LECTIO DIVINA Hebrews 9:11-15 The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Year B Fr. Michael Brizio, IMC

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1 Page 1 of 10 LECTIO DIVINA Hebrews 9:11-15 The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Year B Fr. Michael Brizio, IMC 1) OPENING PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever 2) READING OF THE WORD (What the Word says): Hebrews 9: But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, 12 he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. 15 For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

2 Page 2 of 10 3) EXPLANATION (What the Word means): The Context: The author identified neither himself nor the people to whom he was writing. However, the content of the book, including the frequent references to the Hebrew Scriptures, makes it clear that he was writing to Jewish Christians who were sorely tempted to leave the Christian church and revert to Jewish worship. In Hebrews 4:14-5:14, the author emphasized the superiority of Jesus the high priest over the high priests of Aaronic descent. In 5:5-7, 10, he cited scripture to show that Jesus was God s Son (in a sense that Aaron was not), and that Jesus belonged, not to the order of Aaron but of Melchizedek, making Jesus a priest forever (5:6). In chapter 6, the author warned of the peril of falling away (6:1-12) and the certainty of God s promise (6:13-20). In chapter 7, he returned to the theme of the priestly order of Melchizedek, how great Melchizedek was (7:4-10), and the significance of another priest like Melchizedek (Jesus) arising (7:11ff.). In chapter 8, he emphasized Christ as the mediator of a better covenant. Now in 9:11-14, he contrasts the limited effects of the Jewish high priest s ministry with the unlimited effects of Christ s high priestly ministry. v.11a: But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, But now the time of the new order has arrived. What used to be the good things to come are now the good things that have come, the good things already in being. Christ has appeared, and in him the shadows have given way to the perfect and abiding reality. His entrance into the presence of God is not a day of affliction and fasting, like the Day of Atonement under the old legislation, but a day of gladness and song, the day when Christians celebrate the accession of their Priest-King.

3 Page 3 of 10 The New Year, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles - the first, tenth, and fifteenth days of Tishri respectively - originally belonged to one celebration at which the kingship of the God of Israel was annually observed. What part was played in this celebration by the king of Israel, God s vicegerent over his people, is a debated question. But now, the divine Priest-King takes the central and decisive role. By virtue of his perfect self-sacrifice he has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God, and reigns forevermore from the heavenly Zion, high priest of the new and eternal order. v.11b: passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, The sanctuary in which he ministers is the true tabernacle of which the Mosaic shrine was but a material copy. It is a sanctuary not made with hands, not belonging to the earthly creation. The greater and more perfect tabernacle through which he has passed to enter the heavenly holy of holies comprises the heavens (4:14), the counterpart of the outer chamber in the earthly sanctuary. The idea of a sanctuary not made with hands goes back to the earliest forms of Christian teaching. Jesus himself spoke of the time when the Jerusalem temple would be replaced by a temple made without hands (Mark 14:58; John 2:19-22) and Stephen and Paul insisted that no building made with hands could accommodate the Most High (Acts 7:48; 17:24). What then is the nature of the spiritual temple in which God dwells? When Stephen maintained that the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands, he confirmed his statement by quoting Isaiah 66:1-2: God, in preference to any material temple, chooses one that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. He prefers to make his dwelling with people of contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15).

4 Page 4 of 10 Hebrews stands in this prophetic tradition when he affirms that the people of God are the house of God, if we maintain our confidence and the hope in which we boast (3:6). Jesus has entered the heavenly sanctuary by virtue of his own blood (v. 12); his people, by virtue of that same blood, also enter it as perfected worshippers (10:19). Where he is, there are they. v.12: he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. Whereas Aaron and his successors went into the earthly Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement by virtue of animal sacrifices through the blood of goats and calves - Christ has entered the heavenly sanctuary with his own blood. When on the cross he offered up his life to God as a sacrifice for his people s sin, he accomplished in reality what Aaron and his successors performed by the twofold act of slaying the victim and presenting its blood in the Holy of Holies. The Aaronic high priests had to present themselves before God, but Christ entered in once for all, to be enthroned there in perpetuity, because the redemption procured by him is perfect in nature and eternal in effect.

