Thursday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, January 19, 2023

Hebrews 7, 25 - 8, 6

Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever. The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer. If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For God says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.

“Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.”  The Lord Jesus died on the Cross once and dies no more, as St. Paul tells us, and yet the work of salvation continues.  The Son stands before the Father, showing him the wounds by which he expiated our guilt, and pleads for each one of us.  We should think of the infinite love with which the Father loves his Son, and of the ready obedience of the Son to the Father’s will with which he showed the Father his infinite love for him.  How can the Father refuse a request of his dearly beloved Son who pleases him in every way?  We can say as a result that salvation is ours unless we throw it away.  If we could let go of our selfish, disordered, pursuit of our own will and begin to know the love of God, we would yearn for our salvation simply in order to please the God who offers it to us.

“It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.”  A priest is one who is appointed by God to carry out sacrifices on behalf of those on his care.  Jesus is The Priest because, appointed by the Father, he perfectly offers the perfect Sacrifice — himself.  “He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people.”  In order to offer sacrifices for others, the high priests has to first offer sacrifices for themselves so that they would be pure enough to carry out this work.  The Lord Jesus, The High Priest, has no need to do this since he is infinitely pure and free from sin.  Parenthetically, the verse should begin: “He has no need, as do the high priests.”  The tense of the verb is present, not past: this is important to note because this fact tells us that the Temple is still functioning at the time this Letter was written, so before 70 A.D., which is considerably earlier than what certain scholars tell us.  “He did that once for all when he offered himself”, that is, inasmuch as he took on a human nature, he offered his Sacrifice for it too, though he was free from any stain of sin.  This is in accord with his baptism by John though he himself had no need of it.

“We have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.”  The Jewish priesthood from the line of Aaron was the sign of The Priesthood of Jesus Christ.  The sign prepared the human race for its fulfillment in the Lord.  It accustomed the people to the need for an intercessor and to a worthy sacrifice that would take away sins.  It also helped people understand the seriousness of sin, for sins required a certain outlay for an animal that would be sacrificed on behalf of the sinner.  But sin is an offense against Almighty God and justice requires a sacrifice none of us could offer because of its infinite cost.  In his compassion for us, the Son of God joined himself to a human nature so that he could offer the infinite Sacrifice of himself to the Father, thereby fulfilling the requirements of justice.

“Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer.”  Jesus continuously offers up to the Father the Sacrifice of himself, interceding for us.  The Catholic Priest, who shares in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ shares in this intercession, as we see at Holy Mass, and offers up his Body and Blood in him.

“He would not be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law.”  The author is emphasizing that Jesus was not a priest according to the Old Law, but his Priesthood fulfilled and transcended that which was established under Moses on earth.

“They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle.”  The “tabernacle” here is the tent Moses erected to house the Ark of the Covenant.  The directions for this tent were later followed in the construction of the Temple because they were modeled after God’s sanctuary in heaven, according to the very literal mindset of the time.  For Christians, this tells us that we who are temples of the Holy Spirit must model ourselves after the Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom the Spirit came in the form of a dove.  We do this through the conversion of our minds from absorbed with the physical to that which is spiritual, and to our virtuous way of life.

“Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.”  The Old Covenant, the Old Law, the Temple, all had their own value as signs that would be completed and fulfilled by Jesus Christ, and which continue to this day to teach us about him and what he has done for us.