A Full, Perfect, and Sufficient Sacrifice

From today’s MP epistle:

Hebrews 10 1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,
But a body You have prepared for Me;
6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Your will, O God.’”

8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

From the BCP Canon of Consecration

ALL glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world;

Our Lord did not enter yearly like their high priest. After his coming he entered only once, not into the shrine which ceases, like their priesthood, but "into the Holy" of Holies of eternity, and he made a propitiation through his blood for all nations.

St. Ephraim, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews

How did he become mediator? He brought words from God and brought them to us, conveying what came from the Father and adding his own death. We had offended; we ought to have died. He died for us and made us worthy of the covenant. By this is the covenant secure, in that henceforward it is not made for the unworthy.

St. John Chrysostom, On the Epistle to the Hebrews 16.2

“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. … He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time” … The Levitical sacrifices offered annually on the Day of Atonement were but a shadow of the full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. These sacrifices, “continually offered year after year" were unable to “make perfect those who draw near.” By the very repetition of these sacrifices there remained a consciousness of sins, a repeated reminder of sins … “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

** In addition to the Day of Atonement sacrifices there were other sacrifices for sin:

• the daily morning and evening sacrifices, Exodus 29:38-42

• the Sabbath sacrifices, Leviticus 1ff

• sacrifices for sins committed by the priests, Leviticus 4:2-12

• sacrifices for unintentional sins, Leviticus 4:27-35

• sacrifices for tribal leaders, Leviticus 4:22-26

• sacrifices for sins committed by the congregation, Leviticus 4:13ff

With these sacrifices there remained a consciousness of sins … This is not referring to the mere awareness of sins. (The BCP makes us aware of our sin and the need for regular and daily confession: we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness … we have sinned by thought, word and deed … in things we have done and things left undone.) Under the Levitical sacrifices there remained a consciousness of sin, that is, the radical awareness of sin that places one under the judgment of God. Now, with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ that takes away the sin of the world, there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice cleanses the conscience and purifies the soul that we may draw near to God with confidence.

Think of the design of the argument for the greater sacrifice of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10:

1. Sacrifice and offering you have not desired

2. Whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law)

3. But a body You have prepared for Me;

4. ’Behold, I have come … To do Your will, O God.’”

Behold the good things that have come to us! Jesus is God’s Son in whom the Father is well pleased … This is my Body given for you! “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

JSH+

An Aroma of Life to Life

From MP’s reading in Hebrews 9 …

Hebrews 9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. 3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

In an epistle written to persuade Hebrew converts that Jesus is worthy of their faith and confidence, Hebrews 9 presents a confounding difficulty: the golden altar of incense is placed in the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was located. How could this be? The OT tabernacle’s tent of meeting had two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place had three pieces of furniture, the Lampstand, the Table of Shewbread … and … the Golden Altar of Incense. The location of the Golden Altar of Incense in the Holy Place is given in Exodus 30:

Exodus 30 1 “Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood … 6 You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you.7 Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. 8 When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

• The Altar of Incense is placed before the veil that separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.

• Incense was to be burned every morning and evening coincident with the daily morning and evening sacrifice … Exodus 29:38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;

• the daily burning of incense was to be a perpetual offering before the Lord

On the Day of Atonement Aaron took incense into the Holy of Holies, filling the Holy of Holies with smoke:

Leviticus 16 1 “Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. 12 He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. 13 He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.

• Aaron was not allowed to gaze directly on the Mercy Seat where God would meet and commune with the High Priest on the Day of Atonement

• Aaron looked upon God’s presence on the Mercy Seat only through the cloud of incense

How could the writer of Hebrews make such an obvious mistake? Or did he? The primary focus of the discussion here is an exposition of the Day of Atonement and the fulfillment of the OT ceremonial in the perfect high priestly work of Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews is making a theological argument.

The smoke from the incense is symbolic of the mystery of God Himself, conveying in its imagery and smell the very sweetness of the presence of Jesus. Moving the Altar of Incense within the veil represents Jesus’ entry into the Holy of Holies. Incense is the ‘fragrance of Christ,” the sweet aroma of Christ. All our worship and prayers are acceptable to God because offered up in the pleasing aroma of Christ (cf II Cor 2:14ff). It is the smell of holiness. Consider:

• Aaron could not gaze directly upon God’s presence on the Mercy Seat but may look upon God’s presence through the cloud of incense, signifying that we look upon God in the person of Jesus Christ

• When the daily sacrifices are offered the smoke rises to the visible heavens but reaches the heaven of heavens (the tent of meeting) as the pure smoke of incense burned on the Altar of Incense, the sweet aroma of Christ

• The first NT intimation of the advent of Jesus Christ is Zechariahs burning incense in the Temple, St Luke 1.

• One of the gifts the wisemen brought to the Christ Child was incense, “own[ing] a Deity nigh.”

• Revelation 3:8f where in Heaven incense is offered with the prayers of the saints, signifying the prayers that are offered in Jesus’ Name.

Now I must admit I love the use of incense, especially in all its Christological significance. And I often remind our parish that the smoke of incense should fill the house of God (Isaiah 6:4). It is the smell of Christ, an appeal to us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ engaging us through the sense of smell … In worship the Gospel of Jesus Christ is made known to us in all five senses: the Gospel is heard, seen (in worship and sacrament), touched (the sacrament), tasted and, yes, even smelled.

The use of incense is also evangelistic. A few years ago, after Sunday Mass at St John’s, our daughter, Kara, flew home to Dallas that Sunday afternoon, the smell of incense still lingered in her clothing. As Kara was stowing her luggage and finding her seat, a young man in the aisle behind her began saying, “I smell incense; someone here has the smell of incense!” He then told Kara that he remembered the smell of incense from when he attended church when he was younger and he had been seeking a sign from God to return to his faith. God spoke to him through his sense of smell. … For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved, an aroma from life to life!

