October 15, 2024

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help

(Hebrews 4:14-16)

My apologies in advance that this is so long, but it’s too good to cut short. What follows, after two introductory paragraphs, is a lengthy excerpt from Christ our High Priest, by Cardinal Albert Vanhoye. The book is based on the Spiritual Exercises Vanhoye gave to Pope Benedict XVI and others in 2008. What’s always been striking to me is that his audience is brothers who are ordained, and so this serves as an incredibly powerful examination of conscience for those of us who are ourselves ordained. I think, quite honestly and shamefully, that the temptation for many of us who are ordained, myself very much included, is to live more in the style of Old Testament priests than in the style of Jesus. That is, apart from and not a part of.

This excerpt also offers a poignant look at this most unique letter in the New Testament, a letter that touches on something startlingly new in the entire New Testament, but that I think most of us take for granted. What is so startlingly new? That Jesus is identified as a priest, and not only a priest but our High Priest. Nowhere else in the entire New Testament is Jesus identified as a priest. Nowhere. In fact, as Van Hoye makes clear, Jesus often sets Himself up in opposition to the priests in the Gospels. So, how is it that this letter – seemingly out of nowhere – identifies Jesus in this way, and what does it have to say to us? So grab a nice cup of coffee, find a comfortable chair, and settle in for a master class from a remarkable teacher. P.S., all italics are mine.

[T]he Letter to the Hebrews proclaims that Christ is a priest; indeed, he is a High Priest, the true, unique High Priest. How is this innovation justified, which then leads to other innovations and, in particular, to the priestly notion of the Christian life and ministry? The innovation of the Letter to the Hebrews is justified as a further deepening in the mystery of Christ in the light of the scriptures. As an event, the mystery of Christ accomplished its fullness with his passion, glorification and gift of the Holy Spirit. Its interpretation, however, would have to develop little by little. The Apostles had received an overall revelation; they understood that the scriptures were fulfilled in Christ. A progressive elaboration was required in this overall revelation, which would gradually explain all the dimensions of the salvific event. …

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews discovered in Psalm 109/110 the priestly aspect of the mystery of Christ, which he could not miss, since among the various traditions of the Old Testament, it cannot be denied that the priestly tradition held the most important position. The priesthood is certainly one of the principal aspects of the biblical revelation. This to be expected because Israel's vocation was to be the people of God and the function of the priesthood was precisely that of securing the relationship of the people with God. This importance is reflected in the Pentateuch, which dedicates long chapters to the organization of priestly worship and describes the consecration of the High Priest in many details. In the historical books, one can see that the entire history of the chosen people involves an ever-increasing concentration on two institutions: the Davidic dynasty on the one hand, and the priesthood of Jerusalem on the other. …

The application to Christ of the title of priest produced a deepening concept of priesthood. This is something that we must welcome. The constant temptation is to return to the Old Testament, because the Old Testament concept corresponds to spontaneous religiosity. Christian faith, however, is something new and distinct. According to the Letter to the Hebrews Christ’s manner of becoming High Priest was completely new: "Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest" (Heb 2:17). This is truly amazing! It is precisely contrary to the whole Old Testament biblical tradition because, far from speaking of assimilation or likeness, the witness of the Old Testament underlines and emphasizes the need for separation, that is, a ritual separation in view of sanctification. To enter into contact with sacred realities, the Levites were set apart; they did not have an inheritance among the sons of Israel (Dt 18:1-2); even their census was conducted separately (Nb 1:47). For Aaron and his sons, the separation was even more marked and more insistent by means of the rites of consecration, especially the immolation of great quantities of animals (Lv 8) and with many, severe precepts of ritual purity (Lv 21).

