Hebrews 7:23-28 (NRSV)
Read Hebrews 7:23-28 on biblegateway.com
Verse 23Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; Verse 24but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Verse 25Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Verse 26For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Verse 27Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. Verse 28For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Devotion
Human life takes so much effort, even our spiritual impulse to reach toward God can feel like just another struggle. There has never been a shortage of people responding to that instinct, like self-appointed gurus selling multi-point plans of enlightenment, or demanding strange forms of discipleship to join their team.
But Jesus promised that God’s love is free. We don’t earn it or need to do anything special to keep it. The writer of Hebrews expressed this freedom for Jewish believers in the metaphor of Jesus the great High Priest, the one who goes before the throne of God to ensure our righteousness for us. Ritual sacrifices can be put aside.
What amazing grace! It’s what we call the good news of Jesus—that God chooses to enter human history, to show us what this love looks like. This confidence flies so counter to our deep instincts that we need to hear the news again and again. When we trust that truth, we call it faith.
Prayer
Thank you Eternal One, for stirring in us a desire to know you. Draw us back to you when we take that desire and turn it into a project, full of impossible limits and demands. Help us to trust in a love so large you set us free to be fully alive in Christ. Amen.
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