JSH+

Worship in the True Tabernacle

Today’s Epistle reading:

Hebrews 8:1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

It is something of a commonplace to characterize OT worship as physical, external and crude. NT worship, on the other hand, is spiritual, an inward disposition expressly contrary to that which was physical, thereby avoiding that constant of human temptations: idolatry. OT devotion was outward and rather coarse; NT worship embraces the simplicity of worship in spirit and truth. A corollary to this is that in the NT God doesn’t care about the structure in which we worship. Buildings are merely utilitarian, a place for the assembling of the faithful.

Hebrews 8 (and 9) belies these notions. God is not only concerned about how we worship but also where we worship. God Himself designed every aspect of the OT Tabernacle, the copy and shadow of heavenly things. Man contributed nothing to its design. Indeed, “Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; … “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain [Mt Sinai].” The OT tabernacle was constructed according to the pattern of heavenly worship revealed to Moses on Mt Sinai. In its design and in its manner of worship the OT tabernacle was heavenly, not earthly; it was the shadow cast by the reality.

Think about this … the OT tabernacle was a copy and shadow of heavenly things! Who else but God could be the architect? If man is to worship on earth as it is in heaven, then the how and where of worship must be revealed by God. With Jesus’ entry into heaven, NT worship no longer takes place in the copy and shadow of heavenly things, but in the “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” …”For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence” (Hebrews 9:24). ** Hebrews 8:2 states that Jesus is the leitourgos (Greek), literally the liturgist, in the sanctuary, true tabernacle.

The true tabernacle not only replaces the copy and shadow, but fulfills the OT pattern. The OT copy and shadow points forward to and receives its meaning from the true tabernacle. More to the point, the NT true tabernacle not only replaces the OT tabernacle, it is also the archetype of the OT tabernacle. The design and manner of worship in the OT tabernacle was always heavenly, not earthly.

There is an important principle of continuity and discontinuity here: the principle of heavenly worship has not changed; the place and the manner of our entrance into that worship has changed. For example, our entrance into the the true tabernacle is no longer by means of animal sacrifice, but by the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice was necessary to approach God — in the OT sacrifice had to be offered on the bronze altar at the entrance to the tabernacle. For the Church, we enter into God’s presence by Jesus’ sacrifice signified by the processional cross at the beginning of the Mass. We enter into worship in and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Who alone is the Way, the Truth and the life. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”

Heavenly worship engages us as human beings, in both body and soul. Our spiritual formation takes place in worship in what say and do, through our inward disposition and through our outward demeanor. In heavenly worship God awakens in us the truth of our life and salvation, our true citizenship, so that we learn them “by heart” in the fullest sense of that expression, that is, with one's whole being: with the body in what we say and do, with the memory which fixes and holds these truths, with our understanding which more and more fully comprehends them, with our will which puts these truths into practice. Heavenly worship is entirely oriented toward the fullness life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

JSH+

Jesus a Priest Forever

From MP’s Epistle reading:

Hebrews 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. 5 And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham. 6 But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 9 And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

Genesis 14:17 Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

He gave him a tenth of all.

Psalm 110:4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek, as we read, was a priest of the Most High God long before the time of the priesthood of the law, and he offered bread and wine to the Lord. Our Redeemer is said to be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" because he put aside the sacrificial victims stipulated by the law and instituted the same type of sacrifice to be offered in the new covenant in the mystery of his own body and blood.
The Venerable Bede [672-735 AD], Homilies on the Gospels 2.19

Thus, Melchizedek's priesthood continues for ever, not in Melchizedek himself but in the Lord of Melchizedek. St. Ephraim, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews

Also in the priest Melchizedek we see the Sacrament of the Sacrifice of the Lord prefigured, in accord with that to which the Divine Scriptures testify, where it says: ‘And Melchizedek, the King of Salem, brought out bread and wine, for he was a priest of the Most High God; and he blessed Abraham.’ That Melchizedek is in fact a type of Christ is declared in the psalms by the Holy Spirit, saying to the Son, as it were from the Father: ‘Before the daystar I begot You. You are a Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’ The order certainly is that which comes from his sacrifice and which comes down from it: because Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God; because he offered bread; and because he blessed Abraham. And who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who, when He offered sacrifice to God the Father, offered the very same which Melchizedek had offered, namely bread and wine, which is in fact His Body and Blood.” St. Cyprian of Carthage in his Letter to Cecil.

The inspired author of Hebrews summons the faithful to hold fast their confidence in the person and work of Jesus Christ: Jesus is a greater Revealer of God than the prophets and angels, a greater Mediator than Moses, a greater Rest-Provider than Joshua. Hebrews continues this theme in 4:14-10:18 … Jesus is a greater High Priest than Aaron. In what way is Jesus a greater High Priest than Aaron?

• Jesus’ High Priestly order is greater, an eternal High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek

• Jesus is the High Priest of a better, more perfect tabernacle, in Heaven

• Jesus as High Priest offers a better sacrifice than Aaron, that of His own flesh and blood

Jesus is a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus’ priesthood is unique and all-sufficient. Our Christian hope is bound up with Jesus’ High Priestly work. Aaron and the high priests that followed him did not open the way for the people to follow them into the Holy of Holies. The people were excluded from drawing near. What the Aaronic priesthood could not do, Jesus, our great High Priest has … Jesus has opened the way into God’s presence. Jesus’ priesthood is greater than that of Aaron for He is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. There is an aura of mystery surrounding Melchizedek who is mentioned but twice in the OT, in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Yet Melchizedek is named as being of an eternal order of priesthood.

• Melchizedek has no genealogy, his ancestry and descendants receive no mention. Melchizedek’s priesthood, unlike the Aaronic priesthood where the line of descent is essential, is not based on heredity. Jesus, like Melchizedek, is a priest by divine appointment … His priesthood does not depend upon hereditary ties.

