t ever been through this before.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that a good high priest understands how to mediate the sins of the people because he hasn’t forgotten his own sin, his own weakness. And the writer of Hebrews sees a picture of Jesus in this priestly role. Jesus certainly remembers what it’s like to face temptation.

But there is one big difference between Jesus and every other high priest: Jesus is without sin. Look with me at the previous chapter, Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 4:14-16

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 profess. 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 was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

A good high priest deals gently with the people because he is aware of his own temptations. But what about Jesus? As it says here, Jesus is the perfect, sinless Son of God. And yet He still remembers what it’s like to be tempted.

• Some might think, “Well, sure, a human high priest can deal gently with us because he remembers his own sin. But Jesus didn’t have sin, so does that mean He’ll be harsh in dealing with us?”
• And the Hebrew writer addresses that with an emphatic, “No!” Jesus is sympathetic toward us. That’s a heart word. Yes, He is without sin, but He still sympathizes with our weaknesses. Something stirs in His heart when He sees our weaknesses.

Two school officials at Vanderbilt University were suspended last year after a controversial email came from their office. After the shooting at Michigan State University last February, two officials at Vanderbilt sent an all-campus email addressing the tragedy and emphasizing the importance of taking care of one another, demonstrating compassion and empathy to one another. But the email sparked outrage because some of the text was credited as having been written by ChatGPT, the popular AI writing tool. These words fell flat because they were supposed to convey legitimate, heartfelt sympathy — yet they were produced by artificial intelligence! One Vanderbilt student commented, “There is a sick and twisted irony to making a computer write your message about community and togetherness because you can’t be bothered to reflect on it yourself.”

Legitimate sympathy comes from a caring heart. And the Bible says that Jesus truly sympathizes with us in our weaknesses because He has been tempted in every way, just like us, yet He was without sin:

• This is one of the most important teachings in the entire Bible. Hebrews 4:15 is a verse I wish you would underline and memorize.
• It tells me that Jesus is victorious where I have failed. Sin has defeated each one of us, just as it has defeated every person who has ever lived — with the exception of Jesus. And when I come to Him in faith, I get to participate in His victory. Where I am weak, He is strong; His victory now covers my failures.
• And this also means that He understands. When it says that Jesus sympathizes with us, that’s a “feeling” word. He’s not detached; there’s not this fabricated, ChatGPT “sympathy” when it comes to Jesus. It’s the real thing. This is what He feels in His heart for us.
• And this is the basis of our confidence. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence — because we have this knowledge that Jesus understands, that He sympathizes.
• When we do this, we find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.

Closely related to this is the way Jesus is also referred to as the man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). It’s telling that this is another one of the biblical titles for Jesus. This is another sign of His compassion for us. He can sympathize with us in our grief. He knows what it’s like to lose someone:

• When Lazarus died, it says that Jesus wept with his sisters, Mary and Martha.
• John 11:35, known as the shortest verse in the Bible. It may be the shortest verse but you won’t find one that runs deeper.
• Jesus sympathizes with these women; He knows what it’s like to lose someone.
• In those times when I’m feeling a lot of sorrow and grief, I’ll pray this prayer: Man of sorrows, weep with me. And it’s comforting to know that He’s the Man of Sorrows who will come and join me in my great pain. He weeps with those who weep because He sympathizes with us.

This is what it means when Jesus is referred to in the Scriptures as “the Great High Priest.”

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Joseph Damien was a priest who was originally from Belgium. In 1873, he was sent to minister to a leper colony in Hawaii. He tried to befriend these lonely and ostracized people on the island of Molokai. But the people resisted his efforts. Sunday after Sunday, he preached to only a handful of people. And after working in this environment for a dozen years, he finally decided that it was time to head back home to Belgium. But as the story goes, while he was standing on the pier to board the ship that was supposed to take him home, he noticed some white spots on his hands. And he immediately knew what that meant: he had contracted leprosy.

