“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
When I hear the word “priest,” I picture a Catholic priest with fancy robes in a huge cathedral. The Jewish people of this era (just after Jesus’ life, probably around 64 A.D.) might have pictured something a little similar but simpler. The Jewish temple was a stone structure that was mostly square/rectangular. Priests had rules that were described in Leviticus 21 as well as other portions of the Old Testament. They had unique garments and performed sacrificial rituals to mediate between God and his people. They followed the Old Testament laws about giving different types of sacrifices or offerings depending on the reason (atoning for sin, praise offering, etc).
The High Priest was the most highly ranked of all the priests, as Leviticus 21 tells us. Recall that the author of Hebrews just finished telling us that God sees into the deepest places of our hearts. Jesus is God, but he also has walked in our shoes. He gets it. All of this together means he is a perfect priest who can mediate our relationship with God better than any earthly priest.
It might have felt intimidating to approach the High Priest with a hope that the animal you brought is good enough for God’s standards. There’s a lot that depends on you and the priest getting it right. We know that Moses’ brother, Aaron, led the people into idol worship in the desert when he was appointed as the first priest. A lot can go wrong when humans are involved. With Jesus, we don’t have to have any fear. He is the perfect and ultimate priest, he gets your struggles on a deep level, and he is able to mediate your relationship with God because he is God. This is why we said before that Jesus is the path. He is the way into God. He joins humanity and God in a way that nothing and no one else could. All of these truths give us permission to be bold before Jesus. He wants to help and he’s ready to show you mercy.