“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.” (Hebrews 3:1-2 NIV)

As we learn more about Jesus we discover various roles that he filled. The Hebrew writer has already made the case that he was greater than angels. Here he refers to him as “our apostle and high priest”. How do these apply to Jesus?

Most Christians have a very restrictive idea of what an apostle is. We generally think of one of the Twelve selected by Jesus. But the word in Greek, which is apostolos, means more than this (as you can probably see, our versions have not translated the word but simply turned the Greek word into an English one). This word meant “a messenger, one sent forth with orders”.

This was not a religious word but a word used in regular conversation. Yes, it applied to the Twelve, whom Jesus sent out with orders to teach, immerse and continue teaching. But it applies to anyone sent out with a message or on a mission. In this way it is a good word to describe Jesus, who came to live on the earth with a mission to accomplish and a message to declare. Jesus very much is our apostle, our messenger.

Jesus is also our high priest. In the section just before this one (the end of chapter two in our versions, but remembering that the Hebrew writer did not put in chapter divisions), we find out more about Jesus as our high priest.

“For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18)

The high priest held a position between the Israelites and God. He was the one who offered the sacrifices for the sins of the people after making atonement for his own sins. Jesus is now our high priest in that he made the sacrifice for our sins. But he is greater than the Israelite high priest because he had no sins for which to atone. In fact, he was not only our high priest but also our atoning sacrifice – he died for our sins and he offered himself for our sins.

To serve as our high priest (the writer talks about this later in Hebrews) he had to be “fully human in every way”. This means that he experienced life as we do complete with temptations. Because he went through life as a human he understands what we go through and is there to help us.

“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ‘Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,’ bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” (Hebrews 3:3-6)

Not only is Jesus our apostle and high priest, he is also Son over God’s house. Moses was great because he was a servant in God’s house. Jesus is greater because he is the Son. Did you notice what God’s house is? It is Christians – it is us! “We are his house”! But just as Moses and Jesus were faithful, we also must be faithful, holding firmly to our confidence and hope. Because of Jesus we have hope of eternal life with him and we can be confident that because of what he did for us, we will spend eternity with him.

Photo by Tera Winstead from pexels.com. Free for use.

Readings for next week: Hebrews 12-13; Galatians 1-6