The first time I ever heard about the offices of Jesus, quite naturally I thought of a room with a desk in it, where Jesus would do paperwork.
Obviously I wasn’t familiar with the definition of “office” as a position of authority and public service, like “the office of the President.” Nor are we Americans familiar with the idea of a person holding more than one office, ’cause our Constitution forbids it: You can’t be both Secretary of State and Defense, or a member of Congress and a governor. You have to resign one of those offices. So the closest thing we Americans have to compare with Jesus’s multiple offices would be a public official with a really big job description and a whole lot of departments under him. (For most of us, living in a Kingdom is gonna take some getting used to.)
The three that Christians tend to trot out most is that Eusebius of Caesarea’s idea that Jesus is our prophet, priest, and King. Of course, those clearly aren’t the only positions that Jesus has. His offices include ambassador, apostle, bridegroom, commander, elder, evangelist, firstborn son, gatekeeper, healer, judge, king, master, priest, prophet, sage, servant, teacher, shepherd, watchman, and witness. There are many more; He has a huge job description. But I will only focus on four.
Prophet.
Of course, Jesus is a prophet. (Lk 24.19) A prophet is someone who passes messages from God to other people, and Jesus definitely did that:
In Deuteronomy 18, when Moses told the Hebrews to look out for prophets because God would send them a prophet like Moses. The Hebrews sorta expected this statement to be fulfilled by a super prophet; one who would be as great as Moses or better. (Jn 1.21, 25) While it’s debatable whether that’s what God meant by referring to a prophet like Moses, Jesus certainly does fulfill the criteria for a super-prophet. For one really obvious reason: Jesus is God.
Jesus is a theophany. He is the exact representation—in human form—of God, (Cl 2.9) and anything God wants to express to His people. Other prophets can misunderstand or misrepresent God; He’s really difficult to figure out sometimes. But Jesus understands Him fully, and if you look at Jesus you see God. (Jn 14.7)
While Jesus is only saying whatever the Father wants Him to say, (Jn 12.49-50) the fact that Jesus is God means that whatever He says, God says. Whatever He does, God does. He is both messenger and message. This is why John calls Him “the Word” (Jn 1.1-3) —Jesus’s entire existence is a message to us from God that He has given us His grace. (Jn 1.14, 16-17)
Lastly, Jesus doesn’t just give prophecy, but fulfills it. Many of the ancient Hebrew prophecies point directly at Him. Many more do it indirectly; Jesus is foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament. One could say that part of His job as prophet is to fulfill the rest of the prophecies about Him that we find throughout the bible… but by and large He does that through His other offices.
High priest.
Priests intercede with God on behalf of their people. Jesus does the same thing in heaven; He’s at the Father’s right hand on our behalf as our advocate, pleading our case. Of course as God, He doesn’t have to beg and plead with God; He’s already on our side, and absolutely nothng can get in the way of His successful intercession. (Ro 8.34-39) He makes God kind of a biased judge in our favor, but I’m not complaining.
Of course, Jesus can do the high-priest job far better than any previous earthly high priest because He’s doing it from the vantage point of heaven; because He’s not going to die twice, so He can do this forever; (He 7.23-25) because He’s both priest and sacrifice. Part of ancient worship is that priests had to offer God sacrifices to cover people’s sin. Jesus offered Himself. (He 9.12-15) Unlike other sacrifices, which were only good for a year, Jesus’s sacrifice is good for eternity. Unlike other priests, He didn’t have to make a sacrifice for Himself first, since He never sinned. (He 9.26-28)
Rabbi.
If you ask people what Jesus’s job was on earth, most folks would say He was a carpenter. (Mk 6.3) Of course, you don’t see Him doing any carpentry in the bible… because He quit that job in order to do what we do see Him doing in the bible: He was a teacher.