• Abraham recognized the priest-king Melchizedek by receiving his blessing and offering him tithes. Abraham was the patriarch of the faithful. And yet Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek and gave Melchizedek the tithe. Melchizedek is preferred to Abraham and to the Levitical priesthood. The Levitical Priesthood would be replaced by the greater, perfect, and royal priesthood of Christ.

• Melchizedek’s provision bread and wine in thanksgiving to God, foreshadows our Lord’s offering of His Body and Blood at the Last Supper.

• Melchizedek was a “member of the nations.” Christ came to save not just the House of Israel, but the people of all nations. Moreover, Melchizedek’s very name and title “King of Righteousness, King of Peace” foreshadows Jesus’ coming into the world as the Lord our Righteousness and the King of Peace.

• Jesus is said to be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" because he put aside the sacrificial victims stipulated by the law and instituted the same type of sacrifice to be offered in the new covenant in the mystery of his own body and blood.

If perfection had been attained through the Levitical priesthood there would have no need for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus fulfills the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, a full and abiding priesthood forever. More to come …

JSH+

This Hope We Have as an Anchor of the Soul

From MP Epistle reading:

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

By way of review … Hebrews calls on us to hold fast our faith in Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews directs the faithful to the greater glory and work of Jesus to the OT types.

In Hebrews 1 and 2 Hebrews sets before us that Jesus is worthy of our faith because He is a greater Revealer of God and God’s salvation than the prophets and the angels.

In Hebrews 3 Jesus as Son is a greater Mediator than Moses who was a servant.

In Hebrews 4:1-13 Jesus is a greater Rest-Provider than Joshua … “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.”

Today’s Epistle reading in Hebrews 6 is part of an extended discourse on the greater person and work of Jesus as High Priest:

In Hebrews 4:14-10:18 Jesus is a greater High Priest than Aaron

• Jesus’ High Priestly order is greater, an eternal High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek

• Jesus is the High Priest of a better, more perfect tabernacle

• Jesus as High Priest offers a better sacrifice

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul … St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us “that there is no stability in this present world in which the soul may find security and rest.” Just six short weeks ago the world seemed both stable and wonderfully prosperous … and then quite suddenly everything changed. We are like the crowds in Paris who, after the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, came to the museum to stare in disbelief at the bare space with four pegs that had once held the painting. How could this happen? Disappointed, bewildered, isolated and somewhat afraid, we wonder if there is anything upon which our hope may rest, to which we may flee for refuge.

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul … a hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Amidst the persecution and suffering in the early Church, the anchor was adopted as a common symbol of hope - the anchor was seen especially in the catacombs. The anchor of hope, Aquinas notes, “fixes the soul firmly in God in this world, which is like a kind of sea.” But what an extraordinary and unusual anchor this is! Our anchor is not cast down into the depths of the sea … it ascends upwards into the very fixed, steadfast and sure precincts of heaven.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul … one that enters within the veil. The veil referenced here is the veil in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies where God resided between the cherubim of the Mercy Seat. Woven into this veil were cherubim which symbolized the separation that existed between God and the people of Israel. Only the Old Covenant High Priest could enter within the veil, and that but once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-18). On that Day, God would meet and commune with the High Priest, the representative of the people (See Exodus 25).

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul … where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us. The anchor of our hope enters within the veil where Jesus as Forerunner has opened the way for us. We have confidence to enter the Holy of Holies “by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh” … Hebrews 10:19-20. At Jesus’ death, and through His perfect sacrifice, the Temple veil was rent from top to bottom opening our access to God. The Old Covenant separation between God and His people has been done away. God’s people now enter within the veil, meeting and communing with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Forerunner, High Priest and our Sacrifice.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul … each and every Mass we enter within the veil. We come with confident hope to the altar, to the very Holy of Holies, to the Throne of Grace. And in Jesus Christ our Forerunner, through His flesh and blood, we have been granted unimpeded access and communion with God. There we, the runners of the Christian race, discover the sure and steadfast anchor for the soul. Bewildering and frightening as the world may often be, our hope is fixed on our exalted Lord and Savior, on our merciful and faithful High Priest.

JSH+

Convinced of Better Things Concerning You

In today’s Epistle reading …

6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

“Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you” … Crises often compel us to reexamine what is truly important, to return to what is essential, to discover renewed strength in our fundamental convictions. We may be experiencing some of this during this present crisis as we look for full assurance in our faith and hope … and perhaps we discover, to our surprise, that it has become difficult to rise above the din of this world’s chaos and confusion … the foundations of our faith seem shaky, and shaken. “We are convinced of better things concerning you” … Maturity in our faith never comes easily; there are always growing pains. Realizing the full assurance of hope until the end requires diligence, and struggle, on our part.

Convinced of better things … Hebrews 6 speaks of pressing on to maturity, leaving the elementary teaching or doctrines of Christ. This does not mean despising or forgetting the elementary teachings any more than a student having once learned his ABC’s can dispense with the alphabet in order to become a brilliant writer. The ABC’s of our faith are foundational to every stage of our spiritual development and are as essential to our spiritual maturity as they were to the beginnings of our faith. Having learned the elementary doctrines let us then become mature in our understanding and practice of them. As in the early Church let us continually devote ourselves to the Apostles’ doctrine, the Apostles’ communion, the Apostles’ sacraments and the Apostles’ prayer (worship) … Acts 2:42.

