| 21 March 2021 | Sermon on Hebrews 5:1-10 | by Samuel D. Zumwalt, STS |
Hebrews 5:1-10 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles
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 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. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
THE WORD OF GOD: OUR HIGH PRIEST
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
What Melchizedek Offered
Melchizedek, whose name means “king of righteousness,” only appears to Abram in Scripture in Genesis 14 and thereafter he is mentioned only once in Psalm 110 and ten times in the book of Hebrews. According to Genesis 14, he is king of Salem (Jerusalem), which means “shalom,” that is “completeness” or “wholeness,” and he is a priest of the Most High God. When Abram and 318 men have conquered King Chedorlaomer and rescued his nephew Lot from captivity, Melchizedek comes out offering bread and wine and blesses Abram, who, in turn, gives to Melchizedek a tithe of what Abram and his warriors have taken from King Chedorlaomer.
Because Melchizedek appears only once, and without any mention of who his parents were and what happened to him before and after his one appearance in Genesis 14, David prophecies in Psalm 110 that the Messiah will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Like Melchizedek, He will not offer an animal sacrifice, and His priesthood will be forever. The Messiah, God’s anointed King, will be the King of righteousness and the bringer of shalom, which is wholeness or completeness.
As evidenced by the witness of the early Church in the book of Hebrews, Melchizedek is viewed as a type of the Christ (or Messiah) in that he is both a king and a priest, he offers bread and wine, and he is superior to Abraham and the priesthood of Aaron, who is descended from Abraham. He is a type of the Christ in that Melchizedek foreshadows God’s Messiah, who is superior to Melchizedek in that He is both truly God and truly human.
What Our Lord Jesus Offers
The author of Hebrews is preaching a long sermon on the superiority of the Lord Jesus, our Great High Priest, to the high priest of the Aaronic priesthood, who, once each year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) offered the blood of a pure sacrifice in the Holy of Holies. Prior to the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians, the high priest would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, in atonement for his sins and those of the twelve tribes of Israel. On his ceremonial breastplate were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes. This indicated that the high priest, himself a sinner from Aaron’s family, was acting compassionately on behalf of God’s people. Called by God, the high priest knew weakness just like the people.
On the other hand, our Great High Priest, Christ Jesus, truly God and truly human, the Word of God made flesh, offered once and forever in Jerusalem His own most precious Blood on the altar of His holy cross for our sins and those of the whole world. He is the Christ, the forever King from David’s family and forever priest after the order of Melchizedek. He alone is righteous, totally obedient to His Father, and only He can give to us sinners His righteousness as a gift. Baptized into His saving death and His glorious resurrection, we have by His Blood the forgiveness of sins. In the Host and Cup, in His Holy Supper of bread and wine, we receive Jesus and from Him the forgiveness of sins, the promise of His eternal life, and the blessed assurance of His salvation.
Martin Luther thought the author of Hebrews might have been Apollos the preacher mentioned in 1 Corinthians. In the early Church, some thought he might have been Barnabas or Paul. Origen of Alexandria, the late 2nd – early 3rd century Bible scholar, said only God knows who wrote this sermon. But the point of today’s sermon makes clear that Christ Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice for sins and the Great High Priest, whom His Father called to suffer for us and for all. So, then, the Hebrews writer declares that since God’s Son had to suffer, and through it learned obedience, so then we, too, will learn obedience as we suffer with Him in this life.
When the preacher writes of Christ “being made perfect,” he points to the completion of Christ’s saving work as when He declared in John 19, “It is finished” or “It is accomplished.” The only way to wholeness, to God’s shalom, is through Christ Jesus. Left to ourselves, we have no peace.
What We Offer
Before we consider what it is we Christians have to offer, let’s think about more about those to whom this sermon has been sent. We can deduce from the book of Hebrews and from this reading that some Jewish Christians had lost their initial passion for Jesus and perhaps were looking back to the old Temple rituals in Jerusalem as a means of receiving the forgiveness of sins. By the mention of Christ’s having learned obedience through suffering, the preacher speaks to a suffering Church, whether in Jerusalem or even Rome, and perhaps it is that they are already suffering for the faith (or are fearful of suffering) that has led them to the edge of apostasy (which is to lose one’s loyalty to a previous love). Elsewhere the writer speaks to the immaturity of their faith and points them to all those who went before them who walked by faith and not by sight. Their only hope is in Christ. Their only way forward is in His steps.
Today, the Holy Spirit is calling us through this text to consider our own situation in life as members of the Body of Christ and as the Body of Christ meeting at 612 S College Rd in Wilmington, North Carolina, on this weekend of the vernal equinox, the coming of spring.
- Have we lost that loving feeling as we have gone through this dreadful Covid year?