5 Page 5 of 10 v.13a: For if the blood of goats and bulls The blood of slaughtered animals under the old order did possess a certain efficacy, but it was an outward efficacy for the removal of ceremonial pollution. The blood of goats and bulls is a general term covering not only the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement but other sacrifices as well. The sin offerings presented on the Day of Atonement, or at any other time, had no effect on the consciences of those on whose behalf they were brought. They served merely in an external and symbolic manner to counteract the defilement of sin. v.13b: and the sprinkling of a heifer s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, Along with these offerings Hebrews mentions that the sprinkling of a heifer s ashes. The sacrifice of the red heifer is described in Numbers 19. Under Jewish ceremonial law, if a person touched a dead body, he was unclean. He was thus barred from the worship of God, and everything and everyone he touched also became unclean. To deal with this there was a prescribed method of cleansing. A red heifer was slaughtered outside the camp. The priest sprinkled the blood of the heifer before the Tabernacle seven times. The body of the beast was then burned, together with cedar and hyssop and a piece of red cloth. The resulting ashes were placed outside the camp in a clean place and constituted a purification for sin. This ritual must have been very ancient for both its origin, and its meaning are wrapped in obscurity. The Jews themselves told that once a Gentile questioned Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai on the meaning of this rite, declaring that it sounded like pure superstition. The Rabbi s answer was that it had been appointed by the Holy One and that people must not inquire into his reasons but should leave the matter there without explanation.

6 Page 6 of 10 In any event, the fact remains that it was one of the great rites of the Jews. v.14a: how much more will the blood of Christ, But it is no mere ceremonial cleansing that is effected by the sacrifice of Christ. Those earlier rituals might effect external purification, but the blood of Christ - his offering up of himself to God - cleanses the conscience. Those rituals could restore a person to formal communion with God and with his fellowworshipers, but if it was an inward sense of guilt that kept him in heart at a distance from God, how could they possibly deal with that condition? The earlier sacrifices were but token sacrifices. The sacrifice of Christ was a real self-offering, accomplished on the moral and spiritual plane. It was through the eternal Spirit that he offered himself to God. v.14b: who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, Behind Hebrews thinking lies the portrayal of Isaiah s Servant of the Lord, who yields up his life to God as a guilt offering for many, bearing their sin and procuring their justification. The Servant has received God s Spirit upon him (Isaiah 42:1). It is in the power of the Spirit, accordingly, that the Servant accomplishes every phase of his ministry, including the crowning phase in which he accepts death for the transgression of his people, filling the twofold role of priest and victim, as Christ does. The animals used for sacrifice in earlier days were required to be physically unblemished. The life which Christ presented to God on the cross was a life free from inward blemish. Like the Servant of the Lord, he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus complete holiness, his active obedience to God, is essential to the efficacy of his sacrifice.

7 Page 7 of 10 v.14c: cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. It is not contact with a dead body or anything of a material and external nature that conveys real defilement or interrupts true communion with God, but the things which come out of a man are what defile him... For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man (Mark 7:15, 21, 23). It is an inward and spiritual purification that is required if heartcommunion with God is to be enjoyed. The sacrifice Jesus brought is greatly superior in every way: The sacrifice of Jesus cleansed the conscience. ceremonial uncleanness. The ancient sacrifices cleansed a person s body from i) We must always remember that in theory all sacrifice cleansed from transgressions of the ritual law; it did not cleanse from sins of the presumptuous heart and the high hand. For example, it was not moral uncleanness that the sacrifice of the red heifer wiped out, but the ceremonial uncleanness consequent upon touching a dead body. A person s body might be clean ceremonially and yet his heart be torn with remorse. He might feel able to enter the tabernacle and yet far away from the presence of God. The sacrifice of Jesus takes the load of guilt from a person s conscience. The animal sacrifices of the old covenant might well leave a man in estrangement from God - the sacrifice of Jesus shows us a God whose arms are always outstretched and in whose heart there is only love. ii) The sacrifice of Jesus was voluntary. In the sacrifice of the animal, its life was taken from it, but instead Jesus gave his life willingly for his friends. iii) The sacrifice of Jesus was spontaneous. Animal sacrifice was entirely the product of law, the sacrifice of Jesus was entirely the product of love. It was not law but love that lay behind the sacrifice of Christ. iv) The sacrifice of Jesus was rational. The animal victim did not know what was happening; Jesus all the time knew what he was doing. He died, not as an ignorant victim caught up in circumstances over which he had no control and did not understand, but with eyes wide open. v) The sacrifice of Jesus was moral. Animal sacrifice was unavoidable on the part of the victim. Jesus sacrifice was made in obedience to the will of God for the sake of men. Behind it there was not the mechanism of law but the choice of love.

