Word to the Wise
Friday, January 21, 2011 - Thursday in the First Week in Ordinary Time
[Hebrews 7:25 - 8:6 and Mark 3:7-12]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. [Hebrews]
The Letter to the Hebrews offers considerable theological challenges to those who make the effort to go deeply into it. Large commentaries and learned books are dedicated to teasing out the implications of this document. Obviously my little reflections cannot do justice to a task like that, but I can point out a sample contained in the brief passage quoted above. Before doing that I want to remind myself and everyone else that each book of the New Testament must be read in the light of the others, and the Old Testament is read in the light of the New (and, to some extent, vice versa).
The question that can arise from today's selection is this: If Jesus offered himself once for all, why do we keep offering the "sacrifice of the Mass?" This was one of the major issues raised by the Protestant Reformation! How do we reconcile the "once and for all" with the words "Do this in memory of me?" The Letter to the Hebrews addresses itself to the discontinuance of the temple sacrifice with its animal and food offerings. The New Testament is consistent in teaching that Jesus replaced all that with his own body, and the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of a heavenly temple. So, we are confronted with what the Christian community has been doing since its first days: the preaching of the Word and the breaking of the bread! The "Eucharist" which we celebrate today is a continuance of that tradition.
The Second Vatican Council makes it clear that the entire community is involved in the offering at Mass. It is not simply and only the consecrated bread and wine that are offered, but also our lives and actions. Jesus made all this possible through his "once and for all" act of becoming human, dying and rising. But we cannot just celebrate that as an historical event that took place 2,000 years ago. He commanded that we make this event a part of our lives, to become, as it were, what we are offering: the Body of Christ. This is about as far as I can take it today and knowing, as I do, that there are some subtleties and nuances that are important in subjects as important as this one, I simply raise the question for meditation and not for controversy! It is something to think about! AMEN
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