In Jesus’s day, a rabbi, which is Aramaic for master, taught children how to read and write, and taught young men (what we’d usually call “teenagers” nowadays) theology—what God is like—and how to search the bible, how to speak publicly, and how to otherwise become participating members in the worship community. That’s what Jesus did for a living. That’s why we see Him in the synagogues so often, and why He butted heads with Pharisees so often, and why He was surrounded by disciples who acted like children—whom He regularly called children. (Ignore the movies and the art; they weren’t the same age as Jesus. For a few of them, He was old enough, in that culture, to be their dad.)
While prophets give direct messages from God, rabbis give indirect ones. They explain the bible. They explain how God relates to His people and His universe. Jesus, being God, could explain the bible better than anyone. He could explain exactly how the universe works because He created it. (Jn 1.3) He knows all the physical and spiritual laws. He doesn’t have to analyze it to understand it. The wisest man, King Solomon, (1Ki 4.29-34) was nothing compared with Jesus. (Mt 12.42, Lk 11.31)
Because Jesus knows how the universe works, sometimes His teachings seem totally opposite of the way people say things should be:
- The first will become last. (Mk 9.35)
- To become great, become slaves. (Mt 23.11, Lk 22.24-28)
- To save your life, lose it. (Mt 10.39, Mk 8.35, Lk 9.24)
- Sickness or disability is not God’s curse. (Jn 9.1-3)
- God shows strength through weak people. (2Co 12.8-10)
Jesus followed His own teachings. He made Himself nothing, became a slave, and died for us. (Pp 2.7-8) He knew what He was talking about. Following His example is the best way to live.
You might notice in Christianity we don’t have rabbis. (Well, unless you’re involved in the Messianic Jewish movement.) This is because we recognize that Jesus didn’t pass down His job as rabbi to anyone else. He’s still our rabbi; there aren’t any others, and we’re all His students. (Mt 23.8-10)
Now, in practice, we Christians sorta have rabbis. Various Christians, like me, teach theology and discipleship. But, apart from various folks who get full of themselves and want to start cults, we don’t have a master among us who has the final say about what God thinks and doesn’t think. We all defer to Jesus. (Or at least we’re meant to.)
If you aren’t beginning to learn about God through listening to Jesus Himself, then maybe it’s about time you start.
King.
Jesus was descended from the kings of Israel. Or at least King David, depending on which of the genealogies of Him in the gospels is correct. Either way, He fulfills the prophecy made by Nathan that a descendant of David will rule Israel forever. (1Ch 17.11-14) And one of a king’s titles is Messiah, meaning “anointed one,” referring to how they’d officially make him king by pouring about a liter of oil over his head. In Greek, Messiah was translated Khristos, which is where we get Christ. So calling Jesus “Christ” is really another way of calling Him “King.”
Jesus is king over the Kingdom of God. So His kingship is a little tricky to understand because His Kingdom is a little tricky to understand. It’s not a physical kingdom (yet), nor is it imposed by force.
Other kings have to force their subjects to obey them, whereas our king’s subjects, for the most part, obey Him voluntarily. We obey Him because we love Him. (1Jn 5.2-4) In the future the Kingdom will become a physical kingdom, and at that point everyone will have to acknowledge Jesus’s kingship. (Pp 2.9-11) But He much prefers voluntary followers. He wants to rule us from within, not without.
As Jesus demonstrated by washing feet, leadership in the Kingdom does not work by giving orders and cultivating yes-men to tell us how brilliant we are. It works by serving one another like Jesus serves us. (Jn 13.12-16) It works by coming down from whatever throne we’re offered, and offering to help. It works by love.
Jesus, being the perfect man, makes the perfect king. He always does the good and right thing. He doesn’t suffer from mood swings. He isn’t cranky one day, then overly generous another. He won’t die and be replaced by a less capable descendant. Jesus reigns forever. (Rv 22.3-5) And as the king of everything—the king of kings—we follow nobody but Him. (Rv 17.14) Wouldn’t want to follow anyone else.