16th January, 2011

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Hebrews 8: 13- 9: 12

The ancient liturgical practises under the Levitical code are described only in outline - "we cannot speak more at this point" - for a specific purpose. This is not simply reminding Jewish Christians of things they should already know about. Nor is it here for historical interest or to allow readers to make comparisons. Instead, the letter tells its readers that the Levitical liturgy was a way by which the Holy Spirit disclosed the purposes of the Lord to the Lord's specially chosen people. And since Christ's arrival as High Priest, this is clearer than it has ever been.

The disclosure in terms of symbols - earthly objects that spoke of holiness - refer to the complete integrity with which a true worshipper stands before the Lord Almighty; they speak of life and death, of sin and of forgiveness. The ritual centred on the yearly offering of blood by the High Priest, and it was to be conducted in recognition of God's promises despite the perpetual ignorance of God's Own People.

What then was this ignorance [AGNOEMATOON]? Remember how He had diagnosed the problem in His relationship with them? - "I was angry with that generation and said (to Myself); this is a people that always go wrong from the heart for they have not known my ways. That was why I said in my fury: As if they should enter my rest" (3: 10, Psalm 95: 10-11).

What the Lord knew His people needed was a consciousness that knew His ways, from the heart, that knew His ways thoroughly. And so a generation-by-generation priesthood was provided to nurture the people of Israel, to shepherd them so that they followed the ways of the Lord, and so these things would then be impressed upon their consciousness, and their children's consciousness. The Almighty Redeeming Lord decreed that they needed a Priesthood "with the compassionate ability to work with the wayward and the ignorant" (5: 2).

That kind of priest can work sympathetically with God's people precisely because the blood that is offered on the people's behalf is a telling reminder to the priest that he is there because he is called by the Lord (5: 4), serving in a role in which he too needs the Lord's ongoing assistance. He too is subject to the same failings, "since he also is beset with [such] weakness [himself], and by reason of which he thereby makes offerings for the people's sins as much as for his own" (5: 2-3).

He is set in office to concretely remind the people of their solidarity; their solidarity in seeking mercy for their failures, waywardness and wilful ignorance. So when the time comes for the High Priest to take the blood with him into the holiest place, this act is also formative for the High Priest's view of himself, reminding him that he shares in solidarity with those he is called to serve by this same offering. This yearly ritual, seeking reconciliation with the Lord, aimed to form the consciousness of all - the priests and the people, were involved as one body.

And it is the Spirit of the Holy One Himself, working in these symbolic gestures, that reminded the High Priest, and through him all the people, of the ongoing intention of the Lord, that among the people of the Lord there would be a holy and wholehearted knowledge of the Lord's ways (8: 11). By providing them with a priest, the Lord reminded His people of His ongoing love; they stood in need of one who would intercede for them. The desire of the Almighty is that His people give themselves completely to Him - the offering of blood, linking ignorance (AGNOEMATOON, verse seven) to consciousness (SUNEIDESIN, verse nine) - speaks of the Lord's intention to bring about a complete and wholehearted knowing response from His people, to overcome the problem that they simply did not know the ways of the Lord from the heart.

The blood is the powerful symbol in that prefigured transaction, speaking of redemption and deliverance from death. It speaks of the intention of the Lord to restore the life of God's image-bearers. That blood, offered year after year in that Holiest place, partook of the same special and exalted Holiness which would then be imparted to the people (9: 19).

So, the writer's purpose, as much for Jewish believers as for any Gentiles who may be reading this, is to emphasise how the Lord meets the needs of all His people. Believers in Christ Jesus are in need of His High Priestly exaltation at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High; His priestly task is to intercede for them, and hence they have confidence in Him to pray: "Our Father in Heaven; may your name be given the respect to which You are indeed due."

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