JEHOVAH IS AN APPRECIATIVE GOD - "A Merciful and Faithful High Priest"

"A Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Being "the image of the invisible God," Jehovah, Jesus always perfectly imitates his Father in showing appreciation for those who serve God out of a clean heart.  (Colossians 1:15)  For example, five days before surrendering his life, Jesus and some of his disciples were guests in the home of Simon and Bethany. During the evening, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, "took a pound of perfumed oil, genuine nard, very costly"  (worth about a year's wages), and poured it onto Jesus' head and feet.  (John 12:3) "Why this waste?"  Said some.  Jesus, however, saw Mary's gesture in a very different light.  He viewed it as an act of great generosity and of deep; significance  in view of his imminent death and burial.  Hence, rather than criticise Mary, Jesus honored her, "Wherever  this good news is preached in all the world," he said,"what this woman did shall also be told as a remembrance of her." -Matthew 26:6-13.

How privileged we are to have such an appreciative person as Jesus as our Leader!  In fact, Jesus' life as a human prepared him for the work Jehovah had in store for him-serving as High Priest and King, first of the congregation of anointed ones and then of the world. -Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 7:26; Revelation 11:15.

Before coming to earth, Jesus already had a deep interest in and a special fondness for mankind.  (Proverbs 8:31)  By living as a human,  he came to appreciate more fully the trials we experience in our service to God.  "[Jesus] was obliged to become like his 'brothers' in all respects," wrote the apostle Paul, "that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest . . .For in that he himself has suffered when being put to the test, he is able to come to the aid of those who are being put to the test."  Jesus can "sympathize with our weaknesses," because he "has been tested in all respect like ourselves, but with out sin." -Hebrews 2:17, 18; 4:15, 16.

The heightened appreciation Jesus had for his followers' trials became evident after he was resurrected.  Consider his letters to the seven congregations in Asia Minor, as penned by the apostle John.  To the congregation in Smyrna, Jesus said:  "I know your tribulation and poverty." Here, Jesus was saying, in effect, 'I fully understand your problems; I really know what you are going through.'  Then, with  both the compassion and the authority borne of his own suffering to the very death, Jesus added:  "Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will give you the crown of life." -Revelation 2:8-10.

Next time: Conclusion of  "A Merciful and Faithful High Priest"

The Watchtower, 2007