Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:11)

As we near Holy Week, our lessons today deal with the nature of the Atonement and the two priesthoods of Holy Scripture as understood in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Epistle to the Hebrews is the key book of the New Testament in reconciling the worship and sacrificial system of the Old Testament to that of the New Testament in light of their completion and fulfillment in Christ. One key aspect of Hebrews with which we are concerned today is the comparison and contrasting of the Old Testament priesthood with the priesthood of Christ and the sacrifices of each. These few verses have immense importance to a proper understanding of the ministry and sacraments of the Church.

First, it is important to understand that the fundamental natures of each of the two priesthoods are different.

The Old Testament priesthood was entirely a material and objective one. It functioned not on its own merits, but by divine decree and it relied upon the offering of the blood of animals to make a physical, bloody sacrifice, one which had to be repeated for new sins on a regular basis. Animal sacrifice – most importantly the offering of an unblemished lamb – was given to Israel by God as a foreshadowing, a sign and symbol of the promised coming of the Messiah – the Lamb of God. The lamb was slain and offered to God in the temple he had ordered to be built. The temple was built by human hands and set apart to God's glory. The efficacy of the temple, its priesthood and sacrifices amounted to a formal "covering over of sin" based on God's covenantal grace and these function primarily in that they prefigured and pointed to something greater than themselves.

The New Testament priesthood of Christ is certainly objective and material. It is certainly bloody in that Christ shed His blood on the cross. But it is also spiritual in nature in a way the first priesthood is not.. Most importantly, it is the priesthood of Christ Himself. It is not the mere sign, not the symbol, nor a prefiguring – but is the actual thing.

In his sermon on this text, Martin Luther observed "Christ sacrificed not goats nor calves nor birds; not bread; not blood nor flesh, as did Aaron and his posterity: he offered his own body and blood, and the manner of the sacrifice was spiritual; for it took place through the Holy Spirit."

And whereas the temple in which the Old Testament sacrifice was offered was made of stone, the temple of the New Testament sacrifice is the Incarnate Son of God - Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. He was offered publicly before the eyes of God, and there he still abides. The cross is an altar in the most spiritual sense. The psalm we sang this morning, written by David centuries before Christ, is about the crucifixion and Christ references it from the cross when He cries out "my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me."

And while the Old Testament priesthood gave absolution to those who asked the priest to offer a sacrifice on their behalf , through the shedding of blood it was only an external absolution – it could not change the heart. It made no one inwardly holy and just before God. Something beyond that was necessary to secure true forgiveness.

But the priesthood of Christ offers true spiritual remission, and offers sanctification and absolution. Christ's blood has obtained for us pardon forever and in faith, makes us acceptable to God. God will forgive our sins for the sake of that blood so long as its power shall last and its intercession for grace in our behalf, which is forever. Therefore, we are forever holy and blessed before God. Unlike the temple sacrifice of the Old Testament, the sacrifice of Christ does not need to be – indeed cannot be – repeated. It is a one time event. . According to Leviticus 16, the high priest of the Old Covenant had to enter the holy of holies once a year and offer Israel sacrifice and seek formal reconciliation between God and his people.

Martin Luther wrote "It did not eternally suffice, as does the atonement of Christ. For though we fall and sin repeatedly, we have confidence that the blood of Christ does not fall, or sin; it remains steadfast before God, and the expiation is perpetual and eternal. Under its sway grace is perpetually renewed, without work or merit on our part, provided we do not stand aloof in unbelief."

It is this eternal promise which allows the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews to declare that Christ is "a high priest of the good things to come."

The blessings from Atonement of Christ are not merely a formal pardon – but offer the "blessings to come"; blessings which are spiritual and eternal. Paul speaks of them as blessings to come, not that we are to await the life to come before we can have forgiveness and all the blessings of divine grace, but because now we possess them only in faith.

Through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. "Nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption."

So under the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifice, man's sins remained, but the payment was deferred until Christ came. Only now, after the Atonement, is Christ our Mediator through the shedding of His own his blood. By this sacrifice our consciences are freed from the burden of sin in the sight of God and we are made children of God by adoption and grace and declared to be the elect of God and co-heirs with Christ. In his sermon for this Sunday, John Wesley writes: "And for this end he is the Mediator of a new covenant, that they who are called, to the engagements and benefits thereof, might receive the eternal inheritance promised to Abraham: not by means of legal sacrifices, but of his meritorious death. For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant. That is, for the redemption of transgressors from the guilt and punishment of those sins which were committed in the time of the old covenant. The article of his death properly divides the old covenant from the new."

