JOINING CHRIST'S SACRIFICE
MONDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Heb 9:15,24-28; Ps 98:1-6; Mk 3:22-30
The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ in Us
Following
the author of the letter to the Hebrews, we gain a more detailed explanation of
the new covenant Jesus Christ brings and mediates for each of us. As already
made clear, Christ is the covenant himself because he realised in his body the
coming together of the two natures, human and divine natures. We refer to this
unique union as a hypostatic union, for it is the communion of the two natures
in the Person of the Eternal Word without confusion or diminution of either of
them. Each nature lovingly lays claim to the properties or qualities of the
other because of the covenant. The human nature of the Saviour confidently lays
down its mortal life because it shares the immortality of the Eternal Word, and
the divine nature puts down its immortality to assume human frailty, which
gives it the feel of human conditions and miseries. “Christ brings a new
covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an
eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took
place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant.” Because his
sacrifice took care of the impurity of sin that impeded the working of the old
covenant, the new covenant proved efficacious for our salvation or our
inheritance of God.
The
sacrifice of the Son of Man must not be limited to what happened on the cross
at Calvary but the total consecration of his life to the Father to do his holy
will. The Calvary event was just the consummation of what his whole life is about.
By his total consecration, Jesus defeated the power of evil within human nature
and through human nature, consecrating it to God the Father. Thus, human nature
is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who descended upon him after baptism for that
work of consecration. Hence, the heavenly sanctuary in which he ministers to
God the Father through the Eternal Spirit is first in the human soul and
consciousness of the man he assumed and concurrently before the throne of the
Godhead in heaven through the Eternal Word and the Holy Spirit. He fully
realised the heavenly ministration at his ascension into heaven. “It is not as
though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the
real one, but it was heaven itself so that he could appear in the actual
presence of God on our behalf.”
By
his complete ownership of our nature in its pure state, the Word can offer or
consecrate it as the head of humanity to expiate our sins. He is the head of
humankind because his human nature is the truest of our nature, by which he can
claim and draw us after him. As Hebrews says: “he has made his appearance once
and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing
himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ,
too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself.” He takes
hold of our beginning and end to free us from our maladies caused by sin and
evil. By his purity, he can overcome any corruptive force of evil. The Lord
testifies to this in the Gospel: “But no one can make his way into a strong
man’s house and burgle his property unless he has tied up the strong man first.
Only then can he burgle his house.” By the same purity, he expresses the will
of God clearly to us. The clarity of his speech in our nature cannot be
confused by anyone with goodwill, for all his works in the flesh are wrought by
the power of the Holy Spirit and in conformity with the will of the Father.
Thus, he expresses disappointment with those who associate the work of God with
evil. “I tell you solemnly, all men’s sins will be forgiven, and all their
blasphemies; but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never
have forgiveness: he is guilty of an eternal sin.” The Holy Spirit is love and
treats us tenderly; to turn away or blaspheme him is the height of malice and
ingratitude.
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