Today’s first reading (Hebrews 7:25-8:6) shows again the contrast between the high priests of the Law and Christ, our new High Priest. The Hebrew Christians, to whom the Letter is addressed, are being reminded, once again, that Jesus Christ is far superior to the old Temple-based worship.
In the two verses immediately preceding today’s reading, the author reminds his readers that the former priests were many in number because they died off and had to be replaced. Christ, however, holds his priesthood permanently because he endures forever. Hence (and it is here that our reading begins) he is able for all time to be a source of salvation for us because his intercession on our behalf is never-ending.
In this, Christ is totally different from the Levitical priests. Jesus is even superior to the revered Melchizedek. Christ does not need to offer sacrifices every day for the sins of the people and for his own sins. Jesus made one sacrifice for the whole world and for all time, a sacrifice that does not need to be repeated. The Levitical priests offered animals in sacrifice, but our High Priest makes the unique offering of his totally sinless self, a single offering that was once for all time. The fulfilment of God’s oath makes the Son of God the perfect priest forever.
As we enter chapter 8, the superiority of Christ as High Priest is further emphasized. The argument goes on to show that what Christ does is superior to what the Levitical priests do: Christ’s sanctuary is better because it is in heaven, while the one on earth is only a dim copy of it, and the covenant brought by the mediation of Christ is a better covenant.
Our High Priest is not in a temple made by human hands. Rather, he: “…is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.” Before the building of the Temple by Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant, representing the presence of Yahweh among his people, was housed in a special tent or tabernacle. God dwells in an altogether superior “Holy of Holies”, and it is there that Christ has access to his Father on an equal and permanent level.
The role of every priest is to offer gifts and sacrifices, but our High Priest also has something better to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest in the ordinary human sense, because the priests only made offerings in accordance with the Law, that is, for the sins of the people and their own sins. Christ’s offering is made purely on our behalf. He does not need to make sacrifices for himself. On the contrary, he is the Perfect Offering, pleasing to the Father.
The priests make their offering in a sanctuary that is only a pale shadow of the heavenly sanctuary where God dwells. When Moses was about to erect the tent or tabernacle (in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed), he was told by Yahweh to make it exactly according to the instructions he was given on Mount Sinai. As such, it had all the limitations of human workmanship. The use of the present tense here leads some to believe that the Temple was still standing and functioning, and that these words must have been written prior to 70 AD, when Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed by the emperor Titus (an event commemorated in the Arch of Titus still to be seen in the Roman Forum).
But Christ, as Priest, has been given a much higher form of ministry and is the mediator between God and us of a new and better covenant, a covenant which is being carried out according to better promises. How, then, can the Hebrew Christians be thinking of going back to the old dispensation when the new one with Jesus Christ is on a totally different level and can do so much more for them?
It is for us to remember that we, too, are sharers in this new dispensation. Let us thank Christ for the gift of the Church, for his Living Word and for the many ways in which our lives are nourished by our adherence to our High Priest.
The summary text in today’s gospel (Mark 3:7-12) shows the tremendous drawing power of Jesus with ordinary people. It is in stark contrast with the preceding passages of conflict with the religious leaders who were out to destroy him. People were coming, not only from Galilee, where Jesus was living and working, but from Jerusalem and Judea in the south, from across the river Jordan and even from gentile regions like Tyre and Sidon. They came because of all they had heard about what he was doing.
So great were the crowds that Jesus had to ask his disciples to get a boat so that he would not be crushed. Huge numbers of people, who had heard of his healing powers, wanted to touch him. They felt that touching was enough to be healed. Their attitudes were still largely superficial. They were coming for their own immediate needs and not as true followers. They came to get, not to give or to share.
Nevertheless, Jesus would not turn them away. He knew that they had great needs which only he could satisfy. He was full of compassion for them and anxious to bring healing into their lives. He is also full of compassion for us, and if asked, will bring healing into our souls, too.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!