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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"That He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God." For this cause (he means) He took on Him our flesh, only for Love to man, that He might have mercy upon us. For neither is there any other cause of the economy, but this alone. For He saw us, cast on the ground, perishing, tyrannized over by Death, and He had compassion on us. "To make reconciliation," he says, "for the sins of the people. That He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest." What is "faithful"? True, able. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Since, he says, He was pleased to accept our nature, it was entirely consistent for Him to become like us in all things, that is, to be born, to be brought up, to grow, to endure all that was necessary, and finally, to die; this is what it means — to become like us in all things. "To be a merciful and faithful high priest before God" — it was for nothing other, he says, than to through it have mercy on us and restore the deeply fallen that He assumed our flesh. In what way? …
Oecumenius
"Therefore, he had to be made." Since he deemed it necessary to fully partake, from this point onward, he had to be in all respects made similar to humans. For he was born, he grew, he ate, he drank, he slept, he died, he rose again. "that he might be a merciful." These things, he says, were arranged for no other reason than that he may have mercy on those on earth and lift them up from the grave. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
150. – Then (v. 17) he concludes to a likeness. As if to say: Therefore, because He did not assume an angel but the seed of Abraham, it behooved him in all things to become like unto his brethren. In all things, I say, in which they are brethren, not in guilt but in punishment. Therefore, it behooved Him to have a nature that could suffer; hence 'one tempted in all things as we are, without sin' (Heb. 4:15). …
Bonaventure
The mystery of human redemption accomplished through the incarnate and crucified Word is the great sacrament of piety. I say that the incarnate Son of God assumed our poverty. What brought this about? Certainly piety. "Whence he ought in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Through piety he assumed flesh, ascended the cross, was raised from the dead, sent the Holy Spirit upon the earth, called the Church to …
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