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readings this morning to all of you in texas and Alabama Mississippi. I know we have people out in California even this morning, the great Austin Seminary diaspora as it might be amidst are continuing pandemic and at

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the end of spring break, I'm here in Tennessee this morning and and thankful to be with you, Hebrews provides us a rich and provocative image of jesus and more than any other place in the new testament

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. We find here the divinity and humanity of jesus woven together in beautiful ways. Much about the origins of this letter is steeped in mystery who wrote it and to whom and when. For Hebrews, we

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have to speculate on those questions more than any other new testament book. For some reason, the author's name has either been withheld or maybe even suppressed early in christian history. Some recent scholars have suggested this

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was because it was written by Priscilla, who as a woman faced her own type of persecution within the church regardless of the author. What is clear is that Hebrews was written to people facing persecution. People

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wondering whether they should continue in the way of jesus because of the hardships and sufferings they have encountered and people whose strength to continue is nearly overcome by their weakness in the letter of Hebrews, we do not

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merely find christ the savior, but christ the mediator between God and humanity, christ the author of our salvation, jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, christ, who intercedes for us as high

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priest, making atonement for us, and also Jesus as the prototype and model of the kind of race that we have been called to run as Hebrews wrestles with the divinity and humanity of Jesus. It also

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explores what it means to be a follower of jesus , And we discover the path that Jesus took is not an easy one. Again, verse seven tells us Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries

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and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and having been

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made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. The divinity of jesus , and he bruises clearly, asserted. The jesus of Hebrews is the son of God, greater than

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the angels, greater than moses greater than the patriarchs . But what's striking in this passage is the emphasis that even the Son of God grows and learns and matures. Christ suffering was not merely for show.

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Rather, Jesus learns obedience and matures through his experiences of suffering. And the author tells us that Jesus prays not serenely or with quiet dignity, but with loud cries and tears to the one who was able

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to save him from death. And it becomes clear in this passage and throughout Hebrews that this jesus, this high priest, no matter how kingly, no matter how divine is also one who understands and experiences

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what it means to be human. And in fact , if we go back to the beginning of Chapter five, we find this theme even more clearly presented . Chapter five begins this way, every high priest

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chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is subject

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to weakness. And because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called

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by God, Just as Aaron was jesus, our high priest is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is subject to weakness. I actually think that there are aspects of the american

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culture in which we have been steeped that tempt us to try to escape our humanity, deny our weakness , screw up our courage and to attempt to give the impression of living life above the fray of our

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weakness and sin and fragility, indefinitely ignorance, anything less is considered simply not professional. And this may be especially true for those who find themselves called pastors and for those who find themselves called professors. Growing

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up, I attended a large traditional conservative church with 100 person choir every sunday morning and people dressed in their sunday best and where the pastor of the church was highly esteemed you, you know, this kind

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of church and this man who was the pastor was larger than life, always in a black suit for a church. Even even on work days, I remember weeding the garden with the youth group and the

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pastor came out in his suit to help. He was above reproach though ultimately as well. And when I felt it call the ministry in high school, I felt incredibly honored that he wanted to mentor me

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. He picked me up in his black BMW with black leather interior. I figured that all pastors must have a BMW and well, I'm still trying to aspire to that, not there. And he took

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me to lunch at these expensive restaurants and he talked to me about about ministry. And I'll never forget when one day he shared with me the three keys to being a great pastor that he had learned from

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his mentor. These are the three keys to being a great pastor. He told me be intellectually superior , socially separate and dressed with distinction. Now this shocking and ridiculous as that picture of the pastor might

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be intellectually superior, socially separate and dressed with distinction . Those are the keys of ministry. It's ridiculous . But I wonder if we still fall prey to some aspects of that recipe for ministry that involves trying

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to deny our weakness, deny our temptations, are suffering, our pain, our ignorance, our humanness . Today, I can clearly see that the intellectual superiority, social separateness and dressing with distinction of the

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pastor under whom I grew up wasn't a result of having risen above his humanness. It was a carefully crafted facade to hide his humanity from even himself. Hebrews tells us that our high priest, jesus is

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able to deal gently with our failings, foibles, ignorance and weakness, but I wonder if we are able to deal gently with our own imperfections and suffering and to be human with the people that we pastor

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and teach. Desmond Tutu has said all of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others. But I wonder if this has to begin by accepting the humanity in ourselves. I think the way of

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maturing toward perfection that we see discussed here in hebrews five is not one that comes by denying our weakness , suffering and ignorance, but one that comes by learning through it, amidst the community that calls itself

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by the name of Jesus. Our high priest,