Hebrews chapter 7 Wrote:23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely[c] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of priesthood, lately.  One of the many things going on in my life right now is the exploration of what it might mean to be ordained in the Church of England and part of that process is speaking with vicars about what they think it means to be a priest.  I'm still at the start of this process and I'm not sure I've come to any kind of a conclusion, yet, but there's one thing of which I am sure: Jesus is my High Priest and this passage in Hebrews makes it clear that there is no other priest required for us anymore.

Of course, the Church needs leadership and I can see how that leadership taking the form of a priest might be particularly helpful for many Christians.  Nevertheless, all human priesthood, both before Christ and since, is but a signpost to the ultimate priesthood of Christ.

But what even is priesthood?  The nation of Israel was to be a royal priesthood to the world, even whilst the Levites and the descendents of Aaron were to be the priests for the Israelites.  The purpose of that priesthood, in both senses, was to be a witness to what it means to live God's way and to serve those outside of the priesthood in connecting them to God and performing the rituals of sacrifice and cleansing which atoned for sin.  Jesus, as the ultimate example of Godly living, the ultimate marriage of humanity and deity and the ultimate sacrifice, washing us of our sin with his very blood, fulfills all of these attributes once and for all.

As a final thought, I find it a great comfort that, as part of his priestly role, Jesus is always interceding for us.  He who teaches us how to pray in what has become the almost universal language of the Lord's prayer, is also constantly in touch with the Father about us!  If that isn't a thought to fall back on when we're feeling low and/or have lost the words to pray, then I'm not sure what could be.