Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Hebrews 10:1-10
The Sacrifices of the Old Covenant Could
Not Take Away Sins (Continuation)
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[1] For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshippers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. [3] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. [4] For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Christ's Offering of Himself Has Infinite Value
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[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifices and offerings Thou hast not desired, but a body hast Thou prepared for Me; [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure. [7] Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do Thy will, O God,' as it is written of Me in the roll of the book." [8] When He said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), [9] then He added, "Lo, I have come to do Thy will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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Commentary:
1. The sacred writer once more compares the Old Testament sacrifices with the sacrifice of Christ (cf. 7:27; 9:9-10, 12-13), examining them now from the point of view of their efficacy.
The Law is "a shadow", that is, something without substance. The term used to be employed by artists to describe the first sketch on a canvas, a bare outline before the application of color. Thus, the Old Law in relation to the New Testament is like a first sketch as compared with the finished painting. However, because it speaks of the New Testament as "the true form of these realities", it allows us to see the New Covenant as not yet giving possession of these "good things to come", but as being a kind of anticipation of them, a reflection of them. Yet it is a true, a faithful, reflection, insofar as the New Law already has the power to forgive sins and to link men with God through charity. "The New Law", St Thomas says, "represents the good things to come more clearly than does the Old. Firstly, because in the words of the New Testament express mention is made of the good things to come and the promise, whereas in the Old reference is made only to material good things. Secondly, because the New Testament draws its strength from charity, which is the fullness of the Law. And this charity, even if it be imperfect, is similar to Christ's charity by virtue of the faith to which it is joined. That is why the new law is called the 'law of love'. And that is also why it is called the 'true form', because it has imprinted on it the image of the good things to come" ("Commentary on Heb, ad loc.").
Moreover, an image, to some degree at least, coincides with the reality it reflects: Christ himself, for example, is the image of God. Therefore, "in Christ one already possesses, in a permanent way, these good things of heaven--both the present ones and the future ones"("Chrysostom, Hom. on Heb, ad loc.").
2-4. These verses repeat what is said in verse 1 and in 9:12-13. "Tell me, then, what is the point of having more victims and more sacrifices when a single victim would suffice for atonement for sins [...]. Multiple sacrifices in effect show that the Jews needed to atone for their sins because they had failed to find forgiveness: it points to the inefficacy of the victims offered, rather than to their power" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on Heb.", 17). The ultimate reason for this inefficacy is explained by a striking statement: "It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins" (verse 4). There is here an echo of those proclamations of the prophets which reminded the people that true purification comes not from external actions but from conversion of heart (cf. Jeremiah 2:22; 4:14; 11:15; Micah 6:7-8; Psalm 51:18-19; etc.).
And yet, is it not the case that the priests of the New Testament renew Jesus' sacrifice in the Mass everyday? St. John Chrysostom answers: "Yes, that is true, but not because we regard the original sacrifice, Christ's sacrifice, as ineffective or impotent. We priests repeat it to commemorate His death. We have but one victim, Christ--not many victims [...]. There is but one and the same sacrifice [...], one Christ whole and entire, here as elsewhere, the same everywhere—the same Christ on all the altars. Just as Jesus Christ, although offered in different places, has only one body, so everywhere there is but one sacrifice [...]. What we do is a commemoration of Christ's offering, for at the Supper He said, `Do this in memory of Me.' Therefore, we do not offer, as the high priest of the Law did, a new, additional victim: it is not one sacrifice more, but always the same one" ("Hom. on Heb.", 17).
The Mass "is the sacrifice of Christ, offered to the Father with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit--an offering of infinite value, which perpetuates the work of the Redemption in us and surpasses the sacrifices of the Old Law. The holy Mass brings us face to face with one of the central mysteries of our faith, because it is the gift of the Blessed Trinity to the Church. It is because of this that we can consider the Mass as the center and the source of a Christian's spiritual life. It is the final end of all the Sacraments" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 86-87).
