Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9: 11-12)

This Sunday is the fifth Sunday in Lent, called "Passion Sunday". It is the beginning of the events recorded in the Bible that lead up to the crucifixion. In the next two weeks we will hear lessons that focus on the final days of Jesus' earthly life and ministry: The last supper, the agony of his vigil of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal by Judas Iscariot; his trials before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, his rejection by the Jews in favor of Barabbas, a murderer,. His scourging and mocking by the Roman soldiers, who beat him with a whip containing pieces of bone. Along the road to Calvary, Jesus is forced to carry his own cross, is nailed to it and takes 3 hours to die a slow and painful death. Our Psalm references the sense of separation Christ feels on the cross.

If you have seen the Passion of the Christ from a few years ago, or any of the other Hollywood depictions of the Crucifixion, you are very much aware of the suffering of Christ. But the question remains: why did Christ suffer so? What is the purpose of the Passion?

Our Propers this morning collectively give meaning to what will follow as we move towards Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.

In our Gospel, St. John records a debate between Jesus and the Sadducees and Pharisees. This occurred when Jesus was teaching in the Jerusalem Temple. He had apparently gone to the city to observe what was known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This annual observance commemorated the forty years of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, during which time they had lived in tents. There was even a portable "tabernacle" version of the temple which would some day be built in the Promised Land. To remind them of this period in their history, the Jews built and lived in tents for seven days.

Apparently Jesus gathered a huge following which irritated the Jewish leaders. Here was this rural Rabbi stealing, as it were, the attention they reserved for themselves. The Jewish authorities objected and Jesus put them in their place, telling them that His teaching comes from God and honors God, and that since they didn't know He was teaching about God, they must not be of God themselves.

Scripture makes it clear that Jesus was already a marked man. We know from the Bible that the Jewish authorities already had tried to stop Jesus and had even plotted to have him killed. Now, the Jewish leaders had already decided that this man Jesus had to be stopped. They had tried to have him arrested before, plotted against His life, and tried to trip him up to cause Him to "lose face" with the common people. But Jesus always made them look bad always exposed their vanity and hypocrisy.

In this encounter, Jesus finally declares Himself to be God. "Before Abraham was, I am." As a result they try to stone Him (presumably for blasphemy) but once again are thwarted by the public nature of the situation. The time was not yet right according to God's plan, but soon, very soon — God would put in motion the plan to offer up the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" as the true and final offering for all the sins of the world.

All that had come before in teaching man about the nature of sacrifice was to be completed in Christ. From the time after the Fall, when Adam and Eve were allowed to wear animal skins for clothing (an animal now had to die so that they could live), through the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, to the God-given system of priestly sacrifice in the Temple, all had pointed to the coming of Christ — not only the true Lamb of God, but also the true High Priest.

St. Paul puts this so well when he writes, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:6-8).

This morning's Epistle puts it this way: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 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" (Heb. 9:11-12).

The old priesthood and the old temple could not provide a remedy for sin, only a temporary covering over. Its purpose was to prepare men for the coming of Christ and the one, true offering, the one and only atonement for sin, past present and future.

Martin Luther puts it this way in his sermon on this passage:

In the Old Covenant, the priest with his sacrifices and sprinklings of blood effected merely as it were an external absolution, or pardon, corresponding to the childhood stage of the people. The recipient was permitted to move publicly among the people; he was externally holy and as one restored from excommunication... " Luther continues: "But such absolution rendered no one inwardly holy and just before God. Something beyond that was necessary to secure true forgiveness... ¹

Our Old Testament reading puts the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant in its proper perspective. In the fullness of time, the same God who provided it gave something better in its place: His only begotten Son.

The old priesthood of the Jews was a passing thing that pointed towards the greater priesthood. The Temple sacrifices were commanded and sanctioned by God to suffice until Christ came. The old Temple was a made with human hands and contained an earthly sacrifice that had to be repeated. Christ, however is priest and sacrifice. Perfect man and fully God. He presents His offering — His sinless self ‐ not in the Holy of Holies made with human hands(the Temple); and not by sprinkling the blood of a representative sacrificial animal, but in the very presence of God, in the true Holy of Holies (Heaven) Christ acts as High Priest offers His Father Himself as a spotless sacrifice. For this reason Christ came into the world.

Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.