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This week is on Hebrews 7:23-28:

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

Jesus is worthy of our total devotion, because he is totally devoted to us. He sacrificed his life in order to save us the misery of depending on a failed human priest to stand between us and God the Father. Before Jesus' sacrifice, all interaction with God went through career priests who people relied upon to argue their case with God. These political priests held a lot of power, and could basically stand between a needy person and God. They also weren't very attentive, and could miss out on interceding for someone with God, thus leaving their sins unforgiven. People's interaction with God would vary depending on who was their priest and how devoted he was to God. People talk about the harrowing experience of having to get things taken care of at the DMV. Imagine that hassle for anything that you would need to talk to God about!

Before Jesus, we had to wait in line, pay arbitrary "fees", endure bad treatment and shoddy service, and still sometimes not get what we came for. Our salvation depended on an inconvenient connection to an unreliable representative whose awkward and clumsy methods were supposed to solve an impossible problem. And on top of that, it was expensive! Imagine all of the problems we have now with taxation and politics, applied to the church.

Jesus as our high priest is a miracle. No longer do we need to debase ourselves before our fellow human beings in order to be allowed to communicate with God. Our connection is direct. No longer do we have to follow arbitrary and pointless rules on top of what God already wants for us, just so we can gain the favor of the priest and thereby bribe him to do his job. We have Jesus' favor, and Jesus has the authority to forgive our sins directly. And he already has! Jesus has paid the price. No longer do we have to struggle and sacrifice only to ultimately fail anyway. Jesus' sacrifice carries us through, and he does all of the heavy lifting.

Jesus isn't connected to a particular political party, ethnic group, wealthy family, tribe, or corporation. He isn't tied to geography. He's available to all of us, equally. There's no more corruption, incompetence, apathy, laziness, or any of the other human flaws. He is ours, and we are his, directly.

Be thankful for what Jesus has won for us. Be especially wary of people who claim that things are still the old way, where you have to have someone pray for you in order for God to hear you, or where you have to submit yourself to a specific human authority in order to be able to find favor with God. Those structures have their place, and can be helpful, but they are no longer required. Even the most powerful, spiritual, and helpful person is only a speck of dirt compared to Jesus. If you go back to filtering your connection to God through that speck of dirt, what have you gained?

Guard jealously that gift of being able to connect directly to Jesus. It is the most precious thing you will ever have. In any bad experiences you have with human authority, whether it's corrupt police or incompetent bureaucrats, instead of being angry, be so thankful that you don't have to deal with that eternally, that your salvation doesn't depend on some idiot with control issues, or some lazy dullard who doesn't care about you, or anything that will ever matter to you, as long as they're getting their money. We're free not just from hell, but from the agony of depending on undependable people to get free.

Jesus is our high priest. His service is perfect. His coverage is complete. And he's ours, wholly, forever.