Convinced of better things … Let’s take stock of those elementary doctrines in Hebrews 6 and our knowledge of them:

Repentance and faith

Hebrews 9:14 … In Holy Baptism the newly baptized repents of dead works and raised to newness of life

Teachings on

• Baptism
  Romans 6; Colossians 2; Titus 3:5; Mark 16:16

• Laying on of hands
  Acts 6:6; 13:3; II Tim 1:6; Acts 8:15-17, 19:6 (Confirmation); Luke 4:40 (for the sick); for Ordination (BCP 536ff Ordinal and cf. Deut 34:5)

• Resurrection of the dead
  I Corinthians 15:12-19

• Eternal judgment
  Matthew 12:41-42; 25:31ff; II Thessalonians 1:3-10; II Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 20:11-15

Convinced of better things … In these elementary doctrines of our faith God has been at work in us … we have been enlightened in Holy Baptism, have tasted of the heavenly gift sacramentally bestowed in blessings of the Eucharist, have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit in the gifts He imparts to us, have tasted the good word of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the powers of the age to come in Jesus’ Resurrection and newness of life. (Note: to taste here does not mean to have a taste or sip but to truly partake — cf. Hebrews 2:9 where Jesus “tasted,” death, that is truly died, for everyone.)

“Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. … And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

JSH+

Jesus, our Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Hebrews 2:9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. 17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

There is much to ponder in this passage:

Jesus, the author of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering. Jesus shares in our flesh and blood, and it is in His humanity that He was made perfect through suffering. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. How did suffering make Jesus the author of our salvation?

1. Jesus, as our Redeemer, was made perfect through suffering by overcoming temptation of every kind that is common to mankind, without sin. Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

2. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross rendered Satan, who had the power of death, powerless, and freed many sons for glory. Hey 2:9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. … Jesus is our Forerunner, the Word made flesh. As the author of our salvation Jesus suffered and died, rose from the dead, and entered into glory that He might "lead many sons to glory."

3. Jesus’ own suffering makes Him a sympathetic High Priest who strengthens those who are beset by trials and temptations. Hey 2:18 “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” … The aid Jesus our High Priest brings to us is twofold: the forgiveness of sins for our having been overcome in our trials and temptations; and granting us the power, Jesus’ power, to resist and overcome temptation.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

JSH+

So Great a Salvation!

Hebrews 2 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Having just celebrated the saving events of Holy Week, this question in today’s’ epistle reading is most fitting. For salvation in Jesus Christ, in His Person and Work, is God’s final word to mankind …

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

To neglect the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not only to despise the Gift of salvation, but also the Giver, God Himself. The author admonishes the Hebrews, to whom this epistle is addressed, that they - and we - ought to give heed to the things which have been heard. … “Wherefore we ought to give more earnest heed” (says he) “to the things which we have heard.” Why “more earnest”? Here he meant “more earnest” than to the Law” (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews). The Gospel declared by God’s Son is to be more closely attended to than the Hebrews’ attention to the Law. The law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). The problem does not lie with the Law, but with sinful man, who is a law-breaker. Jesus has done what no other man could - He fulfilled the law perfectly in our stead. Therefore the glory of the Law is completely surpassed by the glory of the Gospel ,,, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings life where the Law brought death. The Christian hope in the Gospel is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:19). Accordingly,

• Heb 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

• Heb 3: 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, …

• Heb 4:11,14 Let us strive to enter that rest … let us hold fast our confession.

• Heb 10:35, 36 … do not throw away your confidence … you have need of endurance …

• Heb 12:1 … let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us …

• Heb 12:25 … see that you do not refuse him who is speaking …

As partakers of Jesus Christ we must hold fast our assurance in Him, our confidence, our hope in Him firm until the end. We must take heed “while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it” (Heb 4:1). Neglecting so great a salvation means we shall not enter God’s rest. Hebrews 3 makes it clear that we come short of God’s rest because of unbelief. (Note the parallels here: unbelief is manifest by sin and disobedience.)

16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, holding fast our confession in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

JSH+

God Has Spoken Unto us by His Son

From a sermon by Caroline Divine, Lancelot Andrewes … edited and adapted

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Here we have a perfect description of Jesus’ nature, His Person, His offices, His work.

1. In the very beginning Jesus is man, and also God. Jesus is God’s Son, the splendor of His glory, the Character of His substance, the Maker and Upholder of the world.

2. In his offices, in His proclaiming the Good News, He unfolded the mysteries of God. …. as priest to purge our sins; as King He has ascended to His heavenly Kingdom, in the throne of Majesty where He sits.

3. In his work, he purges our sins. … In all Jesus spoke and in all that Jesus did, it was for us men and for our salvation.

Jesus’ Divine Nature is expressed in three parts: 1. Son, 2. Brightness, and 3. Character.

1. As the Son of God Jesus is of one substance with the Father.

2. As the Son of God, Jesus shows forth the glory or brightness of God.

3. In his character, Jesus shows us the Father, as he said to Philip… “He that sees Me sees the Father,” Whose express Form I am. As the Brightness of God’s glory Jesus made God’s glory shine more brightly.
   

Jesus, by means of His Power, is also the Maker and Upholder of the world. … 1. in the creation all things and 2. in the preservation of all things, which is His work to this day, to continue and uphold all that He has made. By His word spoken Jesus created all things. By the word of His power Jesus sustains all things. All had been nothing but for Him; and all would fall to nothing without Him.

As the One who made all things and makes all things to last, Jesus was the most fitting person to make all things new, to restore all that He had made. And in all His splendor and glory, Jesus is mindful of us. He desires to make us joint-heirs, partaking of His inheritance as Son, of His glory, as God’s Brightness, and of the very Divine nature.

To make us joint-heirs with Jesus, we must first be purged of our sins. To sit with Him in His throne Jesus must purge and make clean our nature, that He might exalt us to partake of that which He purchased by His coming, His suffering, His death and resurrection. We cannot enter into the heavenly Jerusalem where the throne is unless we first be purged of our sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no taking away sin. And not any blood will serve, but it must be lamb's blood, and a Lamb without spot. And not any lamb, but the Lamb of God, or a Lamb that is God. His blood, and nothing else will serve to do this.

Jesus purges our sins … from the first, as washed from the original uncleanness of our nature by Holy Baptism. And then from actual sins by the Cup of New Testament, which we bless in His Name for the remission of sins.

