UNENDING ADMINISTRATION - According to the logic of the pastor/writer, Jesus’ priesthood is unending (which is derived from and corroborated with Psalm 110:4), and therefore Jesus can unendingly save and make intercession for us (vs. 23-25).

TEMPORARY VERSUS PERMANENT - This unending quality of Jesus as the permanent high priest leads, according the pastor/writer’s next thought, into a second critical quality-that of spiritual qualification: unlike all others who are keenly aware of their personal un-holiness before God, Jesus, the writer asserts, is wholly other than that: he is "holy, blameless, undefiled, and clearly set apart from all others; thus, there is no need to start the day with ablutions and personal spiritual cleansing before offering sacrifice.

PRIEST AND SACRIFICE - A third intriguing distinction that the pastor/writer points out refers to the daily vis-à-vis once-for-all quality of sacrifice. As representatives of the people, priests offer daily sacrifices-for themselves and then for the people. Jesus, however, becomes both Priest and Sacrifice. Since he is the sacrifice, Jesus can only offer himself but once-yet the effectiveness extends forward in time through the resurrection: Jesus continues to live thus, ensuring that the Priestly Sacrifice of his own self saves us and makes us acceptable to God.

I think of the relationships that deepen between clients and therapists over the years. Long-term conversations about one’s life truly bring insight and change. The "human factor," however, can put an abrupt end to the conversation-death of the therapist, personal problems, illness, job relocation, etc. How might the Hebrew pastor/writer’s description of Jesus as one unaffected by "the human factor" can become our long-term friend / mentor / savior?

If we consciously viewed Christ as making possible God’s welcome to us 24-7, how would that impact the way we think about prayer? Sunday worship gift? On-going conversation? The realization of a powerful, loving Resource is constantly near us?

I personally don’t think that in its present form the book of Hebrews is especially helpful to church people and even less, to non-churched people. As our culture has increasingly become bereft of any memory of both hymns and the biblical stories, books/epistles such as this becomes difficult to preach. It certainly can be done; maybe even the effort should be made to acquaint people with the ancient priesthood and its symbols and then move from there into the better-ness of Jesus.

However, there may be another way to think about preaching Hebrews. In the case of today’s lesson, it might be useful to begin with an analogy drawn from our own culture such as I tried to do in the "connections" section. You might refer to the movie, "The Red Violin," the unseen story of the life of violin as it passes through generation after generation. Such is the idea of a non-ending priesthood that Jesus offers.

Move from several current examples and then move back into the text in an analogous way before moving to the powerful qualities of benefits that Christ can offer us through his death, burial, and resurrection.