8 Page 8 of 10 v.15a: For this reason he is mediator of a new, kainos, covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, That Jesus is mediator of a new covenant - the new covenant foretold by Jeremiah - has already been stated in 8:6. The basis of his mediator-ship is his sacrificial death. The first covenant provided a measure of atonement and remission for sins committed under it, but it was incapable of providing eternal redemption. This was a blessing which had to await the inauguration of the new covenant, which embodies God s promise to his people: I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34). The basing of the new covenant on the death of Christ is a New Testament doctrine. It finds clearest expression in the words of institution spoken by Jesus over the cup: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many (Mark 14:24) or, in their earliest recorded form, This cup is the new covenant in my blood (1 Corinthians 11:25). v.15b: those who are called may receive the promised Now that this redemptive death has taken place, the promise of their eternal inheritance has been made good to those who have been called : the new covenant, and everything that the grace of God provides under it, is forever theirs. inheritance into which they have entered. Christians have already been described in Hebrews 6: 17 as the heirs of the promise. The fulfillment of the promise is the eternal v.15c: eternal, aionos, inheritance. Eternal, aionos, is an adjective which Hebrews associates especially with the new covenant. That covenant itself is eternal (13:20), and so the redemption which it provides and the inheritance into which it brings the people of God are likewise eternal (vv. 12, 15).

9 Page 9 of 10 The Mediator of this covenant, having offered himself up to God as a spiritual and eternal sacrifice (v. 14), has become to all who obey him the source of eternal salvation (5:9). The eternal inheritance of grace and glory both here and hereafter is for those who have been called - for those who have already been designated partakers of a heavenly calling (3:1). 4) MEDITATION (What the Word suggests to me): a) We read the Word again. b) Select the word or a brief phrase which touched you or impressed you. Repeat this word/phrase aloud and slowly 3 times. Between each repetition allow a moment of silence for the Word to penetrate into our hearts. c) We will remain silent for a few minutes, and let the Lord speak to us. d) We now share what the Lord has given us in this word. We avoid discussions or sermons or comments on what others have said. We share what the Lord has told us personally by using such expressions as, To me this word has said 5) QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION (What the Word asks me): a) At the presence of the Trinity during the celebration of the Eucharist do I feel the longing for heaven? b) Do I listen attentively to the word of God proclaimed at the Eucharist so that I may receive reconciliation at the foot of the cross? c) Do I unite myself to the sacrifice of Christ by offering him all my thoughts and actions, joys and sorrows? d) Does the Eucharist generate in me the desire to respond to Christ s covenant with greater generosity towards the others? 6) WORD OF LIFE (What the Word reminds me): A new covenant 7) ACTION (What the Word invites me to do): I will spend a few minutes in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. 8) FINAL PRAYER (What the Word makes me pray): SEQUENCE Lo! the angel s food is given to the pilgrim who has striven; See the children's bread from heaven, which on dogs may not be spent. Truth the ancient types fulfilling, Isaac bound, a victim willing, Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling, manna to the fathers sent. Very bread, good shepherd, tend us, Jesus, of your love befriend us,

10 Page 10 of 10 You refresh us, you defend us, Your eternal goodness send us in the land of life to see. You who all things can and know, who on earth such food bestow, Grant us with your saints, though lowest, where the heav nly feast you show, Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia. And may the blessing of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon us and with us remain forever and ever.