Having cleansed us, Jesus’ purpose is to bring us to glory; to sit on His throne with Him. To purge our sins Jesus has come in his first Advent, the day of His birth; by His holy Nativity He purified and sanctified our human nature. And to have us sit on the throne was His last work, on the last day of His Ascension; He took possession of His throne in our names, as forerunner for us.

It follows that it is our duty: for His excellency to honor Him; for His power to fear Him; for His love showed, to love Him; for His hope promised, truly to serve Him. God would have His Prophets well observed; but however they were regarded by the Fathers, to us God sent His Son, and we will reverence Him. Jesus’ glory, power, and above all His love was for us and for our salvation. As a Prophet, He speaks; as a Priest, purges; as a King, sits. Our duty is to hear Him, to lay up His sayings in our hearts.

Prophets spoke, but they did not purge our sins. In Jesus we are made clean. And the medicine by which he purges our sins is the very Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. It is by his flesh and blood that we are sanctified. By His Body offered on the cross, by His blood shed for the remission of all our sins. This is God’s remedy and in Jesus’ first Advent they came together, the Word and flesh. And if we seek to be rid of our sins, by this body which was broken for you, and by this blood which was shed for you, we must receive His Person in the sacrament of Holy Communion; for only in His Person, His Body and Blood, has God purged our sins.

That same flesh that cleansed our sins now sits on the throne … for the present Jesus’ flesh has the power to purge us of our sins, for the future a power to exalt us to His heavenly throne.

The Angels at His first Advent adored Him in our flesh. So we too have cause to rejoice in God’s Son, to rejoice in the greatest glory to God, the greatest peace to the earth, and the greatest good-will towards men that ever rose upon the world. Amen.

JSH+

On Earth as it is in Heaven

I am often asked, “Why do we worship the way we do?” The tendency is to answer the question by explaining the logic and elements of the liturgy. While such explanations are helpful, and necessary, there is a more basic, more simple answer: we worship on earth as it is in heaven. The Mass takes us up in the eternal rhythms and patterns of the worship of heaven. OT worship was a copy and shadow of heavenly worship (Hebrews 8:1-5). With Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, we no longer worship in copies and shadows of heaven, we now worship in heaven itself. Jesus has opened the way to heaven, to the worship of heaven. The liturgy makes us especially conscious of this reality at the Sursum Corda followed by The Preface and ‘The Sanctus:

After which the Priest shall proceed, saying,

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
It is meet and right so to do.

Then shall the Priest turn to the Holy Table, and say,

IT is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.

Here shall follow the Proper Preface, according to the time, if there be any specialty appointed; or else immediately shall be said or sung by the Priest,

THEREFORE with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying,

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Lord God of, hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Amen.

In the Mass we lift up our hearts unto the Lord in heaven where we join with Angels, Archangels and all the company of heaven in praising God, singing the Seraphic hymn of heaven: Holy, Holy, Holy! (See Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:8.)

In today’s MP Second Lesson, John the Apostle speaks of worship in heaven as worship “in Spirit.” When John was “in Spirit” on the Lord’s Day he was in heaven where he attends the worship of heaven. (Note: many texts translate “in Spirit” as “in the Spirit” … there is no definite article “the” in the Greek.)

Revelation 1:4-18

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

St. John draws the connection between “in Spirit” and worship in St. John 4. The Samaritan raises the question about where worship rightly takes place — in Mt. Gerzim, which was sacred to the Samaritans, or in Jerusalem where the Jews worship.

The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain [in Gerzim], and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

In what place shall we worship, she asks, in Mt Gerzim or in Jerusalem? She asks where should worship take place, using the locative case - in Gerzim or in Jerusalem. (The locative case … that is, location, location, location.) Jesus answers that worship takes place “in Spirit” or in the place of the Spirit, in heaven itself. When John was “in Spirit” in Revelation 1 he was in heaven on the Lord’s Day. In Revelation 4, John was again summoned to heaven and immediately he was “in spirit” …

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. … 8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

John was “in Spirit” on the Lord’s Day where he attended worship in heaven. The Father seeks worshippers who worship “in Spirit,” in heaven. Why do we worship the way we do? In the liturgy we worship “in Spirit,” we worship on earth as it is in heaven.

JSH+

Knowing the Power of Jesus' Resurrection

Philippians 3

7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

The power of Jesus’ resurrection

Romans 1:4 [Jesus] was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness …

Romans 8:11-14 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies

II Peter 1:2-3 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Ephesians 1:18-20 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

II Corinthians 12:9 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Knowing the Power of Jesus’ Resurrection … A Few Considerations

1. Jesus’ resurrection is the Father’s vindication of Jesus’ divine sonship, Romans 1:4, Ephesians 1:18-20.

2. Jesus’ resurrection is the revelation Jesus’ power over death, John 11:25.

3. The power of the resurrection dwells in us, giving life to our mortal bodies, Romans 8:11.

4. The power of the resurrection is at work in us granting us everything pertaining to life and godliness, that we might live as sons of God, I Peter 2:2-3, Romans 8:12-14.

5. The resurrection is the beginning, the firstfruits of a new creation, I Corinthians 15.

JSH+

Jesus Opened Unto Us the Gate of Everlasting Life

THE COLLECT for Easter.

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen

Jesus has opened unto us the gate of everlasting life. This brings to mind the words of the great ascension Psalm, Psalm 24. This is the Psalm of Jesus' ascent into the hill of the Lord, into the true Mt. Zion ... into heaven itself. Jesus ascends the hill of the Lord, for Jesus alone has clean hands and a pure heart; Jesus alone has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Jesus is the King of glory to whom the gates of heaven, the everlasting doors are opened.

24 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Seals.

Psalm 24 and the Church Fathers

Justin to Trypho: Moreover, some of you venture to expound the prophecy which runs, 'Lift up your gates, you rulers; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of glory may enter,' as if this referred likewise to Hezekiah, and others of you [expound it] of Solomon; but neither to the latter nor to the former, nor, in short, to any of your kings, can it be proved to have reference, but to this our Christ alone, who appeared without comeliness, and inglorious, as Isaiah and David and all the Scriptures said; who is the Lord of hosts, by the will of the Father who conferred on Him [the dignity]; who also rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, as the Psalm and the other Scriptures manifested when they announced Him to be Lord of hosts.

