In the book of Hebrews, Jesus is described as our “great high priest”. Why then don’t we have lesser priests in our churches?
In the New Testament, leaders of Christ’s people, the church, are described only as elders, shepherds, and overseers. The term “priest” is never used. While in the Old Testament priests had a number of duties, highlighted among those was the offering of animal sacrifices and the burning of incense in the temple.
Hebrews 9:11-15 makes clear that Jesus entered once for all into the heavenly holy place and made atonement by the blood of His cross. There is no need for ongoing sacrifice for atonement. This is why these constructs for worship shift in the New Covenant. We don’t need a physical temple (and we don’t need a physical church edifice) because Jesus IS the temple, and so are His people as the Holy Spirit indwells us. We don’t need any altar because no further atonement is needed. At the Lord’s Supper we remember and celebrate and invite God to make the reality of Christ’s sacrifice more deeply embraced by our souls. But we don’t go to Communion to cover our recent sins; all sins for all time have been dealt with completely at the Cross. And as we spoke of last Sunday (and will more these coming weeks), we have no need for mediators other than Christ to enable us to stand in God’s presence. We can and must go to God directly through Christ.
This doesn’t, however, mean that the other duties of priest are unfulfilled in our midst: compassionate instruction of and intercession for the people. Pastors are certainly called to imitate Jesus’ priestly qualities, just as much as they are called to imitate his prophetic and
kingly qualities. Seeing a good pastor’s leadership should point people to Jesus the perfect leader.
We should also note where priesthood IS mentioned in the New Testament: in describing all the people of God! “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 1:8-9). The picture Scripture gives of Christians ministering to each other is rich: confessing our sins to one another, praying for each other’s appropriation of the promises of God, exhorting one another, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. Passages such as these all fit into the concept the Reformers called “The priesthood of all believers.” Are you looking for a priest today? Look at your brother and sister…look at yourself in the mirror. And then together look to the Great High Priest. He will lead you into the Holy Place; He will show you the smile of God!