One of the great problems about faith is how to find God
We can't see him, we can't think our way to him
and in our deepest hearts we know we are not worthy of him.
If God was to show himself among us in this building
we would react with fear and guilt
as we would realise how unholy and unworthy we are.
Our sins have put a distance between us and God.
There is a huge gap which not all our prayers or good deeds can bridge.
We need someone to build a bridge from us to God.
It is interesting that the Latin word for priest literally means 'bridge builder'/
In the Old Testament that is what priests did
they were trying to create connections between God and the people
and remove the problem of sin.
On the annual day of atonement (Lev. 16 )
the Jewish high priests offered sacrifices outside the tabernacle or temple
and then entered the inner tent or sanctuary
to pray for the people on the basis of the offerings they had made.
'5.1 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.
Problem: the priest was himself sinful,
there could only be a temporary partial reconciliation.
The bridge was weak, couldn't bear a great load.
But there is a great High Priest
4.14 'who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
Jesus, who die rose again ascended
and has his rightful place at the Father's right hand
he can speak to God for us all the time, not just once a year
because JESUS IS IN TOUCH WITH GOD
and JESUS IS IN TOUCH WITH US
It is so important to hold on to both these truths
Jesus knows God through and through
and he knows us through and through.
Jesus is not Superman
winging in from on high to do a quick fix
sorting out emergencies and leaving us alone the rest of the time
That's a mistake we may make if we see him as only divine.
You hear this in the remarks people say:
'It's all very well for Jesus, he didn't have experiences like mine.'
Jesus does know what our lives are like.
Yes he passed through the heavens
and enjoys eternal fellowship with God his Father
but he also spent time among the dust and dirt of Galilee
and he knows what it is like for us.
There is also an opposite mistake
to see Jesus as human but to deny that he is also divine.
Some people see Jesus as a great moral teacher,
and a kindly and doomed revolutionary
That would make Jesus 'one of us' all right but not one with God
and that would leave us far from fellowship with God.
15 'For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-
yet was without sin. '
I wonder if we ever fully appreciate the pressures on Jesus in his life on earth.
We know something of his temptations
to turn stones into bread and do a miracle and satisfy his 40 days hunger
to fly down from the temple pinnacle and be caught by the angels
in act of religious extravagance
to have power over the whole world in return for bowing down to Satan
and we know a bit about his agony in the garden of Gethsemane
as he wrestled with the prospect of death before him
and pleaded that the cup of suffering might pass from him
We must never think that just because Jesus was the son of God
his journey to the cross was an easy thing
that he could comfort himself with the thought of his resurrection.
We see in the gospels a real human struggle.
We see him as Hebrews says in c2.10 becoming 'perfect through suffering',
not that he was ever imperfect in the sense of being sinful
but that Jesus as a human being went through a process of maturing
undergoing many different experiences
until he was ready for his time of ministry.
In that three year ministry he received many buffets and blows
which shaped him for his ultimate sacrifice
Here are some incidents that illustrate the human struggles of Jesus
Matthew 14.13 p 981 after hearing of John the Baptist's death
Jesus withdraws to a quiet place
? to grieve for his cousin ? to lie low from Herod? To have space
whatever reason, it had been a stressful experience
and even Jesus needed to 'recharge batteries', he knew weariness.
Matthew 16.23 Jesus rebukes Peter p 984 'Get behind me Satan!'
You are stumbling block to me'
Was Jesus even shocked that his close friend could be a source of temptation
to draw him away from the cross?
Mark 7.34 p 1011 'a deep sigh' as he heals a deaf man
some indication of spiritual struggle, these things do not come easily
and 8.12 when asked for a miraculous sign
7.36 people do not listen to Jesus' commands to keep quiet.
How did he feel about that?
Mark 10.21 p 1015 the rich young man wanting to follow Jesus
'Jesus looked at him and loved him'
Was Jesus not disappointed at what happened
that the rich man could not face getting rid of his possessions
and chose his money than the friendship of Jesus?
Luke 17.17 p 1051 only one cured leper returns to give thanks
How did Jesus feel about that?
What do you trace in his questions?
'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
Was no-one found to return and give thanks except this foreigner?
Is there not surprise and disappointment and wonder
that none of the nine who were of his own people would give thanks?
Luke 22.61 Peter's denial
'The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.'
It was a time of testing both to give and receive that look.
John 4 6-7 p 1067 Jesus tired and thirsty
John 6.66-67 p 1071 After many of his disciples turn back
and no longer follow him because of his hard teaching
Jesus asks with vulnerability his closest friends:
'You do not want to leave too. do you?
John 11.33-35, 38 p 1078 Jesus deeply moved by Lazarus' death
Disappointment that some will not follow, that some stop following
desertion by friends, temptation through his closest friends, tired grieving
giving of himself in the spiritual battle,
do you see what Jesus went through even before Gethsemane and the cross?
How tempting it would have been to give up!
How entirely proper
that the Son of God might return to heaven and leave us in our sin!
But he didn't. He went though all that he went through
to learn obedience from what he suffered
and to become the source of eternal salvation for those who obey him.
And obedience here is not a work by which we earn salvation
it is the expression of a life given over to the Lord Jesus.
Jesus didn't have to deal with traffic jams and e mail viruses
But he experienced and dealt with the temptations
that underlie even 'modern' problems
frustration, rejection, lust for power, sexuality
'He knew those temptations which unconquered, lead on to
doubt, despair, disobedience towards God, lovelessness towards others
and a selfish preoccupation with our own desires' (R Brown)
'No-one on earth before or since has ever been through
such spiritual desolation and human anguish (Brown)
We don't have time today to look at the contrast between the Jewish high priests of the order of Aaron
and Jesus as a high priest of the order of Melchizedek
Enough to say that
the Aaronic priests were sinful and their best efforts inadequate
but Jesus like Melchizedek in the Old Testament is a priest from God
greater than the order of Aaron.
And that means we can 'approach the throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Interesting phrase, the throne of grace: thrones are usually places of power
and handing out judgement and condemnation
but here is a throne of Jesus' royal authority
where we can receive mercy for past mistakes
and grace to go on living right before God
What are we struggling with today? Can we find God in that struggle?
Can we sense that Jesus shares that struggle
that we can talk to him about whatever it is
and there is mercy and grace from him?
Are we prepared to learn the lessons of perfect obedience from Jesus?
He did not sin as we still do
but another reason for him coming and living among us
was to encourage us to live his kind of life, to learn obedience
with however many mistakes and failures, to keep going
Salvation is not a heavenly insurance policy that covers us for everything
and we can live any way we like.
No, salvation is about following Jesus and that can be tough.
But he got there to the throne of grace and we can go there in prayer even now
to get the strength we need for our struggles.
The God of all grace
who has called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a little while,
will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
To him be the power for ever and ever
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