Thoughts for the Day

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During October this year we have been looking at readings from the Epistle to the Hebrews to look at the work of Jesus Christ, and we continue this today. It is not easy to understand (or to write about), but it's worth it. Human desire to make a connection to God helped the early Hebrews create holy places and ritual around their worship. We see in Exodus (25.1-9) that God orders his people to make a Tabernacle (a tent or place of meeting) where he would dwell, and which was portable. This would be used for decades until Solomon built the first Temple.

The relationship between God and His people is built on the covenant they had made with each other, but the sin of the people breaks that covenantal relationship. So each year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies (which held the Ark of the Covenant with the stone tablets of the Law) to make atonement for his sin and the sin of the people. In order to cleanse themselves the people would fast (sometimes for days), bathe, and sacrifice animals that were unblemished. This latter was indeed a sacrifice - to give up valuable animals to be killed for your sin! This had to occur each year.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews sees all this as a pale copy of the one true sacrifice - that is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He died to make a once and for all atonement for our sin. He didn't need to make atonement for himself, since he was sinless. He was, and is, the eternal High Priest who can open the way to God for all people. This is why we make our confessions "through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Lord Jesus Christ,
our eternal High Priest,
You offered Your life as a sacrifice
for our sin,
that we might be reunited
with our Heavenly Father,
through the power of the Spirit.
My we never forget that
it was Your death
that offered us the way to
eternal life.
Amen.