Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God. (Heb. 5:1)
Expanded Passage: Hebrews 5:1-14
In the field of social work there are two approaches to understanding a community: “needs-based” and “assets-based.” These assessments are precisely as they sound. However, for the felt realities of a community’s needs and assets to be properly understood, the best person to represent them isn’t an outsider, but someone deeply acquainted with the lived experience of that community.
This is why the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 is anointed to represent the people, a population of those who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). To reconcile fallen humanity and a holy God would require a representative who was fully God and man, a Son who would be the peace between the two, tearing down the divisions and making the Father available through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:14–18).
But the work of a priest doesn’t stop there; it’s shared. As people who are reconciled and have received the mercy and grace of God, we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, . . . called . . . out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). According to Paul, we are also commissioned to represent Christ in how we carry out his message and ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19–20). So, who has God called us to bring into the fold?
Stand in the gap for those who surround you.
Amy Boyle lives in Indianapolis, where she’s a disciple, friend, and neighbor, an Indiana Wesleyan alum and twenty-something, passionate about knowing Jesus and making him known.
© 2026 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
