5^th Sunday in Lent (B), April 6, 2003

Text: Hebrews 5:6-10; 1 Peter 2:5-9

Our Priestly Vocation: “Offering Spiritual Sacrifices…” (1 Peter 2:5)

There is a statement in our Epistle lesson, in Hebrews 5:7, that I could never quite understand. It says that Jesus “offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard…” How can the writer to the Hebrews say that Jesus’ prayer to be saved from death was heard? I always understood Jesus’ prayers mentioned here in light of his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, where he asked his Father to remove the cup of suffering he was about to drink as he saw the cross looming before him. It seems that prayer was not granted to Jesus.

But did Jesus really ask God to be saved from the cross? Throughout his life, Jesus was always looking forward to the cross as the fulfillment of his mission on earth. We see this in his high priestly prayer recorded in John 17, which he prayed just before entering the garden of Gethsemane. In praying for himself, Jesus asked that he be glorified so as to glorify his Father (1). And the glory Jesus was talking about was the glory he spoke to Nicodemus about when he said: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:15). Jesus is talking about the cross! Jesus is talking first and foremost about his crucifixion! It is the cross that is his glory. He receives glory because he willingly obeys his Father’s wish to offer his life for the world. The cross also brings glory to the Father, because in it is the Father’s love revealed: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son…” (3:16) to be crucified for our salvation.

So when Jesus prayed for himself, he did not pray primarily to be delivered from the cross, but that he would finish the task his Father had given him to do. The prayer we hear in Gethsemane shows us that it was not easy at all for Jesus to carry out his Father’s will. Being not only God, but also fully human and subject to pain and suffering just as we are, it is perfectly understandable that Jesus did not look forward to that aspect of the cross. And it is perfectly justifiable that Jesus should ask his Father to be spared such suffering if it were at all possible to find another way for mankind to be saved. But if not, Jesus would willingly submit his will to that of his Father’s. And his willing obedience was the source of his glorification.

So we see that Jesus’ prayer was not primarily that he would be spared the pain of the cross, but that he would be able to complete his mission. And we are told that God sent an angel to strengthen him in Gethsemane. The death Jesus underwent meant not only physical death. He was also forsaken by his Father on account of our sins he bore on the cross. It was this death, this separation Jesus would experience on the cross that he prayed most earnestly to be spared of. The answer to that prayer came on Easter morning when Jesus was raised to life! In this way, we see that God answered Jesus’ prayer for deliverance most wonderfully. God saved his Son from death through death. And through the experience of what he suffered, Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).

As our high priest, Christ represents us before his Father in heaven. After having made atonement for our sins, he now intercedes for us before the heavenly throne. We see this also in his high priestly prayer recorded in John 17. He prays that we be kept safe from the evil one by the name of the Trinity we received in Baptism; he prays that we be made holy by the Word of God; he prays that through this knowledge, God’s love may live within us and that he too may come to live in us (John 17:6, 12). Jesus also prays that through our being united with God and each other, the world, those who are not yet part of his body, would come to believe in him as well (21).

This is where we come in. We have an important role to play in that the world would come to know Christ. The Apostle Peter puts it like this: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…” (1 Peter 2:9) and “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:4, 5). Not only is Jesus our high priest, but we too are called by God to be a nation of priests.

Jesus is our high priest who represents us to God. We in turn are priests to the world, to the people who are not yet part of Christ’s holy body. We are called to be their representatives before God’s throne. One thing that has intrigued me in my relations with non-Christians is how glad they are to have me pray for them. Often I sense that this is the one thing they feel most meaningful about their relationship with me, be they agnostics or of another religion. Why is that? One reason is that they know that as a Christian I have access to God’s presence in a way they do not. We have access to a power they do not. And God wants us to use that access not just for ourselves but also for others. That is why we are called a priestly nation. We are called to represent the people of the world before God’s throne. This is something I have never quite understood until recently. I believe this concept will revolutionize how I view my relationships with unbelievers and how I practice evangelism. I hope you will experience the same.

So what does it mean to act as God’s priests to the world “…offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God…” as Peter writes (1 Peter 9:5)? The spiritual sacrifices a priest offers are fourfold. First a priest must offer sacrifices for himself. He himself must be pure in order to be able to come before God’s presence on behalf of someone else. We do this daily as we remember our Baptism into Christ and as we confess our sins to God. Thus we are purified from all guilt and are qualified to enter the presence of God on behalf of others.

As we begin our priestly task, we first proclaim the praises of God. When we gather together for worship, one significant thing we do is to proclaim and sing to each other the wonderful things God has done for us in Christ. In this way we edify and build each other up in Christian unity and love. And as we gather for worship, we also bring before God the needs of those who cannot pray for themselves, those who have not yet been purified by Christ and don’t have access to God’s presence. For example, when something good happens to unbelievers, they may not acknowledge that it came from God. So as God’s priestly nation, we are to thank God on their behalf. So if my non-believing neighbors receive some good news or some good fortune, I am not to wonder why God is blessing them and not me. Rather, I am to thank God for them. God wants me to rejoice with them as if I was the one being blessed. That is our first task as God’s priestly nation: Offering praise and thanks to God on behalf of others.

Secondly, we are to offer intercessions for our unbelieving neighbors. I don’t know if you realize it, but prayer is the distinctive mark of a Christian. It is the task only a believing Christian can do. For example, even an unbeliever can be a pastor. Even an unbeliever can preach, can baptize and consecrate Holy Communion. That may shock some of you, but it is true. The Sacraments are effective, not because of the faith of the celebrant, but because of the power of God’s word. The only thing an unbeliever cannot do, is pray. While anyone can “pray,” God only promises to answer the prayer offered through faith in Christ (e.g. James 5:15). So we are called to offer petitions on behalf of those who do not have access to God’s throne.

The last thing we do as God’s priestly nation is to offer sacrifices for the sins of unbelievers. Martin Luther once said that Christians are like the Greek mythological giant Atlas who carries the world on his shoulders. And he comments, that if for one moment there were not some righteous man or woman interceding to God to appease his righteous anger, the world would be destroyed in an instant. As the priests of this world, when we see evil taking place, we are immediately to offer our sacrificial intercession to God that he might overlook and pardon what was committed. This is perhaps the most difficult thing to do. My first reaction when I see wrongdoing is to judge the perpetrator, or worse, to wish him God’s judgment. Honestly, that is how I usually operate. But I must confess that this is wrong, very wrong. For if I wish God’s wrath on another, how do you think God will treat me when it comes to my own shortcomings? As God’s holy people who have received God’s mercy, we must never wish God’s wrath on anyone. Rather, it is our task to intercede for them that God’s grace may reach their hearts even as it has reached ours.

There are so many more fine pearls that I have discovered in my study of prayer that I need to share with you. But I believe that our minds have already been stretched enough. Let me just challenge you to see yourselves as God’s priests for the people in your lives and the people of our world. Let God purify your hearts and lips with his Word and Sacrament and then offer your praises and intercessions on behalf of all people. In this way you carry out your heavenly Father’s desire that acting through you, Jesus becomes “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” May these be our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Amen.