Instead of boarding his ship, he went back to the leper colony. And that’s where he lived for the next five years until he finally passed away. But something changed for Joseph Damien. In his sermons, he stopped making references to “you lepers.” Instead, he started saying, “we lepers.” Any sense of detachment from the plight of the people was gone. He wasn’t preaching at the people anymore. He was preaching with them. Those with leprosy began to be drawn to Joseph Damien in a way that they hadn’t all those years prior. He was able to do more good in those final few years than in the previous twelve years combined. As one writer puts it, “He had taken on their leprous flesh and had become one with them.” And that made all the difference.

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This is what Jesus has done for us. He took on flesh and blood — and in so doing, he took on our disease. Not a disease of the flesh, but the disease of sin. And He did this because He is a merciful and faithful high priest.

What’s truly amazing about the story of Jesus is that the One who mediates on our behalf before God is the same One who personally paid the price for our sins. The Great High Priest is also the Passover Lamb. He brings our sin before God and then sacrifices Himself on our behalf.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus was sinless, perfect. But according to the Scriptures, He became sin for us.

What sin did Jesus become for you?

• Has He become your pride? We need to personalize this: “Jesus has become MY sinful PRIDE.”
• Has He become your LUST? Your ANGER?
• Someone here might say, “He has become my GOSSIP.”
• Someone else could say, “Jesus has become my GREED.”
• Another would say, “He has become my BROKEN PROMISES.”
• For others it would be PORNOGRAPHY or DRUNKENNESS or BITTERNESS.
• It might be RACISM or SEXISM or MATERIALISM.
• When we look into our hearts, it doesn’t take long to find a host of sinful desires.
• But the gospel declares that Jesus has become those sins FOR US — HE TAKES THEM FROM US BY BECOMING SIN ITSELF — SO THAT WE COULD BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD!

Jesus, our Great High Priest, has become those sins so that we might not be defined by them anymore. He has a higher purpose for us. He desires that we should become the very righteousness of God.

Are you far from God? Has your sin come between you and the Lord? Do you wonder how God feels about you?

Hear again the word of the Lord: Jesus, our Great High Priest, sympathizes with us in our weakness. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace in our time of need.

Invitation:

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord who makes all things new, he who has ears, let him hear.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Today’s message focuses on Jesus as the Great High Priest. Read Hebrews 4:14-16. What stands out to you about this passage? What is the most hopeful part of this passage to you?
2. When you are going through a difficult time, do you prefer to talk with someone who has been there before? Someone who can relate to what you’re going through?
3. Based on Hebrews 4:14-16, how can Jesus relate to our struggles when He is 100% sinless?
4. Jason pointed out the differences between the prophet and the priest. The prophet is God’s mouthpiece to the people, whereas the priest represents the people before God. The prophet is concerned with truth; he often cries, “Thus sayeth the Lord!” The priest is concerned with grace; he seeks to mediate forgiveness for the people’s sins. Another way of saying this is that the prophet seeks to afflict the comfortable while the priest seeks to comfort the afflicted. How does this play out when you think of Jesus? Is He more “prophet” or “priest?” Or is Jesus a pure balance of the two?
5. Read Hebrews 2:17-18. What does the word “merciful” mean? What does it mean when it says that Jesus is a “merciful and faithful high priest?”
6. Some people don’t like the idea of “sympathy” because they think it means coddling or babying someone. Is this what it means when it says that Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses? How would you explain this idea?
7. What does it mean for us to approach the throne of grace with confidence (Heb. 4:16)? How can we do that? How do you balance this kind of confidence with a sense of reverence for God?
8. Read Hebrews 5:1-3. If the high priest was able to deal gently with the sins of the people of Israel, what are the implications for the way Jesus deals with us? How would you define the word “gently?”
9. Hebrews 2:14 says that Jesus shares in our humanity. What does this mean?
10. Close with some prayer time, thanking God for His Son, the Great High Priest.