Justin notes Jesus experienced resistance before the gates of heaven, "who is this King of glory?," because the gatekeepers did not recognize Jesus, who arose not in His pre-incarnate glory as the second person of the Holy Trinity, but in His glory in the from of the suffering servant (cf. Isaiah 53).

For Irenaeus, Jesus is not recognized because he was “in the flesh.” He also interprets the dialogue between gate keeper and those requesting access as being between angels of the lower realms and angels of the upper realms.

Origin provides an eschatological interpretation to Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. Psalm 24 is understood as Jesus' entrance into the “true” Jerusalem. The angelic hosts are astounded at Jesus' entrance into heaven in His incarnate form, and ask, “Who is this?”

Jesus opened the gate of everlasting life unto us in His Death, Resurrection and Ascension. At Jesus' death, the Temple curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies is rent from top to bottom signifying that in Jesus we now have access to God's holy presence in heaven. In His resurrection, we are raised up with Him (in Holy Baptism, Romans 6) to live unto God as citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20; Col 2:9ff, 3:1-3). At Jesus' Ascension in our human nature, we discover, to our great benefit, that in Him our flesh and blood has now inherited the Kingdom of God. As members incorporate in Jesus Christ's mystical body, we have ascended where He has gone as forerunner for us. in Him, we have entered through the everlasting doors into life everlasting: Hebrew 12: 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

JSH+

The Remission of Sin

The Collect and Propers for Tuesday after Easter

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with reverence the Paschal feast, may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle

Acts xiii. 26.

MEN and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

The Gospel

St. Luke xxiv. 36.

JESUS himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.

Acts 13 … but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

Luke 24… Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

1 John 1:9 — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Acts 2:38 — Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 22:16 — And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Matthew 26:28… for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

John 20:21 — Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Repentance and remission of sins proclaimed in the name of Jesus Christ! Pardon for sins, our peace with God, comes from Christ’s finished work on Calvary. “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Col 1:19-20). We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is our peace and His peace is His gift to us on Easter Sunday.

The pardon and remission of sins through Jesus Christ our Lord comes to us

• In Holy Baptism … Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Baptism is the remission of original sin inherited from Adam and the remission of sins we committed before baptism.

• In Holy Communion … “This is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins …” The Church Fathers taught that we receive forgiveness of sins when we receive the Eucharist. St. Ambrose preached, “For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord’s death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as His Blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.” In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the priest prays: “We beseech, implore, and beg you: send your Holy Spirit upon us all and upon these gifts… that those who partake of them may be purified in soul, receive the forgiveness of their sins, and share in the Holy Spirit.”

• In the sacrament of penance … Jesus exercised this power of forgiveness in his human capacity as the Son of man, telling us, “the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6), which is why the Gospel writer himself explains that God “had given such authority to men” (Matt. 9:8). In John 20 Jesus conferred this power on His disciples and through them, in apostolic succession, to the bishops and priests of Christ’s Church. “God … hath given power and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins” (BCP p. 7).

We revel in this forgiveness, we rejoice in this our peace … we live and move and have our being in this mercy and grace given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord!

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Recognizing Jesus

The Collect for Monday after Easter

O GOD, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread; Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold thee in all thy works; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Gospel

St. Luke xxiv. 13.

13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 22 But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

In the Gospel reading for Monday after Easter, St Luke gives his account of two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It is Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The two disciples are talking with each other about the tragic events of the past several days. They were disconsolate … all their hopes about Jesus and the Kingdom of God were shattered. They had looked for Jesus the third day and had not seen Him. Now Jesus joins them in their journey but they do not recognize Him.

The disciples did not recognize Jesus when they saw Him.

The text indicates that their eyes were prevented from recognizing Jesus. This is not the first time the resurrected Christ was not recognized. In John 20 Mary Magdelene saw Jesus and thought He was the gardener for the place where Jesus had been buried. Why did the disciples not recognize Jesus? Perhaps in the sorrows and confusion which consumed them, the disciples’ vision had turned inwards and rendered them unable to recognize Him who stood before them. Or maybe their doubts about the Resurrection did not allow them to behold what the eyes of faith are able to recognize. They had heard the reports about the empty tomb but “Him they did not see.” Their eyes saw Jesus but they were prevented from recognizing Him.

The disciples did not recognize Jesus when He spoke to them.

The disciples were incredulous that Jesus’ should ask them about the recent events: “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” The disciples had hoped that Jesus was the new Moses who would redeem Israel by a new Exodus. (See St. Luke 9:30-31 And behold, two men were talking with [Jesus at the Transfiguration]; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His exodus which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.) And now it was the third day and the hope for Israel’s redemption seemed a lost cause.

The disciples did not yet recognize Jesus when He explained the Scriptures to them.

Jesus rebukes them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. As Jesus explained the Scriptures to them their “hearts [were] burning within [them] while He was speaking to [them] on the road …” to Emmaus. Despite Jesus’ enlightening exposition, His opening of “all the Scriptures” concerning Himself, the disciples still do not recognize Him.

The disciples recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread

The disciples, unaware that it was Jesus with whom they were speaking, invite Jesus to stay the night with them. Jesus, acting more the host than the guest, “When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then were their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Why do they now recognize Him in the breaking of bread? Jesus’ Eucharistic actions were well known to them from the many feeding miracles. But especially these actions would have been known to them from the Last Supper where St Luke records: Luke 9:14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table …19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread! In something of a reversal of Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to their nakedness before God in eating the forbidden fruit, the disciples’ eyes were opened to recognize Jesus when He gave to them the Bread of Life. Having opened the Scriptures to the disciples, Jesus then opened their eyes to His presence in the breaking of bread!

