Lent 5
Heb
9:11-15
3/22/26
I have told Joe Musolino and Chris
Atlee, the seminary students from our congregation, that they will make
mistakes as they conduct the Divine Service.
It just happens. You get tired.
You lose your concentration. Or for reasons that you can’t even explain, you
will do something wrong. So, I have skipped the Prayer of the Church, and then
had to be reminded that yes, we do need to pray this morning. Or in my all time
favorite, I was in the midst of Words of Institution and was about to pick up
the chalice and speak our Lord’s words over the wine – only to realize that I
had failed to fill it.
Now congregation members understand
that pastors make mistakes. As long as they know your goal is to conduct the
Divine Service in a reverent manner – and they see that you’re not afraid to
laugh at yourself after the fact – they will overlook these things.
Pastors should feel the need to
conduct the liturgy in a reverent and competent manner. It’s no small thing to
come into the presence of the holy God. But our experience of this is quite
different from what Israel’s priests encountered at the tabernacle. In
Leviticus chapter ten we read, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of
Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and
offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded
them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they
died before the Lord.”
Nadab and Abihu took the fire from a
source other than altar for burnt offering. And they learned that the holy God
is a consuming fire. If there was pressure to follow Yahweh’s directions for
priests, how much more there was for the high priest who once a year entered
the Holy of Holies and carried out the rites of the Day of Atonement before the
Ark of the Covenant. This was a setting where if a man entered at any other
time he would die. And on the Day of Atonement, being in presence of the Ark –
Yahweh’s throne in the midst of Israel – meant doing things correctly was a
matter of life and death.
In our epistle lesson this morning,
the writer to the Hebrews emphasizes how Jesus Christ has done something even
greater than that of the Old Testament high priests. Jesus entered into the
heavenly presence of God as he offered himself once and for all as the
sacrifice for our sin.
The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes
again and again that as the fulfillment of God’s Word, Jesus Christ is
something greater than what existed in the Old Testament. In this section of
the letter he has been talking about the arrangement of the tabernacle. The
first two thirds was the Holy Place. This is where the incense altar was
located – the one where Zechariah was serving when Gabriel appeared to him.
The last third was the Holy of
Holies. This was the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest
could enter before the Ark. He could
only do it on the Day of Atonement, and he could only do so after making an
offering first for his own sins, and then for the people.
In Exodus Yahweh commanded Israel to
make a tabernacle so that he could dwell in their midst. The design for the
tabernacle was not left up to them. Instead God directed, “Exactly as I show
you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so
you shall make it.” We learn that this pattern here on earth was reflection of
the heavenly reality before God. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that it was
“a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”
Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ
was superior as a high priest in four different ways. First, Jesus Christ was
the holy One. We learn in chapter seven, “For it was indeed fitting that we
should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated
from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those
high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then
for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up
himself.”
Jesus Christ had no sin because he
is the Son of God. The letter begins with words that strain human language as
it expresses the fact that the Son is God, and yet distinct from the Father. We
learn, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of
his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
This holy and mighty Son of God
entered our world and became man. He took on our humanity. Hebrews says, “Since
therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself
likewise partook of the same things.” But Christ’s humanity was what God
created us to be – without sin. And then he lived perfectly according to God’s
will. Hebrews tells us, “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.” Jesus has walked in our shoes
and knows what it is like to face temptation and hardship. And so the writer to
the Hebrews concludes, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The second way that Jesus is a
superior high priest is that he entered into the heavenly presence of God
himself. Hebrews describes Christ’s death on the cross as the event in which he
came before God and offered a sacrifice. The high priests of the Old Testament
entered the Holy of Holies. But this was only a copy made with hands of the
heavenly reality. We learn in our text,
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have
come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with
hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy
places.”
