“Jesus, Compassionate High Priest, Therefore since we hve a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to recieve mercy and to find grace for timely help. Heb 4-14/16
(The author is confident of his access to the throne of Christ and,)
Heb 5 1-10 Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring for he himself is beset by WEAKNESS and so for this reason must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.
In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him:
You are my son, this day I have begotton you. Just as he says in another place,
You are a Priest Forever
according to the order of
Melchizedek.”
In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he was made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
declared by God high priest according
to the order of Melchizedek.”
(This means according to Christian tradition Melchizedek “priest of the God most high: as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique high priest after the order of Melchizedek, holy, blameless, unstained by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified by the cross.
(It Should be noted that Melchizedek was not a Levi. He had no part in the Levite tradition. His was an entirely different order. )
Genesis 14-18 Melchizedeck prefigures the Great High Priest
“Melchizedeck, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abran with these words: Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth, And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.”
(Salem is traditionally identified with Jerusalem.)
The Redemptive power of the sacrifice is unique and accomplished once and for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ, it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood.
“Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers” Heb 8-4
And those others in a direct Apostolic line acting in accordance with Christ’s mandate at the Last Supper.
The Order of Melchezidek, Christ our High Priest, the Eucharist
Mark 14-22/26 “While they were eating, he took bread,said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Matthew 26-26
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread,and said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it all of you, for this my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the Kingdom of my Father.”
(Mark uses the term “blood” as the seat of life which placed on the altar makes atonement.)
The Eucharist is not simply the bread alone. It is a sacrament that is so many other things besides. Because it is the eve of the Passion, it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.
At the breaking of the bread, the disciples will once again recognize Jesus when he is present with them at the supper when he appears to them to them after His Resurrection on the road to Emmaus.
Luke 24-28/3 “As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. Buth they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him but he vanished from their sight.”
It is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies. By doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form one body with him.
It is the Memorial. It is the Holy Sacrifice because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ and includes the Churches offering.
It is the offering of bread and wine that was prefigured by King Melchizedek. The multiplication of the loaves to feed the multitude, and the wine at the wedding in Cana all lead to the hour of Glorification of our Lord.
But above all, it is His Body and His Blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
“Do this in memory of me” the command of Jesus to repeat His actions and words “until He comes again” does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what He did, It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection. From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord’s command. Acts 2-42/46
Our great truth is “Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.”
But those who did not understand his teaching walked away from the Bread of Life.