We are to recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread!

In the Church’s liturgical setting we recognize in placing the altar in the center of our vision that we come to church to meet Jesus. The lectern and the pulpit, where the Scriptures are read and exposited, are placed on a plane before the altar, but to the left and right of the altar. The reading and preaching of the Word opens and prepares our hearts to meet Jesus in the Holy Sacrament, that our eyes of faith now opened, we should recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread. This is Jesus’ great gift to the Church on Easter Sunday … the Church throughout the world continues to recognize Him in the breaking of bread. Behold the Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.

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Let There be Darkness

Mark 15:33-34

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eli, lama sabach-thani?” which means, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

On Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, at midday from noon until three, darkness covered the land. This darkness was deeply mysterious, profoundly troubling … a darkness that was sensible, that made men tremble.

We come across darkness at the very outset of Holy Scripture: Genesis1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Darkness and its tumult was vanquished, was overcome at God’s command, “Let there be light.” “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).

Let there be darkness … The Old Testament also speaks of a darkness that is associated with the day of the Lord, a terrible day of thick darkness and gloom, a day of wrath and judgment against sin:

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Amos 8:9 “And on that day,” says the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

Let there be darkness … On Good Friday the sun goes down at noon and darkens the earth in broad daylight … and a mighty man cries aloud, “Eloi, Eli, lama sabach-thani?” which means, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” Sin has once again plunged the world into darkness. The Day of the Lord, the day of judgment, has descended on the sin of all mankind, and the weight of that sin, that judgment, is borne by one man:

Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

II Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree.”

Let there be darkness … In the darkness of Good Friday Jesus the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. The Light of the world was forsaken in the darkness that covered the whole land. The world seemed once again formless and void, darkness having overcome the light.

And yet … The darkness of Good Friday is not darkness for us. This day of darkness that covered the land is life, and light, and salvation for us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Darkness shall not prevail. Light shall overcome the darkness, Life overcome death. For …

John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overpower it.

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Good Friday

The Collect 

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle 

Hebrews x. 1. 

THE law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; then saith he, And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

The Gospel

St. John xix.

1. PILATE therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King ! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

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Maundy Thursday

The Collect

ALMIGHTY Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood; Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him, who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal; the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle

1 Corinthians xi. 23.

I HAVE received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

St. Augustine writes … “on this night Jesus carried himself in his own hands.” On this night Jesus offers Himself, His Body and Blood, foreshadowing His offering, His giving His Body and Blood on Good Friday. Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to his disciples, “Take, eat: this my body, which is broken for you”; likewise, “he took the cup … saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood.” On this night, on Maundy Thursday, Jesus took his body and blood in his own hands, and he offered them to those who would betray him.

Jesus’ offered Himself to those who were His own in a profound communion of love, a love that would forgive their many betrayals, remit their many sins. Among them was Judas, the archbetrayer, an enemy to Jesus whose betrayal was unforgivable; but Jesus’ friends also betrayed Him. Peter denied Him and the rest of the disciples would forsake Him. Jesus knew this, and yet Jesus loved His disciples, His own, and He loved them to the end: This is my Body given for you, my Blood shed for you.

What comfort we discover here. Despite our many betrayals, our many sins against Him, every Sunday Jesus offers Himself to us in a communion of life, love and forgiveness. In this communion of Jesus’ Body and Blood God assures us of His favor and goodness toward us, that we are very members incorporate of Jesus’ mystical body, and are also heirs through hope — Christ in us the hope of glory! —of His everlasting kingdom (BCP p.83). St. John Chrysostom in a homily delivered on Holy Thursday proclaimed: “Christ is present. The One who prepared that [Holy Thursday] table is the very One who now prepares this [altar] table. For it is not a man who makes the sacrificial gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ, but He that was crucified for us, Christ Himself. The priest stands there carrying out the action, but the power and the grace is of God. 'This is My Body … ”

The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed…

In the 14th century medieval cathedral of Durham in northern England, a ceremony known as the Judas Cup was instituted as part of the Maundy Thursday liturgy. Following Holy Communion, a large cup or bowl called a mazer was placed before the monks. “it was called the Judas cup because the face of Judas was worked into its bowl so that when the monks drank from it they could see, as it were, the face of Judas looking at them and, in a sense, mirroring their own face.”

On Maundy Thursday the monks were to recall the trials, failures, and ambiguities of discipleship even among the most committed of them. They were reminded that of those privileged to be present at the Last Supper, one disciple was already plotting Jesus’ betrayal, while another would soon deny any knowledge of him.

After reading Psalm 22. 1-11 the Dean of the Cathedral led the clergy to a table set in the Quire.

The Dean reading, said: As they sat at supper, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me - one who is eating with me’. At this they were distressed, and one by one they said to him, ‘Surely you do not mean me?’ ‘It is one of the Twelve’, he said, ‘who is dipping into the bowl with me.’

The Celebrant then placed the mazer on the table and poured wine into it from an earthenware jug.

Celebrant: Alas for the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed.

Dean: Lord, is it I?

Clergy and Congregation: Lord, is it I?

The Dean then drinks from the mazer and passes it to the other clergy present. Each in turn drinks from it in silence.

Dean: Even if I were to die with you, I will never disown you.

Celebrant: And they all said the same.

Clergy and Congregation: Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.

Celebrant: It was night, the night in which he was betrayed.

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Holy Week

The Collect for Wednesday before Easter

ASSIST us mercifully with thy help, O Lord God of our salvation; that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts, whereby thou hast given unto us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle

Hebrews ix. 16.