So, the ancient High Priest appeared to be elevated above common mortals. The first word that Sirach uses when speaking of Aaron is indeed the word "to elevate": 'He elevated Aaron' (Sir 45:6). The subject is God, so then, God elevated Aaron. The priesthood set him apart. Sirach never tires of describing the splendor of the priest when he speaks of Aaron and then again when he speaks of Simon, the High Priest, son of Onias, in his own time. He uses all the celestial or heavenly similes: the sun, the moon, the stars and the rainbow (Sir 50:5-7). The priest finds himself in the celestial zones. Since the time of the Exodus, this dignity roused ambitions and jealousies. …

Based on this historical context, the statement of the Letter to the Hebrews signifies a complete contrast. It is directly opposed to the mentality and conduct of the contemporary High Priests. In their eyes, the Pontificate constituted the highest of all promotions and they looked for the most politically effective means to attain it, even if these were dishonest. Christ is orientated in precisely the opposite direction. In becoming High Priest, Jesus renounced every privilege and instead of holding himself above all the others, he made himself like them in every way, as a brother, and he accepted treachery and humiliation in his passion and death. Instead of a higher position between man and God, Christ took the lowest position: a complete solidarity with the least of men, that is, with those condemned to death. It seems clear that when the author tells us that Christ made himself completely like his brothers, he is thinking especially of this: not only of the Incarnation which he had spoken of earlier but, above all, of his suffering unto death. In [Hebrews 2:18], he immediately asserts, "Because he [Christ) himself has suffered and been tempted, he has been able to help those who are tempted".

This attitude was not only opposed to the abuses deplored by the author of the Book of the Maccabees; it also went against the traditional ideas of the most religious Jews. These had great zeal for the holiness of the priesthood. They aimed to maintain the ritual separations. To require of the High Priest a complete similarity with other members or the people seemed to them incompatible with a correct concept of priesthood. In particular, contact with death was absolutely prohibited to the High Priest since it was conceived that there was an incompatibility between the corruption of death and the holiness of God. The High Priest did not have the right to mourn for anyone, not even for his mother or father (Lv 21:11), because that would have meant contact with death. Jesus, instead, has become High Priest by means of his own suffering and death, offering it with filial obedience and fraternal solidarity. Clearly, his meditation on the mystery of Christ, that is, on the mystery of the Passion and of the Pasch, has led the author of the Letter to the Hebrews to turn away from the former perspectives, insisting on the need for human solidarity and abandoning the idea of ritual separation in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Christ's complete acceptance of human solidarity effectively achieved what the old rites of priestly consecration, by means of separation, sought in vain to obtain, namely: the elevation of man to intimacy with God and the union of human nature with the divine. This mystery has great importance for priestly consecration. The glory of the risen Christ continues to be recognized as the glory of the priesthood.

The author had expressed in [Heb 2:9] that Jesus is now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. That is, Jesus has been admitted, with his human nature, to intimacy with God. Instead of through legal separations, his elevation to intimacy with God was achieved through his acceptance of a complete sharing in his brothers' destiny. This acceptance was, at the same time, an act of priestly mercy. The generous attitude of Jesus, the Mediator, led him to fully welcome human solidarity. Human suffering existed: death, sin. They are a human reality. Jesus has descended into the depths of this human misery, infused divine love into it and traced a way out for us, that is: a way of salvation. He has made suffering and death an occasion of extreme love. In this way, he became High Priest. He has traced out the way of the New Covenant that is the way of communion with God, regained for us sinners.

All this is, indeed, extraordinarily beautiful. In prayer, you can contemplate this admirable love of God: Jesus "had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God". He has accepted humiliation, suffering and death with immense generosity.

We must understand our participation in his priesthood in this way. We must become profoundly at one with our brothers, taking on ourselves their joys and sufferings, their fatigues and hopes, their anxieties and aspirations so as to manifest to them the love of God and to bring them to divine communion.

It seems appropriate to me to make a final observation on the rites. The sacramental rites of episcopal consecration and priestly ordination have a significance and efficacy that is radically different from equivalent rites of the Old Testament because they are set in relation to the priestly consecration of Christ which was brought about by means of filial obedience and fraternal solidarity. The Old Testament rites had none of this efficacy or meaning. We have to be aware of the profound change. The rites are always necessary, in a certain sense, but we must see what their efficacy is: do they set apart for relationship or do they just set apart? The dynamism of communion and love, which is established in the heart of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, is also offered to our hearts so that we may be true ministers of the New Covenant. Open yourselves, therefore, to this revelation of a new way of understanding the priesthood and ask for the grace to be docile to its intense dynamism.

Wait – Jesus Is a … Priest?

OUR MISSION

Wait – Jesus Is a … Priest?

Who in the World Is Melchizedek?

The Scrutinizing Power of the Word

OUR MISSION