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Jesus - Your Friend and Family

The Great High Priest

I have two small children in elementary school. During the months of July and August, my wife and I make sure they are getting their summer reading done. At the beginning of every school year, we get a list of school supplies, which means we hit the big box stores until we check off every item. Once we are in the thick of the school year, we check-in with their teachers to make sure they are doing well. It’s a daily occurrence to get a download of their day at school, both in academics and in their relationships with others. If we foresee an issue in the horizon, we do our best to step in and hopefully create a teaching moment for them. In other words, we are constantly on-guard, watching out for them. We have their backs, doing whatever it takes for them to do well and succeed. They are our kids, and like any parent we say, “We know what you are going through; we have been there.”

Read this passage from the book of Hebrews:
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:14-15)

The writer is doing two things when he calls Jesus our "GREAT high priest:"

1. Jesus has come, and He has fulfilled each and every prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah. He is the one the people have been waiting for to rescue them from an otherwise bleak future. Only one person in all of the Bible is given the title, Great High Priest, and it was being declared here. He is the ONE.

2. Jesus is there to go before us. He is always at the right hand of the Father, listening to our prayers and interceding on our behalf. In other words, He is always looking out for us. He’s got our backs.

John 1:14 says that “the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” (MSG translation) God became a man and was here on this earth, walking and talking among us. He experienced the same temptations you and I experience today. Jesus was tempted by the devil himself! He experienced the loss of a friend named Lazarus. Judas, a friend He had spent three plus years with, betrays Him and literally sells Him out for what today would about $600.  Another disciple friend, Peter, denies he even knows Jesus. And let's not forget His agony in the reality of being beaten and nailed to a cross.

Jesus knows pain, hurt, betrayal and loss. This Great High Priest knows what it's like to be us, and He can certainly “sympathize with our weaknesses.” Hold firmly to Him and hear Him say today, “I know what you are going through. I've been there, and I am here now; and I’ve got your back. ”