Better — Part 4 | Our Better Priest
Who are you still trying to prove yourself to? Most of us are running an invisible loop, chasing approval from parents, spouses, kids, bosses, or a scoreboard we invented in our own head. And even when we get the approval, it wears off almost immediately, and we start the loop again. In Part 4 of Better, Pastor Jess DiSabatino digs into one of the strangest sections of Hebrews (a mysterious priest named Melchizedek) to explain something Jesus does for you that no human ever could. He is the priest who never goes off shift.
Series: Better
Scripture: Hebrews 5-7 | Genesis 14 | Psalm 110
Pastor: Jess DiSabatino
Date: July 26, 2026
Key Takeaways
The longing to prove yourself is evidence you were made for a priest. Every human being carries an inner ache to be validated, absolved, and declared okay. The anthropologist Ernest Becker noted that people spend their lives looking for redemption, absolution, and justification from someone. Usually a parent, a spouse, a boss, or a version of themselves they never quite become. That hunger is not wrong. What is wrong is where we take it. Pastor Jess shared her own version of it: eldest daughter syndrome. Growing up she worked tirelessly to earn her teachers' approval and praise. Her siblings teased her for being the classic teacher's pet. But looking back she realized approval was always temporary. The praise faded within days, and the hunger came right back. This is the human loop. A priest is a go-between. Someone who closes the distance between you and God. The longing you have to prove yourself to someone is evidence that you have always needed a priest. The only question is whether you have found the right one.
The old system was scaffolding. God signaled its replacement was coming. Under the Mosaic Law, priesthood was strictly hereditary and limited to the tribe of Levi. You needed literal papers. Personal spirituality did not qualify you. Good deeds did not qualify you. Only lineage did. Then in Genesis 14, out of nowhere, a mysterious priest named Melchizedek appears with no recorded father, no mother, no genealogy, no priestly credentials. And Abraham, the patriarch of the entire nation of Israel, tithes to him and receives his blessing. The lesser is blessed by the greater. Which means Melchizedek's priesthood was somehow higher than the Levitical line before Levi was even born. And a thousand years later in Psalm 110, God prophesies that the coming Messiah would be a priest not in the order of Aaron, but in the order of Melchizedek. That prophecy signaled something important: the old system was scaffolding. Nobody orders a replacement for something that is working perfectly. Pastor Jess put it in everyday terms. She and her husband drive an old Honda Pilot with over 400,000 kilometers on it, and they are actively looking for a replacement because it is reaching its limit. You do not shop for a new furnace in July while your current one is heating your house just fine. God announced a new priesthood because the old one was never meant to be the final answer.
Jesus holds His priesthood by the power of an indestructible life. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, not Levi. On paper under the old law, He had no priestly credentials. But Hebrews 7:16 says His appointment as High Priest did not rest on legal requirement or bodily descent. It rested on "the power of an indestructible life." His resurrection is the proof. Here is the whole book of Hebrews chapter 5 through 7 in about sixty seconds. A priest without papers, Melchizedek, appeared in Genesis, and Abraham deferred to him. A thousand years later God promised in Psalm 110 to send a Messiah like him, because you do not replace a system that is working. Jesus arrived from the wrong tribe without traditional papers, died, and rose again. He holds an eternal priesthood because He never dies. That is the whole argument.
Jesus saves to the uttermost and never goes off shift. Because Jesus lives forever, Hebrews 7:25 says He is "able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Save to the uttermost. Not partially. Not conditionally. No mistake so deep, no failure so recent, no history so tangled that His reach cannot cover it. Human priests died. Human pastors change churches. Human mentors move away. Human parents fall short. Everyone eventually goes off shift. Jesus does not. He holds His priesthood permanently because He continues forever. He never sleeps, never resigns, never gets promoted to something else. Right now, in this exact moment, He is at the right hand of the Father representing you.
Jesus is the perfect fusion of King and Priest, truth and tears. In ancient Israel the offices of King and Priest were strictly separated for good reason. The King spoke on behalf of God to the people, declaring truth and judgment. The Priest spoke on behalf of the people to God, weeping and standing in the gap. Melchizedek was the rare exception. He was both King of Salem (Peace) and King of Righteousness. And in Jesus, both roles perfectly merge. You can see it clearly in John 11 at the tomb of Lazarus. When Martha approached Jesus grieving, He acted as King. He declared truth: "I am the resurrection and the life." When Mary approached Him grieving with the same words, He acted as High Priest. He did not correct her. He did not lecture her. He wept with her. Same words. Two different needs. Both received exactly what they needed. Truth without grace is just cruelty. Grace without truth is just sentiment. Jesus is the only one in history who can hand you both at the same time.
