Now – to me, this shows that she had
actually given this some thought – and had come to the conclusion that
this didn’t make sense. To her
credit, her claim is not un-founded. We
read in scripture that Jesus died once for all – which means no further sacrifices are
needed! That’s why
we don’t have the temple anymore…we don’t NEED to continually kill lambs and
goats and turtledoves on our altar.
Jesus’ sacrifice was the sacrifice to end
all sacrifices. So –
where do we get off offering the ‘sacrifice of the Mass’
all over the world every day?
Well – today’s readings, I think, make this point
about as clear as can be. We’re
gonna have to do a little scripture study this morning to help everyone
understand this – so grab your missallette and turn to
page 176:
Look at that first reading:
about half way through – Moses sent some men to offer some
sacrifices – then look what he did with the blood:
Moses took half of the blood and put it
in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the
covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the LORD has said, we will
heed and do.” Then
he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood
of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these
words of his.”
“this
is the blood of the covenant”…wow…that should sound pretty familiar to us. Remember that, we’ll come right back to
it. Look specifically at what was going
on…. Moses read the book of the covenant to the people… remind you of
anything? Isn’t that what we just did 3
minutes ago?! Next he took the blood of
the sacrifice and did what: splashed
half on the altar – and sprinkled the rest ON THE PEOPLE! Think about that – imagine you’re in the
congregation that day and they come around throwing blood all over the
place. If you’ve ever been near the end
of the aisle when Fr. Eugene comes around with the holy water… just imagine if
that was BLOOD he was sprinkling. Seems
really weird and maybe even gross to us now… but this was the BLOOD OF THE
COVENANT – and the fact that you had the PHYSICAL BLOOD STAINS on your clothing
was an outward sign to the world that YOU were in on the covenant – you and God
were reconciled.
Next –
check out the second reading – even more deep imagery here: He’s describing what the High Priest would do
on the day of Atonement…. You ever heard of Yom Kippur? That is the highest feast of the year for
Jews – it was the only day of the year that the High Priest would enter the
Holy of Holies – that’s the inner chamber of the Temple where it was believed
that God dwelt. This was HIS home on
earth. [Other than that day – nobody
could enter the Holy of Holies – in fact, they would tie a rope to the high
priest just in case he would faint or something so they could pull him out –
because NOBODY else was allowed in there.]
On the day of Atonement, the High Priest went in and offered a sacrifice
for the whole nation. Listen to this… he
would kill the lamb… splash half the blood on the altar … and the other half he
would – what? Sprinkle on the
people! Sound familiar? Every year, the High Priest would re-enact
the sacrifice that Moses made way back at Mt. Sinai! This was how they constantly re-atoned for
the sins of the nation. This is how they
renewed the covenant with God. Which
covenant was that? The same covenant
that God made way back in Moses’ time.
Now
–knowing that background, perhaps the rest of that reading makes a bit more
sense. I’d love to re-read it all – but
just check out that one long sentence:
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, 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.
Notice – the blood of the first sacrifice, he
says, cleansed our flesh… but the blood of the new covenant
cleanses our consciences. That’s
a big difference. Like I said, that old
covenant seemed to focus mainly on what the people DID – the
external observances of what God told them to do. The new covenant is more of an INTERNAL
change. And for that reason, we come
forward at communion – not to have the blood sprinkled on our
OUTSIDE – but to DRINK the blood – to take it into our own body so that
we can be cleansed from the INSIDE OUT!
When Jesus said in the Gospel – “this is the blood of the covenant”
in the Gospel – surely that means so much more to all
of us now. This is the sacrifice of
atonement. Offered once for all –
so the young lady was right – we DON’T have to continually sacrifice
anymore. What we do is RE-PRESENT the
same sacrifice to God through our Mass.
Jesus does not die every time we come to the altar. He becomes present in the Eucharist –
body, blood, soul, and divinity – let me try to explain this: Jesus is in heaven, right? Well at the moment of consecration we believe
that somehow we are united to heaven…and Jesus, who is standing forever
before God the Father as the perfect lamb, slain as atonement for the sins of
the world is also present to us here on our altar…and we offer this body and blood back
to God as our weekly or daily atonement.
Bends our brains doesn’t it??
We don’t have to understand it –
just participate in communion in order to renew OUR side of the covenant. The sign of that covenant is the Body and
Blood that we take into ourselves. We
are changed – inside out.