Understanding the priesthood of Christ is critical if we are to understand the priesthood of the Church after Christ has come and made this offering for us. For Christ has transformed the concept of priesthood. The priesthood of the Church is not properly seen as a sacrificing priesthood in the sense of the Old Covenant priesthood. This is true despite errors to the contrary that became popular in the Western Church in Middle Ages and which to a large extent is still taught within the Church of Rome to this day.

The whole basis for the dogma of Transubstantiation developed by St. Thomas Aquinas (this being the teaching that the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Christ) was a perceived need to have the priest make an objective (bloody) sacrifice to God in the same manner as the Old Testament priest. To that end Roman dogma requires a metaphysical change of the substance of the bread and wine into the literal Body and Blood of Christ so that a re-immolation (re-sacrifice) of Christ can be made for new sins.

One danger in this position is that it renders incomplete the work of Christ on the cross. Future sins need a future sacrifice, so Christ apparently did not die for some sins.

A second danger is the elevation of the priest to the level of intermediary in a manner which was not taught or believed by the early church. Priestcraft – the idea that it is the priest upon who all depends obscures the role of the laity as part of the priesthood of all believers.

A third and final issue is the effect of such a doctrine on the hypostatic union of Christ. That is the idea that Jesus is fully human and fully divine and that His two natures are not compromised by being brought together in the Incarnation. It was John Calvin who observed in the Institutes of Religion that while Christ, in His divinity can be spiritually present everywhere at once, the same cannot be true of His humanity. Christ the man can only be present in one place. According to the bible that one place is now heaven. (Thus Article IV of our Articles of Religion says " Christ did truly rise from the dead, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature; wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return[s] to judge all men at the last day.") If so, he cannot be physically present everywhere without compromising his humanity.

The Christian priest or presbyter thus has no objective sacrifice to present. There is no bloody offering to be made. According to Hebrews, Christ has done that once and for all. Thus our Communion service declares of Christ "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…". Yet this does not mean there is no sacrifice.

We in fact acknowledge two: "Here we offer ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice" echoing St. Paul in Romans 12, and we ask God to accept " This our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving…" as our "bounden duty and service." These sacrifices are those which acknowledge that Christ, as the true High Priest has already made the sacrifice of Himself. Our response is one of gratitude and thanksgiving. We cannot offer a new oblation of in which Christ is offered again.

The Old Testament priesthood is not the New Testament priesthood in function. One looks towards the coming of Christ, the other celebrates that He has come. This is in keeping with the covenantal aspects of both the Old and New Testaments. God has completed and fulfilled other aspects of the Old Covenant in the new. Examples include circumcision being completed in baptism and the Passover is replaced and completed by the Holy Communion. The priesthood of the Church is not the priesthood of Aaron. At the same time, God never takes away what he gives covenantally. The rainbow given after the flood remains today as do all other covenantal signs and seals. So the priesthood remains, but is altered by the nature of the completed work of Christ.

The office of priest and the form of the altar remain. But the Christian priest is a representative priesthood. This allows us to affirm both the order of the priesthood and the priesthood of all believers. The sacrifice offered is the same for both – praise, thanksgiving, our souls and bodies – but never Christ.

Richard Hooker, the sixteenth century apologist for the English Reformation addresses this issue in his monumental "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" when he writes: "Christ never spake a word of sacrificing or saying of Mass… therefore sacrificing priests should now cease forever; for all men ought to offer their own bodies to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God."

The celebrant represents Christ, the bridegroom, and the people represent the bride. Post reformation there are no private masses said by the priest alone – another person must be present to represent the people. – and the altar is no longer one of bloody sacrifice, but is one of victory from which no objective sacrifice is ever made.

It is for this reason that Anglicans generally use an empty or adorned cross instead of a crucifix, not because we deny the Atonement, but because we celebrate a risen Christ. In so doing we already have acknowledged the Cross. We do believe that Christ is truly present, and that when He declares "this is my body" and "this is my blood" at the last supper we accept His word in faith. What we do not do is presume to tell God how this is accomplished. The manner in which God accomplishes this is to be seen as a holy mystery and we essentially share this understanding with our brethren in the Eastern Church. As Elizabeth I is said to have written: "He was the Word that spake it, he took the bread and break it, and what that Word doth make it, I do believe and take it."

The proper focus is thus placed upon the true Eucharist in heaven, of which our Holy Communion is a part. Thus we speak of 'the communion of the saints." In so doing we focus on Christ as our High Priest, who has presented Himself and obtained our redemption.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.