On Good Friday, Jesus came before
God himself. Just after our text we learn, “For Christ has entered, not into
holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”
And this brings us to the third way
that Christ is superior: He did this once and for all. Our text says that,
“he entered once for all into the holy places.” And just after our
text Hebrews goes on to say, “Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the
high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then
he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But
as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself.”
Hebrews begins by saying, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Christ means that it is the last days. His saving work means that it is the end of the ages – it is the end times. God’s end time salvation has arrived, and we look for its consummation when Christ returns in glory.
Christ has offered the sacrifice
once and for all. This means that there is no other saving sacrifice to be
offered – especially not his. Jesus alone has offered it, and no one else can
do this. Christ is the subject of all the verbs here. There is absolutely no
way to include us – to include the Church – in the action of offering up Christ
as a sacrifice. The Roman Catholic understanding of the Sacrament of the Altar
as a sacrifice offered by man contradicts all of this as it makes the same
tired old move of trying to take Gospel and turn it into Law. It tries to take
what God has done for us in Christ and turn it into something that we do.
And the final way that Christ is
superior is one that runs through all of these.
Our text says, “he entered once for all into the holy places,
not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own
blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” The Old Testament high priest
offered sacrifices of animals, and used the blood for himself and the people.
Instead, Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice. He shed his own blood.
This is the point Hebrews makes in
our text: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of
defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the
purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to
God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the
living God.”
Everything the New Testament says is
based on what God has revealed about himself in the Old Testament. God really
is the holy God. Sinners who sin evoke his wrath and judgment. They cannot
exist in fellowship with him and instead receive eternal damnation. The world
may not want to hear this kind of talk. It may not sound “caring and
inclusive.” But it is true. It is God’s revelation about himself in his
inspired and inerrant word.
However, the holy God has judged
your sin. He did it in Christ. Hebrews
says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every
respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” His
sacrifice has won forgiveness for you. We learn, “But when Christ had
offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a
footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all
time those who are being sanctified.”
This is the good news of the Gospel.
Because of Jesus Christ you now have a holy standing before God. You are saint.
And the good news extends even further because Jesus Christ’s death as a
sacrifice was not the end of his saving work. Hebrews says, “Since therefore
the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the
same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through
fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Christ passed through death,
but in his resurrection on Easter he overcame it. The Lord who was raised from
the dead will raise and renew your body on the Last Day to be like his.
So what does this mean for us? Hebrews tells us as it says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
and
since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our
hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.”
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus
and his resurrection, he is the new and living way by which we have are able to
enter into God’s presence. Christ is the great high priest who has conquered
death and intercedes for us. He is the victorious ascended Lord. Hebrews says,
“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high
priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty
in heaven,
a
minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set
up, not man.”
Because of this draw we near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith. We do so knowing that our sins have been
washed away in the water of Holy Baptism. We draw near knowing that in Christ
have been made holy and “because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is
able to help those who are being tempted.”
And so Hebrews urges, “Let us hold
fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is
faithful.” We live in fallen world – a valley of sorrow. We face challenges as
we believe in Jesus Christ in this world. Hebrews tells us to continue in the
confession of our hope in Christ, because he who has promised is faithful.
As I have mentioned recently, the
Christian life is not one of the individual in isolation. Instead it is lived
in the unity of faith that joins us together, and so the life of faith means
that we live it in relationship with each other. Hebrews adds, “And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as
you see the Day drawing near.”
We seek to remind and prompt one
another to live in Christ. It is our shared goal to live lives of love –
actions that support others and put their needs first. We bolster one another
in doing the good works that God has given us to do in our different vocations.
Our gathering for the Divine Service feeds us with Christ’s Means of Grace. But
it does something else as well. It brings together so that we can encourage one
another.
We encourage one another because we
are living in the end times that began in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. We live knowing that the day is drawing near when our Lord will return.
Christ who entered this world to be the sacrifice for our sins will return to
give us a share in the resurrection that he has begun. As the writer to the Hebrews says later in
this chapter, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once,
and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to
bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal
with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
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