A Twilight Musing

The book of Hebrews presents us with a profound treatment of Jesus Christ as our High Priest under the New Covenant, and the truth embodied therein is relevant to our observance of the Lord’s Supper.  Unlike any high priest under the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses), Jesus was appointed High Priest apart from any qualifications of lineage, in the image of the Old Testament character, Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem.  The writer of Hebrews (see especially chapters 5-7) goes to some length to describe and establish the relationship between this mysterious figure and the Messiah. We may see in our observance of the Lord’s Supper a reflection of this unique priesthood of our Lord Jesus, as well as an affirmation that we are privileged to participate in that priesthood.

It seems presumptuous to speak of our participating in the priesthood of Christ, but Jesus paved the way for us to be identified with Him in that way by entering into and participating in the realm of our suffering.  The writer of Hebrews presents it thus:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.  (Heb. 2:17-18)

It was God’s will that the Incarnate Son should be made “perfect through suffering,” so that “he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified [would] all have one source”; and “That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb. 2:10-11).  Therefore, having a high priest who “has been tempted as we are, yet without sin, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16).  Yea, even as Jesus the perfect High Priest entered the Holy of Holies “as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb. 6:20) to offer Himself as the unblemished and eternally sufficient sacrifice, we “have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain” (Heb. 10:19-20)

Thus it is that, in the likeness of Melchizedek and our Lord Jesus, we are identified as priests in the Kingdom of God, not by any right of lineage or other qualifications, but entirely by the grace and appointment of God.  Through Jesus, we “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Pet 2:5).  As we partake of the elements of bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, we identify with Jesus being both priest and sacrifice, accepting the admonition of Paul in Rom. 12:1 to present our bodies “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Dr. Elton Higgs was a faculty member in the English department of the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 1965-2001. Having retired from UM-D as Prof. of English in 2001, he now lives with his wife in Jackson, MI. He has published scholarly articles on Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, Shakespeare, and Milton. Recently, Dr. Higgs has self-published a collection of his poetry called Probing Eyes: Poems of a Lifetime, 1959-2019, as well as a book inspired by The Screwtape Letters, called The Ichabod Letters, available as an e-book from Moral Apologetics. (Ed.: Dr. Higgs was the most important mentor during undergrad for the creator of this website, and his influence was inestimable.