Semester 2 has kicked off with a Public Meeting series on Hebrews titled “Greater Than,” exploring the various major themes of Hebrews. Hebrews suggests that Jesus and the new covenant are greater than those in the old covenant. My estimate is that over 300 students attended the week.

Week 1 had packed venues each day, looking at Hebrews 1-2: “Jesus is greater than angels”. Questions were raised “Why even bother comparing Jesus to angels?” And “What is with the statements which suggest that Jesus was ‘appointed’ Son or ‘became’ superior or ‘inherited’ a superior name? Wasn’t he always superior and wasn’t he always the Son?” It was argued that the reason for the comparison to angels was to show that the message spoken through the Son is greater than the message spoken through angels (Hebrews 2:2). The question behind this comparison, it was argued, was that since the Son has become human doesn’t that mean he was made lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7)? In Hebrews 1 the writer is seeking to show from seven Old Testament quotes that the human messiah was destined for greatness even greater than the angels. The upshot is that we must pay careful attention to this final decisive word of God spoken through the Son, since it promises a great salvation. This is not a once of listening to God’s word but a continual listening to his word so that we do not get distracted and drift away.

In week 2, students were told that Jesus is the great high priest in the order of Melchizedek who meets our needs. They explored chapters 5 and 7, looking at the enigmatic figure of Melchizedek and the amazing declaration in Psalm 110:4 where the Messiah is promised that he will be a forever priest in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus qualifies since he was raised from the dead to be a forever priest; he was also appointed by God to this priesthood and offered the perfect sacrifice that perfectly saves. His becoming human, his suffering to learn obedience, and his powerful resurrection make him the priest that we desperately needed. In his role as priest, Jesus can both sympathise with us in our weakness and save us completely from our sins since he offered the perfect sacrifice and now lives forever to intercede for us. We should therefore go to him in our time of need to receive grace and mercy.

Following our time together in the public meeting, the students are invited to lunch together on a designated lawn or an internal venue if wet. It was wonderful to see the students discussing Hebrews with each other and raising their questions. About six students raised their concern for some of their friends who feel that they would get more sympathy by praying to saints or Mary. They wanted to know how they could gently encourage their friends to see Jesus as the perfect priest for them, who is able to sympathise with them and give them what they need. It is a great privilege to see students wrestle deeply with God’s word, apply it to their lives and want to share it with others.

– Moussa Ghazal, EU Senior Staff