Monday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, January 18, 2021

Hebrews 5:1-10

Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my Son: this day I have begotten you; just as he says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.  

“Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”  St. Paul very succinctly and elegantly defines exactly what a priest (of whatever level) is and what he does.  He “is taken from among men” so that he no longer belongs with them, but is set apart.  In order for the priest to learn this, he must not live among other men, but ought either to live away from them alone or with other priests.  It is necessary for him to learn and to know his unique state so that he can perform his duty properly.  His is not a job like any other, but is completely unlike other jobs or responsibilities.  He is made “their representative before God: he is an appointed sign of other men in the presence of God.  “To offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”  The priest does this   on behalf of others.  If he were not appointed for this task by God himself, he could only offer “gifts and sacrifices” for himself.  He would represent only himself.  

“He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness.”  The Greek says, “able to have compassion”, which is more than “dealing patiently” because “dealing patiently” is merely an outward action and does not speak to what is in the heart.  Thus, the priest’s compassion informs and motivates his work of sacrifice because he himself “is beset with weakness”.  The true priest does not hide his weakness from himself as though it were beneath him to have any weakness, but admits this fact to himself, allowing him to marvel that God chose him at all for this work.  “For this reason, [he] must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.”  Now, he, as one possessing a fallen human nature, may be affected with weakness — but not malice, a very different thing.  “No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.”  The point, for Paul, is important enough to reiterate: the priest “is taken from among men and made their representative” — both verbs in the passive voice.  “No one takes this honor” — active voice.  “But only when called by God” — passive voice.  The work is God’s, not a man’s.  A man cannot ordain himself to the priesthood.   The word translated here as “honor” can also mean “price” or “value”.  The priest cannot impose worthiness or value upon himself anymore than a slave could in ancient times.  It must come from a higher authority.  “As Aaron”.  Before God sent Moses to Pharaoh, Aaron was just another Hebrew slave making bricks out of clay and mud for the Egyptians.  “In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest.”  The Lord Jesus is the model, the exemplar, here.  But even he, the Son of God, did not glorify himself in his ordination by the Father.  This brings to mind Paul saying that the Lord, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2, 6): that is, the Son knowing himself to be begotten by the Father, understood that all he was and had came from the Father, his divinity included.  The human priest must possess this most profound humility and self-knowledge or he will fail in his duties (however well he might seem to the human eye to execute them) and be lost forever.  

That God has begotten a Son is clear from the words of the Psalm: “You are my Son: this day I have begotten you” (Psalm 2, 7).  To this verse Paul couples Psalm 110, 4: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  Both of these psalms were regarded by the Jews as pertaining to the Messiah.  We note here that the Father, speaking in the Psalm, does not call his Son a priest forever “according to the order of Aaron”, which would have been expected, since it was the descendants of Aaron who formed the Temple priesthood.  No, this is an utterly different Priesthood, one from the line of Shem, the son of Noah, who lived into the times of Abraham and became known as the “righteous king” , the meaning of “Melchizedek”.  Noah offered sacrifices, as priest, pleasing to God after the Flood.  This is a Priesthood of righteousness, then.  It is the fulfillment of the priesthood of Aaron, which was but a sign.  The Lord Jesus, then, is not only the new High Priest, but the High Priest of the Priesthood of righteousness.  “In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.”  No Jewish high priest ever offered sacrifices in this way.  The Lord did this because of the compassion he had for others, having taken their flesh upon himself, and also because of his love for them as the God who created them — each one of them, individually, with care and foresight.  The love of our God is such that he even weeps for unrepentant sinners: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones them that are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered together your children, as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not?” (Matthew 23, 37).  “When he was in the Flesh”: during his lifetime on earth, as distinct from his life in heaven in which his Flesh is glorified.  This verse indicates that the Lord Jesus was offering sacrifices for us all through his life, and not only at his Passion.  Or, we can see his whole life as one great Sacrifice, culminating in his Passion and Death.  “He was heard because of his reverence.”  The Greek word translated here as “reverence” actually means “obedience”.  The Lord Jesus did not make exterior offerings such as cattle and goats to his Father for us, but offered himself in obedience to him.  The “price” of his Priesthood was himself: he was ordained by the Father to offer himself.  “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”  That is, his human nature learned it.  He learned obedience from his sufferings in that he understood that obedience costs something substantial of the one who offers it.  There is no easy obedience.  It is itself a sacrifice, and it is offered here not because of a superior master, but out of absolute love for his Father and out of compassion for us.  

“In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”  These few verses comprise the deepest insight into our Savior and his life.  They, along with the opening verses of St. John’s Gospel, are the most significant words ever written.  They reveal to us the truth of God and man, of divinity and humanity.  They reveal the Heart of our Lord for us.  Do we draw near, or do we look away?  Do we enter his Heart or flee for our childish diversions?  

These verses also tell us of the Priesthood our Lord has established, and in which those whom he calls, share.  They are priests in the Priest; they are alter Christus — another Christ — not symbolically or even as a sign, but truly.  Only in this way could the Lord’s Sacrifice be perpetuated on earth, could his command, “Do this in memory of me”, be accomplished.  Because they are weak, sharing in the fallen human nature which is the lot of all the members of our species, save the Blessed Virgin Mary, they must be prayed for that in all things they may act in Christ and for Christ, continuing his Offering day after day, making his obedience and love their own, in their hearts.