Hebrews 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Every high priest is selected from among ordinary people and appointed to represent them before God — offering gifts and sacrifices for their failures.

He can deal gently with those who don't know any better and who've wandered off track, since he himself is wrapped in the same human weakness.

Because of this, he's required to offer sacrifices for his own failures too—not just the people's.

Nobody grabs this honor for themselves. You only get it when God calls you to it — just like He called Aaron.

The One didn't promote Himself to become high priest either. It was God who said to Him, "You are My Son — today I've made that known to the world."

And in another passage God says, "You are a priest forever — in the pattern of Melchizedek."

During His time on earth as a human being, Jesus cried out to God with loud shouts and tears — pleading with the One who had the power to rescue Him from death. And He was heard because of His deep reverence.

Even though He was God's Son, He learned what it really means to obey through the things He suffered.

And once He had been made completely ready, He became the source of an endless rescue for everyone who follows Him.

He was officially named by God as high priest in the pattern of Melchizedek.

There's so much more we want to say about this, but it's tough to explain because you've gotten lazy about really listening.

By this point, you should be the ones teaching other people. But instead, you need someone to go back and re-teach you the most basic things about what God has said. You've gone back to needing milk when you should be eating solid food.

Anyone who's still living on milk hasn't learned how to think through what it means to live the right way — they're still an infant.

But solid food is for the grown-ups — for people who have trained their senses through regular practice to distinguish between what's good and what's destructive.