Heb.5:1,2 – For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.
This passage begins to give us a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus as our heavenly high priest. He was chosen by God to be our priest because He had faced all the challenges of humanity as He was cloaked in weakness as a man yet He remained without sin. Jesus is able to understand the challenges of being human and can have compassion on the ignorant and those who are going astray. This is why He came, to seek and save the lost. Christ is able to effectively function as our priest because He is a man and at the same time He is the Son of God. He is able to save us to the uttermost, completely and finally, because He lives forever and prays for us; His prayers carry us along to God’s plan of completion in our lives. Here is what Matthew Henry says about this passage.
“How this high priest must be qualified..
He must be one who can have compassion on two sorts of persons:
On the ignorant. He must be one who can find it in his heart to pity them, one who is willing to instruct those who are slow in understanding.
On those that are out of the way. He must be one who has enough tenderness to lead them back from the byways of error, sin, and misery onto the right path. This requires great patience and compassion, even the compassion of a God.
He must also be compassed with infirmity (subject to weakness), and so be able to sympathize with us from within himself. This is how Christ was qualified.”
This is powerful, understanding the compassion that the Lord has for us that He displays in His role as priest in heaven. He understands our challenges and our weaknesses and His prayers affect us powerfully. His prayers are working in us to make us whole, completely transforming us into the image of Jesus. We are being transformed from glory to glory by the powerful work of our heavenly high priest. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father; what is He doing? He is praying for you.
