Exodus 29:9  And you shall wrap their waists with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and fit caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a permanent statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

I once had an 8th grade student that was very advanced so I worked it out for him to be in high school band. One day while working on some music, the students were struggling to get a part right. Finally, I had Jim play it and it was correct. I said to the band, “this is how it’s done.” To this, one of the older students replied, “Yeah, but he practices!”

As silly as that statement was, the boy was on to something: there was really only one real difference between them and the ‘advanced’ 8th grader. Other than a lot of practice, they were pretty much the same.

Moses has been on Mt. Sinai hearing from God and getting instructions on how the Israelites were to begin living. God told Moses to treat Aaron and his sons differently. They would be the priests. They would have special clothes. They would have oil poured over them. They would be the ones to stand before God, offering the sacrifice, representing the people to God and God to the people.

But it didn’t take long to realize, they weren’t that special. Two of Aaron’s sons proved that in dramatic fashion! Without the special sashes, hats, oil, etc., they were pretty much the same. In fact, Aaron and his sons didn’t just offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people, they had sins of their own!

Wouldn’t it be great if their was One who was without sin? One Who could represent us to God without His own guilt getting in the way? Well, there is and we just celebrated His birth! Jesus is our great High Priest! (He was also the Sacrifice!) Because of Him, and only because of Him, we can have forgiveness and peace with God. It was no special outfit that made Him different. He came as a baby, lived as a man, but was also God. We can never be what He is. But we don’t have to be. Because of Him we don’t have to be what we were!

Blessings,

Pastor Russ