Hebrews 4:15-16 … The highest Priest (08/22/16)
“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 [ultimately] 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.” ~ author unknown (Hebrews 4:15-16)
This verse has often been used by Christians to excuse – if not to openly justify – their own selfishly sinful choices; to say that it matters not what they have done to others, as long as they bow down to Jesus and beg his forgiveness for the same. Of course, I do not read it in this way at all …
To me, this passage reminds us that Jesus was indeed a human being (Acts 2:22 & Mark 10:18 et al) – a man who suffered from the same temptations as the rest of us, a man who even occasionally succumbed to those temptations, and yet also a man who transcended those temptations in magnificently resolute and highly noble fashions. He does not show us in the Bible a state of perfection to which we cannot hope to arrive, but rather shows us a state of perfect Love that each & every one of us can indeed attain … Indeed, any true Master is not “above” us at all, but rather has already experienced the Truths we ourselves seek to know — and reminds us that we too can tread where he or she has already gone.
And indeed, in order to experience transcendence to True Self, we must start from a place of ego – we must start from a place of sin (being selfish, succumbing to whim or temptation). As such, the true Master cannot have true Compassion for sinners unless he/she has already experienced the pain of sinning – the torment inherently felt by every sinner. The Master knows that no one needs mercy administered from any external source – not from others, not from that Master, not even from God Itself. Only the Mercy that we give ourselves internally can have any significant impact on our journey — only the Mercy that we give ourselves when we reach out to Care for others in our own times of intense fear or dire need. For this is only sermon of the highest Priest who resides within us, and this is the only Grace that continually guides us from within – the only Grace that leads us Home through all our times of trial & all our times of trembling.
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