HAVE COMPASSION. Hebrews 5:2-3 Those who were priests were to be gentle and compassionate with the people they represented because some were ignorant, and others went astray. The priest himself was prone to do the same and had to offer sacrifices both for himself and for others. When He was here on Earth, the Lord Jesus Christ could deal gently and compassionately with people's needs because that reflected His perfect sinlessness. He made intercession for people's sins because He knew their transgressions and was personally aware of everything about them. He could understand and take their place on one side, and on the other, He was reverently submissive to the Righteous God.
All the Aaronic priesthood could do was have compassion, make allowances for, and tolerate the sins of others because he also was “subject to weakness” and sinful infirmity. In contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ is without sin and able to make the “comers thereunto perfect.”
Unintentional sin was still sin and had to be faced and dealt with, but it could be forgiven when appropriate offerings were made. Rebellion with a defiant attitude had no provisions for recovery. The high priest who acted on behalf of failing humanity had to be a man capable of representing sinful people. He was to be a compassionate person who dealt gently with ignorant, erring individuals, knowing he had the same potential for failure.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His very nature, offered Himself to God for us with “strong crying and tears.” We have full assurance that in His spotless sinlessness, He has taken care of the sin problems of ignorance and error when we come in our weakness with repentance and faith in Him. Instead of fear and discouragement, we can approach Him in boldness and trust that He knows why we failed and the state of our hearts when we do. His omniscience never diminishes, and His propitiation never lacks in its effectiveness.
The superiority of Jesus' priesthood gives us comfort and rest, allowing us to approach God with joy and live in fellowship with Him. Our Mediator is a perfect, sinless man, and He is the divine, holy Son of God, the Person of the Godhead who dwells in a human body. His mediation is always true and complete. Even though He was made like us, His perfect humanity makes His mediation all the more perfect.
In His holy perfection, when He was here, He forgave repentant sinners, healed sinful and sin-sick souls, restored erring people like Peter, forgave those who nailed Him to the cross, and gently assured a man dying beside Him that he would be in paradise because he confessed his guilt and put his trust in Jesus. He never lost His temper when He was abused and rejected. He wasn’t indulgent to the guilty, and yet was not heartlessly severe to those whom human weakness led them to sin.