+ Lenten Midweek 1 – March 13, 2019 +
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
Hebrews 7:20-28; John 17
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We see and use our hands often enough that we tend to take for granted just how important our hands are. Eating. Dressing. Working.
Hands were important to the OT priests too. At their ordination their thumb (along with their ear and toe) was marked with blood, that their hands would be consecrated to make sacrifices to God for themselves and for Israel. In the tabernacle they would place their hands upon the unblemished lamb, transferring their sin, and the peoples’ sin onto the sacrifice. In the holy places their hands would spread the blood of the lamb for atonement for themselves and for God’s people.
Hebrews reminds us of something truly remarkable. God himself has hands. Jesus’ hands aren’t metaphorical or symbolic hands, but real hands. Fingernails. Knuckles. Joints. Bones. Tendons. Veins. Tissue. Hands that blessed little children and the sick. Hands that were pierced and bloody on the cross for you. Hands that bear the scars of our redemption even as he is risen and reigns for you. Hands that are, even now, raised in prayer for you.
Behold the man. Jesus, our great High Priest. Mediator. Intercessor. Advocate. Redeemer.
Unlike the priests of old who died, Jesus is a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, the priestly King of righteousness. Unlike the priests of old, Jesus has no sin of his own so that he can bear all of ours.
Behold the man who, though he is also God, intercedes for men before God. Behold God who has become man and who, as man, intercedes, prays for, us men.
But if we’re honest with ourselves, we have a problem with an intercessor, someone who’s our go-between. It implies we’re insufficient for the task of getting ourselves to God. An intercessor implies that we cannot climb the ladder of heaven to plead our own case. That Jesus takes on human flesh to be an eternal Priest between men and God implies that we, on our own, aren’t good enough. We need someone else to take up our case. Behold the man!
Because much as we might not like it, or cringe at it, the truth is we aren’t good enough. Who of us calls upon God as we ought? Whose thoughts are undistracted in prayer? Who loves God perfectly enough to be able to approach Him in prayer? Who keeps the Sabbath perfectly, hears the Word of God gladly and regularly? Who uses the name of God correctly, never letting slip an “Oh, my God” when things don’t go according to plan, and calls upon it regularly, when the catechism prescribes prayer? Who? Not a one of us. We are sorry excuses for our own priests. So behold the man!
Jesus is the perfect High Priest. Sinful mankind cannot approach a holy God. We need someone to take our place, to plead our case. Behold the man! Jesus has taken your flesh. He will take up your cause before His heavenly Father. Behold the man! In Jesus, God has a voice that He can raise before the Father. He has hands He can fold in prayer. He has a head He can bow correctly and reverently. Behold the man who prays perfectly. Behold the High Priest whose office, whose role, is to pray for you—for you, beloved. Behold the man who prays for you without ceasing.
Jesus raises his hands in prayer for you. Jesus’ eyes are lifted up to the Father for you. Jesus’ lips form syllables, words, and petitions for you. He is man to can intercede for men. And for what does He pray?
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one
Jesus prays for His disciples. For His Church. For you. Because sinners cannot approach a holy God, Jesus intercedes. Because rebellious man’s petitions will fall on deaf ears, the only obedient Son of God has taken flesh in order to pray for you, to give voice to your prayers.
Since we are unable to keep ourselves from sin, from idolatry, from rebellion, Jesus prays that the Father would keep us: that He would keep us in His name. The name placed upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism; that He would keep you from the evil one, just as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer which he taught us.
Jesus, as perfect God and man in one person prays for you. Behold the man who prays for you constantly before His heavenly Father.
So, in Jesus, who prays for you without end, you are no longer rebels against your heavenly Father. You are no longer sinful aliens. You are no longer unable to bend the Father’s ear with your petitions. You are in Jesus, and Jesus prays perfectly. Not because you pray regularly or correctly, but because you are in Jesus, your prayers are perfect. Because Jesus lifts up His hands perfectly in prayer, so do you. Because Jesus lifts up His eyes perfectly in prayer, so do you. Because Jesus’ voice is perfectly attuned for prayer, so is yours. Because Jesus is the man who intercedes for the rest of mankind, as man, you have hope. You have a Lord who prays for you. You have a man who redeems men. You have the God who became man for you. You have a Savior. You have the man on the cross. Behold the man, the Priest who bids you pray and who prays for you without ceasing.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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