5-10. This passage carries a quotation from Psalm 40:7-8, but one taken from the Greek translation, the Septuagint, not from the Hebrew. Where the Hebrew says, "Thou hast opened My ears", the Greek reads, "a body Thou hast prepared for Me". The difference is not substantial, because the Hebrew expression points to the docility and obedience of the speaker, who is the Messiah Himself. The Greek translation gives the sentence a more general meaning: God has not only opened the ears of the Messiah; He has given Him life as a man (cf. Philippians 2:7). The words of this Psalm "allow us as it were to sound the unfathomable depths of this self-abasement of the Word, His humiliation of Himself for love of men even to death on the Cross [...]. Why this obedience, this self-abasement, this suffering? The Creed gives us the answer: 'for us men and for our salvation' Jesus came down from Heaven so as to give man full entitlement to ascend (to Heaven) and by becoming a son in the Son to regain the dignity he lost through sin [...]. Let us welcome Him. Let us say to Him, `Here I am; I have come to do Your will'" (St Pope John Paul II, "General Audience", 25 March 1981).
The author of the letter, elaborating on the text of the psalm, asserts that the Messiah's sacrifice is greater than the sacrifices of the Old Law, unbloody as well as bloody, sin-offerings as well as burnt offerings as they were called in the liturgy (cf. Leviticus 5;6; 7:27). The sacrifice of Christ, who has "come into the world", has replaced both kinds of ancient sacrifice. It consisted in perfectly doing the will of His Father (cf. John 4:34; 6:38; 8:29; 14:31), even though He was required to give His life to the point of dying on Calvary (Matthew 26:42; John 10:18; Hebrews 5:7-9). Christ "came into the world" to offer Himself up to suffering and death for the redemption of the world. "He knew that all the sacrifices of goats and bulls offered to God in ancient times were incapable of making satisfaction for the sins of men; He knew that a divine person was needed to do that [...]. My Father (Jesus Christ said), all the victims offered You up to this are not enough and never will be enough to satisfy Your justice; You gave Me a body capable of experiencing suffering, so that You might be placated by the shedding of My blood, and men thereby saved; `"ecce venio", here I am, ready; I accept everything and in all things do I submit to Your will'. The lower part of His human nature naturally felt repugnance and reacted against living and dying in so much pain and opprobium, but its rational part, which was fully subject to the Father's will, had the upper hand; it accepted everything, and therefore Jesus Christ began to suffer, from that point onwards, all the anguish and pain which He would undergo in the course of His life. That is how our Divine Redeemer acted from the very first moments of His coming into the world. So, how should we behave towards Jesus when, come to the use of reason, we begin to know the sacred mysteries of Redemption through the light of faith?" (St. Alphonsus, "Advent Meditations", II, 5).
The Psalm speaks of "the roll of the book": this may refer to a specific book or else to the Old Testament in general (cf. Luke 24:27; John 5;39, 46, 47).
The True Kinsmen of Jesus
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[31] And His (Jesus') mother and His brethren came; and standing outside they went to Him and called Him. [32] And a crowd was sitting about Him: and they said to Him, "Your mother and Your brethren are outside, asking for You." [33] And He replied, "Who are My mother and My brethren?" [34] And looking around on those who sat about Him, He said, "Here are My mother and My brethren! [35] Whoever does the will of God is My brother, and sister, and mother."
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Commentary:
31-35. In Aramaic, the language used by the Jews, the word "brethren" is a broad term indicating kinship: nephews, first cousins, and relatives in general are called `brethren' (for further explanation cf. note on Mark 6:1-3). "Jesus did not say this to disown His mother, but to show that she is worthy of honor not only account of having given birth to Jesus, but also because she has all the virtues" (Theophylact, "Enarratio In Evangelium Marci, in loc.").
Therefore, the Church reminds us that the Blessed Virgin "in the course of her Son's preaching received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God as she was faithfully doing" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 58).
Our Lord, then, is also telling us that if we follow Him we will share His life more intimately than if we were a member of His family. St. Thomas explains this by saying that Christ "had an eternal generation and a generation in time, and gave preference to the former. Those who do the will of the Father reach Him by Heavenly generation [...]. Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who fulfilled the will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but converts others, begets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ" ("Commentary on St. Matthew", 12, 49-50.)