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us …

Holy Week … when the faithful observe the most important events in the history of the world, when churches should be sounding the praises of God in Jesus Christ. What a sad and somber shock then that so many churches will be empty, silent. We may share in some of the confusion of those multitudes who welcomed the Son of David to Jerusalem, wondering what this all means. What makes Holy Week holy? Will the churches be silent this week? So great a salvation “whereby thou hast given us life and immortality” cannot and will not go lacking praise, adoration, glory and honor. For “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” (St. Luke 19:40)

Hebrews 9 places before us the great High Priestly work of Jesus Christ, for us and for our salvation. Jesus Christ entered into heaven itself, flesh and blood now entering the Holy of Holies, inheriting the kingdom of God, appearing in the presence of God … for us. How, then, can we neglect so great a salvation? Hebrews contrasts the greater person and work of Jesus Christ with the OT types and shadows:

• Jesus is a greater revealer of God than the angels (Heb 1, 2)

• Jesus is a greater mediator than Moses (Heb 3)

• Jesus is a greater rest-provider than Joshua (Heb 4)

• Jesus is a greater high priest than Aaron (Heb 5-10)

For our sakes Jesus our High Priest entered into heaven itself, the true tent, the tabernacle made without hands. The OT tabernacle and worship was “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,” of heavenly realities. Note the contrasts between the OT copy and shadow and the heavenly reality in Hebrews:

The Mosaic tabernacle

• on earth (8:4ff)

• an earthly sanctuary (9:1)

• set up by man

• made with hands

• of this creation (9:11)

• a copy and a shadow (8:5)

• a copy (9:24)

The Heavenly reality

• in heaven (8:1)

• set up by the Lord (8:2)

• not made with hands

• not of this creation (9:11)

• the true tent (8:2)

• the true sanctuary (9:24)

• the greater and more perfect tent (9:11)

• heaven itself (9:24)

The early Church was consciously aware, in its architecture and worship, of the heavenly reality Jesus had opened unto us. Heaven is restored … Jesus Christ being the earnest and pledge of our redemption. For we, too, have entered the heavenly realties in Jesus Christ. St Paul presents this joyful reality in Colossians:

2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Our faith is the substance of things hoped for, the reality of things not seen. And this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us … Christ in us the hope of glory (Col 1:27)! The Church summons us to enter with joy upon the meditation of the mighty acts of Holy Week. We cannot remain silent! We shall praise God joyfully with a loud voice:

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord;

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

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Abide in Me

The Collect for Tuesday before Easter

O LORD God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters and hid not his face from shame; Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Abide in Me — Abiding in Jesus Christ

In this morning’s Gospel reading, John 15:1ff, Jesus continues His Last Supper discourse with His disciples. … “I am the True Vine.” This is the seventh of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in St. John’s Gospel:

• I AM the Bread of Life - John 6:35

• I AM the Light of the world - John 8:12

• I AM the Door - John 10:7

• I AM the Good Shepherd - John 10:11

• I AM the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25

• I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life - John 14:6

• I AM the True Vine - John 15:1

Jesus’ use of the vine imagery would have been something quite familiar to His disciples. Israel was often identified as the “choicest vine”:

Isaiah 5:1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. 4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? … 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

Jesus is the True Vine and those who abide in Him will bring forth more fruit and much fruit. ** What does it mean to abide in Jesus and He in us? First, it means to abide in His Word by keeping it and thus proving to be Jesus’ disciples (15:7-10). Second, it means to partake of the Holy Sacrament - John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Word and Sacrament! This is the very heart and soul of the Book of Common Prayer. As Anglicans we are being nurtured in abiding in Jesus and His abiding in us to the bringing forth of much fruit. In the Prayer of Humble Access we pray:

Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.  Amen.

The post-Communion Prayer of Thanksgiving draws the intimate connection between the Holy Sacrament and proving to be Jesus’ disciples. We ask God so to assist us with His grace that we may continue in that “holy fellowship” — abiding in Jesus and He in us — “and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; …”

There is a third aspect to abiding in Jesus. Every branch that abides in Jesus and bears fruit “He [My Father the Vinedresser] prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” This pruning is the special work of Lent, and especially of this particular Lent. As difficult, unpleasant and sometimes painful as this is, God’s purpose is to bring forth more fruit in us. As the opening Collect states:

Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord

JSH+

** One of St. John’s disciples and an early martyr was St. Polycarp (poly = much; karpos = fruit). As Bishop of Smyrna Polycarp bore “much fruit” in his work in the Church.

Reflections on Morning Prayer — John 14

Collect for Monday before Easter

ALMIGHTY God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified; Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Let not your heart be troubled …” There was much that deeply troubled the disciples in their ascent to Jerusalem. Jesus himself had told them that “he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” Not liking what he had heard, Peter pulled Jesus aside: “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee” (Mt 16:21-22). The tumultuous and glorious celebration of Jesus’ Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem made trouble seem so far away. Perhaps, the disciples may have thought, Jesus was mistaken about what was to happen in Jerusalem. The great crowd’s shouts of Hosanna! , “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” (John 12) … Troubles? What could possibly go wrong?

Just when things are looking up, Jesus takes the disciples aside for Passover … and more troubling news. Betrayal? Denial? Departure? You’re leaving us? The disciples’ confusion and distress is palpable. Jesus consoles His disciples with words they struggle to comprehend. Yes, I will be separated from you, but only for a little while, and in a little while I shall see you again. Jesus will not leave His little children (John 13:33) without hope and purpose, and a great gift. Jesus leaves them with:

• an example of discipleship (John 13:15 ' in the washing of the feet

• a new Law to guide you (John 13:34 ' the Law of love)

• a way for the journey (John 14:6-7 ' I am the Way)

• the promise of a Comforter (John 14:15-17, 26 'The Holy Spirit)

• the promise of the success of their mission (John 14:14 In truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works)

• the promise of a reward (John 14:2 I am going to prepare a place for you.)

• His peace (John 14:27)

In the midst of troubling times, to troubled disciples and to a troubled world, Jesus speaks of His peace… “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Let not your heart be troubled. Jesus is our peace. His peace is the first of His gifts on the day of His Resurrection (John 20). God’s Peace is the final benediction, the final gift to our worship and to our life …

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

JSH+