March 20, 2024 

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 5:1-10

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 4:1-18, Mark 15:1-15

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:9-10)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You hear a lot of priestly stuff and temple stuff and tabernacle stuff in the book of Hebrews.  It can be a little overwhelming and perhaps even a little confusing for those of us who are not as well versed in the Old Testament as we should be.  So at risk of over simplifying it all, let’s just say that the writer of Hebrews is showing us how Jesus fulfills the entirety of the Old Testament; and He does so for you.

Jesus is a priest.  We have all heard that before, but He isn’t a priest in the normal order of priesthood.  He doesn’t come from the line of Levi.  His umpteenth great grandfather wasn’t Aaron.  And so He isn’t a priest like we would see in the temple.  Don’t get me wrong, He has some similarities with the Levitical priesthood, namely standing as a mediator between God and His people, but there are some differences as well.  And the major difference is that Jesus is an eternal priest, whereas all the rest were merely temporal.

But there is more…  Melchizedek was the king of Salem.  His name means “King of Righteousness” and His title means “King of peace”.  For Jesus to be a priest in this order means that He is an eternal priest who eternally brings righteousness and peace to His people.  …  Priests stand as mediators.  They stand in the stead of God for the people and in the stead of the people for God.  This Jesus does more perfectly than any priest in the order of Aaron because every other priest had to first offer sacrifices for his own sins, but not Jesus.

Jesus only offers a sacrifice for us, for you.  And opposite the Levitical sacrifices, which were made up of bulls and goats and rams and lambs, perpetually and habitually being slaughtered day and night, Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all.  He, the priest, He, the sacrifice.  He, in the order of Melchizedek, He, in the order of the Passover Lamb.  …  Jesus gives you gifts as your High Priest and those gifts stem from His sacrifice on the cross.  So receive from your kingly priest the gifts He has for you:  life, salvation, and forgiveness. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

They rise and needs will have  My dear Lord made away; A murderer they save, The Prince of Life they slay.  Yet cheerful He  To stuff’ring goes That He His foes From thence might free.  (LSB 430:5)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

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