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Love
Teaching Text: Hebrews 4:14–5:10
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approachGod’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest.But God said to him,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
And he says in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heardbecause of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Hebrews
The Priest Who Gets It
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Sermon Summary
Story about Oscar: “Oscar had gone to several pastors and asked them to teach him to pray. They all gave different and not very satisfying answers… I’ve never forgotten his longing to be taught how to pray and feeling lost.”
We live in a world of unreliable guides. In peacetime, it doesn’t feel like it matters much — intuition, Google, life hacks, friends’ best guesses. But when life is in deep conflict, profound grief, buried in shame or anxiety — what guides us then takes on different proportions.
This passage puts Jesus forward as a priest. Not just any priest.
The highest, fullest, most complete Priest.
The forever priest — no beginning, no end.
The priest who is also a King.
The priest accessible to everyone who calls.
The priest who never fails to guide.
And the author has one of the strangest moments in world history in mind: the Garden of Gethsemane.
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
— Hebrews 5:7–9
Two strange things in this description of Jesus.
First: Jesus prayed in fervent cries and tears — asking God to let the cup pass — and the prayer was not answered in the affirmative. Yet we’re told he was heard.
Second: “Once made perfect.” This isn’t moral perfection — he had no sin. Scholar Kathleen Norris helps:
“The word that has been translated as ‘perfect’ does not mean to set forth an impossible goal… It is taken from a Latin word meaning complete, entire, full-grown… ‘Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourself to others… mature, ripe, full, ready for what befalls us.’”
— Kathleen Norris
Before the Cross, God was a rescuer. In the Garden and on the Cross, we see something more complete: God as suffering servant. God absorbing the cost of all the world’s brokenness. Jesus lived this full revelation — and a large part of it was his suffering.
He knows what it is to have a dark night of the soul. To face terror and anxiety. To ache in his gut. To feel the silence of heaven.
This changes everything — in at least three directions:
On temptation. Jesus has been tempted in every way we are. Appetites of the body. Ambition and status. The hunger for approval. He faced the archetypes. And he shows us: it is possible to hang on to the promises of God through them. When you are tempted, bring your temptation before the compassion of Jesus.
On prayer. We approach the throne of grace with confidence — not because of our achievements or how early we got up or how many words we said. We come boldly because Jesus himself walks us into the holiest place. To pray in Jesus’ name is not a ritual closing line. It’s to pray through his sonship — and to realize that sonship makes us sons and daughters. God is never diminished by listening to your prayers. He never needs to regroup. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.
On forgiveness. What we receive in our time of need is mercy and grace. Mercy: forgiven without earning it. Grace: power to live a different way. The expression of this in a life is repentance. The Gospel says God forgives us because of the Cross — and fills us with the resurrected life of Jesus by the Spirit.
The High Priest is making us priests ourselves. A priesthood of all believers.
This book is written to Oscars. To those about to give up. Pressed. Suffering. Challenged.
It is Pentecost. Ask God to make Jesus your High Priest alive and present to you by the Holy Spirit.
Direct Quotes
““For me, prayer is an impulse of the heart, it is a simple glance turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.”
— Thérèse of Lisieux
“Prayer, Thérèse knows, is a dangerous business. Because it draws us into the reality of God, it also draws us into the pain and suffering of the world that God loves and, if we let it, stretches and even tears our souls so we can love the world in the way that God does.”
— Frederick Bauerschmidt, The Love that is God
Three Questions for Personal Application
Where are you most desperately in need of a reliable guide right now? Think about the areas of your life where you’ve been making do with substitutes — intuition, advice from friends, the path of least resistance. What would it look like to bring that specific need before Jesus as your High Priest this week? What would it mean to actually trust that he gets it?
How does knowing that Jesus prayed in fervent cries and tears — and felt the silence — change how you pray? It’s easy to assume that bold, confident prayer means prayer that feels good. But Thérèse kept praying through profound darkness. Where have you pulled back from God in prayer because it felt one-sided or unheard? What might it look like to keep going anyway?
In what area of your life do you most need mercy — and in what area do you most need grace? Mercy is forgiveness you can’t earn. Grace is power to live differently. They’re related but distinct. Sit with both. Where is the weight of guilt or failure heaviest right now? And where are you trying to change in your own strength, without leaning into the life of the Spirit?
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” — Hebrews 4:16
