High Priest - Hebrews 2

2:1-5 - In establishing Christ’s elevated position over the angels at the end of chapter 1, noting that if the “ministering angels” are respected and listened to, “we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard.” Here he’s indicating that if the angels are respected and followed, then how much more should we follow the commandments of Christ “for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come.” There’s also an interesting little nugget buried in there that I think is interesting and it seems like it’s Paul’s question that, even if we did obey the angels but “every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape.” To me this is Paul’s way of asking us “you can obey the angels all you want, but can they save you? Can they forgive your sins?” And the answer is that of course they can’t, only Jesus Christ can because he was the only one eligible to perform the atonement, and he did it. The article on this chapter form gospeldoctrine.com paraphrases the first five verses as “if the message of an angel is important and the law of Moses is just, how much more should we pay attention to the gospel delivered to us by the Savior who is greater than both the angels and the law of Moses? Christ is greater than the angels for he will be in charge in the world to come, not the angels. His greatness has also been conformed to us by the miracles which he wrought and the teachings we have received through his apostles. Hence, we much give more diligent heed to his teachings.” I think so much of the time we get caught up in the fantastic nature of some of these accounts of visions and revelations in the scriptures and in church history that we start to put too much focus on how “exciting” or “unique” our personal experience is instead of how good we are at following the commandments we have been given. We focus so much on the spectacular that we miss the beautiful involvement of the Savior in our own lives. We miss it because the Spirit is usually not flashy, and we’re looking for something bright and attention grabbing and completely miss that he’s been there the whole time. 2:6-11 - Now Paul quotes Psalm 8:4-6, which is where David asks basically why humans are so special that the God of the universe thinks about us? God made humans “a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour,” and has given us “dominion over the words of thy hands.” This reminds me of this talk by Gerald Causse, I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s basically where he talked about looking up at the stars and feeling his own personal insignificance in the cosmic scheme of things. But at the same time, even with the whole universe to care for, God not only knows us, but he lives for each of us personally. Again, “what is man, that thou art mindful of him?” when we look literally everything else ever in existence. It’s crazy to think about But then if we think about Jesus, as the only sinless spirit child of God, the one who volunteered to save us all through the horrific atonement, he himself “was made a little lower than the angels.” The condescension of Jesus Christ to become mortal and live on this earth is a really interesting concept to think about. His status pre-mortally was of royalty, but only thing that I liked when I heard it was that we all condescended when we came to this earth. Pre-mortally, we all had status and abilities and knowledge and understanding that we had to relinquish when we came here. Here we were literally the most helpless animal alive as babies and completely at the mercy of other human who usually had too many of their own issues to be nice to us, then we grow up with all these issues. If that was our condition, just imagine how different it would have been for Jesus. But Paul continues that Jesus came to earth in less than his royal state “that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” And he did that because we “are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” He was the only one capable of performing the atonement and we were all doomed without it, so he came here and suffered the atrocities of this life because he loves us as brothers and sisters and couldn’t live without us. 2:12-16 – As Jesus calls us “brethren” Paul quotes David again saying that he will “sing praise unto thee” in the midst of the church, and he will always put his trust in Him. Jesus was born into mortality, not because he had to, even for his own salvation, but because WE had to and we were in big trouble without him. He came to earth as a mortal “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,” and deliver all of us who “all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Jesus had the option and ability to take “on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” The article gives some interesting perspective on Jesus’ mortal-ness asking, “What if Christ had come in the form of an angel instead of the form of a man? What kind of faith would it take to believe in him? Not much! And how could Christ be truly tempted in the flesh if he came to earth in angelic form? Could he, as an angel, suffer ‘both body and spirit’? How could he bring to pass the atonement without coming to earth as a mortal an?” What’s interesting here is to think about if Jesus coming to earth and living the life of a younger middle eastern man in the ancient world would be good enough for him to say “I know exactly how you feel?” and therefore give us commandments that we would be expected to keep because he “knows exactly what it’s like?” If we look at Jesus’ regular mortal life, sure I bet he did suffer quite a bit just like everyone else, but he would never know the pains of childbirth and that experience is common to almost half of the world’s population. I don’t think that he was ever raped during his mortal life, so there’s 90% of the people throughout human history that had a part of their soul destroyed through sexual assault that he couldn’t relate to. He wasn’t a slave, he was never in combat, he was never a parent. There’s just so much that goes into the human experience that Jesus just did not go through when he lived his life on earth. So if we look at it from that perspective, it would come off as fairly misogynistic to tell a woman how to deal with her rape because “he was human once so he knows what it’s like.” There would be so much that change people and their perspectives and their decisions that he just wouldn’t be able to understand. And I think it’s more than just him wanting to “know how to succor his people,” I think that he had to experience each and every person’s life with all the accompanying pain and trauma and still come out of it on the other side knowing how they could heal. He had to in order for justice to be satisfied. It’s really quite interesting if you think about it. The article says, “Stated simply, Jesus Christ’s empathy for us in our suffering does not come only through revelation (’the Spirit knoweth all things’) but from actual experience (‘according to the flesh’). Because of his own experience with pain and sorrow- his descent ‘below all things’ (D&C 88:6)- he knows ‘how to succor his people in their infirmities.’ To succor is to bring help or relief to someone in distress. Truly, the Savior does understand our pain and undoubtedly weeps with us in our extremities. He will bring peace, the healing of the soul, to those who trust in him.” 2:17-18 – He did all this, He suffered, He took the mortal form so “that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Interestingly, the article quotes Bruce R. McConkie as explaining about Paul’s use of the title “high priest” in referring to Jesus saying, “Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews takes on a whole new meaning when it is read and studied with an understanding of the sacrificial system and the temple rites that prevailed in the day of Jesus… The high priests in Israel, on the Day of Atonement and at other times, throughout their sacrificial offerings made ‘reconciliation for the sins of the people.’ That is, by the shedding and sprinkling of the blood of bullocks, and goats an atonement was wrought and the sins of the people were forgiven. It is this same prerogative that Paul is now claiming for another of Abraham’s seed.” Paul was a Pharisee, so he would have known these rituals and their meanings intimately, so it’s probably no coincidence that he used the phrase “high priest” here to describe Jesus. In this chapter alone, Paul has referenced 3 different scriptures to align Jesus as the God spoken of in the Old Testament and as playing an integral part of the temple rites and rituals. I love when all of that is tied in because it demonstrates the continuity of the gospel message throughout all of human history.