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Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This is a sad story, the story of Eli. But it’s an interesting story in that Eli was a faithful priest as far as his priestly duties went. Meaning prayer, encouragement, interceding before God for the people. Exactly as the book of Hebrews describes an earthly priest. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
So Eli was given this honor, this honor to be priest. And with that honor comes a lot of responsibility and some power. Eli’s Achilles’ heel were his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. He actually loved those two sons more and honored those two sons more than he honored God. They were the ones who misused the sacrifices and took more meat than was due them. And yet Eli was the one responsible for their actions. They were the ones who committed adultery with the women at the entrance to the tent of meeting, not Eli. And yet Eli was the one held responsible for their actions.
So when God punishes Eli, why would he punish Eli for the sins of Hophni and Phinehas? Our sins affect one another. We’re not independent of one another. As sons, Hophni and Phinehas’ sins affected their father and affected him as God’s priest. No different than your sins affect your spouse, and their sins affect you. No different than your sins affected your parents, and your parents’ sins affected you. No different than pastor and my sins affect you as our people, and you as our people’s sins affect us as pastors. We’re not independent of one another. We’re joined with one another.
Where Eli came to terms with his sin was the fact that he didn’t handle Hophni and Phinehas in the right manner. He misused that authority not just as priest, but as parent. Hophni and Phinehas weren’t even believers, as the text said. In fact, the text calls them worthless men. But the text also described Eli as honoring his sons more than he honored God. We’ve been exposed to that in other people’s lives when we’ve watched other people. We’ve seen how they were parented or even ourselves were parented.
We’ve seen how parents, teachers, business owners, you name any, and there is always a different way of handling their own flesh and blood, just as we were handled differently by our own parents. Sometimes overly wrong, sometimes underly. But either way, the sins affected one another. This is why this is a sad story. Because Eli in his life, remember, had a huge influence on Hannah. Eli in his life had a huge influence on Solomon. God used Eli for those two people’s lives. And yet Eli was, well, he was seemingly ineffective with his own children.
The difference is that Jesus is our great high priest. And when he suffered, he didn’t bend. He didn’t bend. You see, when you and I don’t have to suffer, it’s very easy to honor God above anyone or anything. But when we have to endure suffering for our sin, or suffering for doing the right thing, then it’s very difficult to be faithful. It’s very difficult to honor God. Jesus, though, however, very clear in this evening’s second text from Hebrews, was obedient during suffering. He chose the right thing even when it caused him pain and grief. He honored God above all so that you would be honored by God as his children.
He was obedient in all things so that you would not have God’s back turned upon you. But Jesus would endure that on the cross for you. The text says he was tempted in every way yet without sin. And he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows how frail we are. He knows how we choose favorites. He knows how we honor others and ourself more than we honor God. And he chose to honor God for you. That you may be honorable to God by your adoption as his children.
This is not just about woes me about Eli. Eli did have to live with the consequences of his sin. He had to hear that Hophni and Phinehas died. It is probably assumed from the text that Eli died a believer. And Eli had to find confidence in God’s great mercy and forgiveness, didn’t he? Just like David did. Just like Paul did. Just like Peter did. Just like all of the saints of the scriptures whose lives did not show obedience and honor to God, where their lives showed a misuse of authority and responsibility, where they folded under pressure and didn’t stand up.
Christ did so that we would, as the text said, have confidence. Confidence to draw near Him because of our priest, the great High Priest Christ, whose perfect intercession for you makes you righteous, whose obedience covers your disobedience, and whose honor of God in the midst of suffering, for all the times when we folded and caved to our own anger, our own pride, and our own favoritism, all of this was done so that we would draw near with confidence, that we would be finding mercy and grace, as the text said.
Brothers and sisters, as we prepare for the glorious celebration of the birth of the perfect high priest Christ, we mourn our sins as Eli did. And we draw near with confidence, as Eli did in his dying day, as David did, as Peter did, so shall we. In the name of the one who endured all things for our honor, Jesus, amen.