Ahh, Monday night dinner at our house. Brennan is asking for more steak, so I proceed to cut a piece from my steak to share with him. As I begin to place on his plate, I am reminded by Kellie that I need to cut the steak into small bites so he does not choke.
I then look over at Kinsley and see where Kellie has placed miniscule pieces of meat and other dinner items on her tray. Wow, I think to myself, Kinsley has come so far in the past year. It was not long ago that she was only drinking from a bottle and now she is eating actual food. Next, I find myself intercepting Brennan attempting to feed Kinsley one of his size bites of food and I attempt to explain that she is not ready to eat that big of a bite.
The previous experience described is a natural progression of the human body. As we grow older our diet and quantity of intake changes. The writer of Hebrews paints a picture of spiritual immaturity in last half of the chapter by comparing their lack of understanding to a baby that is not ready for solid food. The writer is trying to tell them that they should be the one's cutting and serving the steak, not still nursing on the bottle.
I know I am taking my analysis in reverse, but this is what stands out to me. 2 points to ponder:
1.Where am I in my spiritual walk? Am I still eating at the same level that I was 10 years ago or am I progressing in the knowledge of the Word and my walk with God?
2.How do we respond to the needs of others? Do we attempt to pour our level of spiritual knowledge into someone that is new to the Christian walk? Sometimes we must slow down and cut the steak into small pieces because the digestive system may not be able to process what we try to serve.
Now for my quick (yeah, right) overview of the first half of the chapter (or the "meat" of the chapter).
This passage is beautiful in its comparison of the high priest from the Old Testament to the one who became our High Priest. The old testament only allowed access to God through the high priest. He was ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. The Old Testament high priest could only commute the sentence of sin a year at a time. Oh how they must have longed for a full pardon, but the plan only allowed for a commutation.
Now let's visit vs 2 as the writer begins to describe the high priest: "Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity."
God became our high priest through his willingness to place himself in our condition. Not that he gave in to the weaknesses, but he allowed himself to suffer in the role of humanity. He agonized through temptation, rejection, beating and death. Verse 7 describes the fervent prayers that were offered to the one that was able to save him from death. To think that he purposefully placed himself in that position so that he can empathize with us.
It blows me away to see how God himself designed the office of the high priest to account for our egregious nature knowing that the fullfilment of the plan would require his sacrifice so that we can have the opportunity to be fully pardoned.
I am so thankful that God gave us a high priest, Jesus, that has suffered what we suffer, has been tempted as we are tempted, and has given himself as a sacrifice for our sinful nature. We no longer simply hope for acceptance of a sacrifice offered on our behalf, but rather we can petition the accepted and designated sacrifice directly and know that he will empathetically listen and respond.
Jeff McGee