- Have we looked somewhere other than Christ for life and love and deliverance?
- Have we so feared suffering that we have turned to other gods for comfort and peace?
- Have we been so immature in our faith that we have turned selfishly inward?
- Have we placed our hope in those who keep promising what they cannot deliver?
If we are honest with ourselves and honest with the God who knows us better than we know ourselves, then we must confess that what we offer to God always is our sin and our death. We come empty-handed even if, like Abram, we offer a tenth (or more) of what we have to manage.
In her Christmas poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” Christina Rossetti writes: “What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part; yet what I can I give him – give my heart.”
On Ash Wednesday, we sang Charlotte Elliott’s: “Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidds’t me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I come.”
On Good Friday, we will sing with Johann Heermann: “Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee. ‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee: I crucified thee!”
Augustus Toplady sums it up best: “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.”
On this last Sunday before Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, the Holy Spirit is lifting our eyes from the vanity of the mirror, tuning our ears from the din and roar of this world’s lies, stopping our tongues from uttering gibberish, closing our noses to the stench of this dying world, and opening our mouths to the Medicine of Immortality, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin and that of the whole world. Come, Lord Jesus.
With a desperate father, we cry: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” With a centurion, we confess: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word….”
Dear ones, the journey is not yet over. Today is but an oasis. We follow our Lord Jesus through the cross, where we learn obedience, to the completion of our race and our promised wholeness. So, with Frances Havergal we say: “Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee.”
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©Samuel David Zumwalt, STS
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
Bulletin Insert
The Word of God: Our High Priest
Praying
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen” (The Daily Prayer of the Church, 986).
Listening
Hebrews 5:5 “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him”
St. Ephrem the Syrian [4th century theologian and hymnographer]: “And in consequence of his weakness Jesus ‘felt a proper compassion’ for sins, because he had clothed himself with the flesh of sin.; And he had the duty ‘to offer a sacrifice both for his people and for himself and his sins.’ He did not obtain the high priesthood by usurpation, but just like Aaron, whom God elected with the leafy staff” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Hebrews, 70).
Hebrews 5:7 “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries…”
St. Gregory of Nazianzus [4th century Patriarch of Constantinople, Turkey]: “As Word, he was neither obedient nor disobedient – the terms apply to amenable subordinates or inferiors who deserve punishment. But as the ‘form of a servant’ he comes down to the same level as his fellow servants; receiving an alien form, he bears the whole of me, along with all that is mine, in himself, so that he may consume within himself the meaner element, as fire consumes wax or the sung ground mist, and so that I may share in what is his through the intermingling” (73).
Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
St. Cyril [Early 5th century Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt]: “Offering his life as model of saintly existence to be used by earthly beings, he took on the weaknesses of humanity, and what was his purpose in doing this? That we might truly believe that he became man, although he remained what he was, namely, God” (75).
Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,”
St. Ephrem the Syrian: “He became the source of our eternal salvation’ by replacing Adam, who had been source of our death through his disobedience. But as Adam’s death did not reign in those who did not sin, so life reigns in those who do not need to be absolved. Even though he is a liberal giver of life, life is given to those who obey, not to those who fall away from him” (76).
Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,”
Theodoret [5th century Bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria]: “By ‘being made perfect’ he referred to resurrection and immortality this being the completion of the incarnation” (76).
Reflecting
- Do I look to Christ alone and listen to Him alone for my eternal salvation?
Learning
CONFESSION (from Luther’s Small Catechism)
How Christians should be taught to confess.
Which are these (sins)?
Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?
What is the Office of the Keys?
The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.
Doing
- Pray for every unbaptized child and adult you know and for the child’s parents, too. Place their pictures and/or names in a prominent place as a reminder to pray for them
- Pray for your unchurched loved ones and friends. Place their pictures and/or names in a prominent place as a reminder to pray for them. Invite one or more of them to worship.
- Discuss with your spouse, your family, or a friend how and when individual confession of sins before a pastor might be vital and even necessary for a Christian.
- Consult Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 181, for the daily lessons appointed for the week of Lent 5 (Year One) and read them daily before offering your prayers on behalf of your family, the world, our nation, our state, and our local communities.
- Do not fearfully dismiss your need for individual confession as if regular public confession in worship or silent confession in your head were enough when you find yourself regularly tormented by a particular sin you have committed. Ask for God’s help to face your fears.
- Keep a holy Lent, the time of baptismal renewal and of growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, by adding midweek worship to your calendar.
For Husbands and Wives
Repeat daily: “I (name) take you (name) to be my wedded wife (husband), to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish until death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance, and thereto I pledge you my faith.”
Deutsch 
English (UK) 
Português do Brasil 
Dansk 
Español