I) the Title High Priest and Ii) the New Way of Being High Priest

Vanhoye chapter 4

‘Therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people’. (Heb.2:17) In this text the author gives two surprising new titles of the glorified Christ:

i) The title High Priest and ii) The new way of being High Priest.

i)The title High Priest

We are familiar with speaking of the priesthood of Jesus. But it was not familiar to the early Christians for the simple reason that no New Testament author, previous to the author of Hebrews had even alluded to it. The Gospels give many titles to Jesus; teacher, prophet, Son of David, son of Man and son of God but nowhere do they give him the title of priest. The Gospels use the title priest only of the priests of the tribe of Levi: and the context of talking of these priests is almost always a context hostile to Jesus. This is especially so in the case of the High Priest. Paul never uses the title High Priest neither of Jesus nor of anybody else.

The person of Jesus was never associated with priesthood as it functioned in his time. He never claimed to be a priest. His ministry was that of a prophet or a teacher of wisdom than that of a priest. He was not a man of the sanctuary, and like many of the Old Testament, he attached no importance to ritual purity. For him true religion does not consist in rites of ritual purity. God is served by the immolation of animal sacrifices and by loving and just human relations. Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi and his sacrifice on Calvary was not offered in a holy place.

In spite of this situation the author of Hebrews proclaims, Jesus is a High Priest. He justifies this by deeper reflection which developed the meaning of the mystery of Christ. This mystery accomplished its fullness with his passion, glorification and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The theology of it developed gradually. The apostles received an overall revelation; they understood that the scriptures were fulfilled in Christ. This revelation was progressively elaborated and all the dimensions of God’s plan of salvation were elaborated giving a detailed list of the richness of Christ’s contribution to implementing that plan.

The author of Hebrews got guidance for a deep reflection on the priestly aspect of the mystery of Christ in psalm 109/110:4. Priesthood is one of the principal themes of biblical revelation. This comes from Israel’s vocation to be the ‘chosen people’ of God and the function of priesthood was to secure that relationship of the people with God. The importance of priesthood is seen in the long chapters of the Pentateuch devoted to priestly worship and the consecration of the High Priest. The historical books of the Hebrew bible show a progressive emphasis on the dynasty of David and priesthood. After the exile the emphasis became focused on the expectation of a priestly Messiah. This is seen in the documents of Qumran, and the documents called the “Testaments Twelve Patriarchs” and others.

What aspect of this expectation can be recognised in the mystery of Christ in the letter to the Hebrews? As said in the previous paragraph the author of Hebrews discovered the guidance he needed for a profound reflection on the priestly aspect of the mystery of Christ in psalm 109/110:4.

The fruit of this profound reflection was that the priestly aspect was indeed present in the mystery of Christ, and it was the fulfilment of that verse of scripture. Psalm 109/110:4. And Christ was the only perfect priest.

Giving Christ the title of High Priest deepened the concept of priesthood. It showed that the Christian faith is something new and distinct from Judaism. The manner of Christ becoming High Priest was entirely new. He had to be made like his brethren in every respect that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God’. (Heb.2:17)

ii) The new way of being High Priest

‘In Chapter 2:17 the author of the letter to the Hebrews gives two qualities of Christ as high priest. ‘Christ had to be made like his brethren in every respect that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God’. This statement runs utterly contrary to the priestly tradition of the Hebrew Bible because this tradition emphasised separation and being set apart from people rather closeness to them as a basis for the holiness of priests.

In the centuries following the Exile political and priestly authority became joined. There is evidence in the second book of Maccabees and the Qumran documents that show the result was a more aggressive ambition and jealousy among possible candidates for the title of High Priest. The statement of the letter to the Hebrews signifies a complete contrast to this situation. And Christ was totally focused in the opposite direction. In becoming High Priest Jesus renounced every privilege and instead of holding himself above others, he made himself like them in every way, accepting the treachery and humiliation of his passion and death. Instead of a higher position between God and humanity, Christ took the lowest position, showing his solidarity with the least of his brothers and sisters, those condemned to die. While Jesus did this in his Incarnation, the author of Hebrews is emphasising Christ’s solidarity with us in his death.

Kieran O Mahony states that the two qualities, ‘merciful and faithful’ are not individual virtues as for example courage, patience of prudence rather they concern relationships between persons but they are two indispensible qualities for exercising a pastoral ministry. To be ‘worthy of faith’, concerns the capacity for placing the people in relationship with God; as the author explicitly says “worthy of faith for relations/dealings with God”. “Merciful” expresses the capacity for understanding and offering fraternal assistance to others. These two qualities must be present together in order to make a priest. A man who is full of compassion but not accredited by God, could not exercise priestly mediation so as to establish the covenant. His work would be philanthropic and remain at the earthly level. And the one who is accredited to be near God but lacks the bond of solidarity with us could not be our High Priest either. The union of these two capacities for relationship is fundamental for the priesthood in the New Covenant. In Christ such a union is perfectly secured because in his passion he has joined to his glory as the Son of God what he fulfils in his solidarity with us’. (Notes taken from Kieran O Mahony)

Christ’s complete solidarity with us humans achieved what the old rites of priestly consecration, by means of separation from others sought in vain but could never deliver, namely the elevation of man to intimacy with God. The author of Hebrews in Heb.2:9 that Jesus is now crowned with glory and honour because of his suffering and death; that is that Jesus in his human nature has been admitted into intimacy with God. But this was achieved his complete acceptance and sharing in his brothers’/sisters’ destiny. This acceptance was also an act of priestly mercy. Jesus, our Mediator in his generous attitude fully welcomed human reality. The glory of the risen Christ is recognised as the glory of priesthood. He reached the depths of human misery and infused divine love into it and traced a way out for us that, is a way of salvation. By meeting suffering and death with extreme love he has become High Priest. He has traced out the way of the new covenant which is a way of communion with God, reopened for sinners.

In prayer we can contemplate this admirable love of God: Jesus “had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people”. (Heb. 2:17). Jesus has accepted humiliation, suffering and death with immense generosity. We must understand our participation in his priesthood in this way. We must become profoundly united with our brothers and sisters taking on 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 into communion with God.

The rites of episcopal and priestly ordination have a significance and efficacy that is radically differently different from the rites of the Old Testament. This is because the significance and efficacy of these ordination rites issue from the relationship they bring about with the priestly consecration of Christ which came from his faithfulness to God the Father, the one who created his humanity. This is the key to the inner disposition of Jesus as high priest and the second key is his solidarity with us humans. The rites of the Old Testament did not have any of this significance and efficacy. 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. Let us open our hearts to this revelation of a new way of understanding priesthood and ask for the grace to be docile to its intense dynamism.