Memorial of Saint Anthony, abbot

Two creeks

Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

The idea of Jesus as priest runs so deeply in the Catholic imagination, it might come as a surprise to us that it never occurred to Saint Paul or the four evangelists. They saw him as messiah first of all and easily recognized him as prophet and king. From his anointing in the Jordan River until his enthronement on the cross they celebrated the authority the Son of Man was given as Lord and Ruler.

The Letter to the Hebrews, by an unknown author, introduces Jesus as priest. I wonder if a few Levite converts in the Christian congregation suddenly snapped to attention when they heard Hebrews 2:17

Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

The Evangelists Matthew and Luke clearly established that Jesus was born into the royal family of David by his foster father Joseph; and he was often addressed as the Son of David. With a bit of stretching he might be a Levite on his mother’s side, as she was distantly related to Elizabeth and Zechariah, who was offering sacrifice when the Angel Gabriel appeared to him.

But Hebrews would ignore that remote possibility and fasten Jesus’ priesthood to the “Line of Melchizedek;” that is, to the pagan priest who honored the patriarch Abraham.

You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.

That mysterious character was remembered without ancestry or lineage – neither parents nor children. His was a “spiritual” line that, after lying dormant in the sacred dust of Jerusalem for two millennia, fastened itself to Jesus.

So the author of Hebrews is setting out on what appears to be thin ice as he posits Jesus as priest, but he will demonstrate just how solid is his footing. I’d have to believe his Levite congregation, skeptical at first, was stunned and delighted by his originality – despite their instinctive abhorrence of originality.

For his Jesus the cross would become not a throne but an altar. His weakness would be the weakness common to all men, especially that of priests who must face the majesty of God with the pathetic gifts of bread, wine and, occasionally, meat. His prayers would be the priest’ entreaties to the leaden sky that does not split open when he calls. His words would be the ancient words of priests, handed from one generation to the next; and, finally, his loud cries and tears from the cross. His sacrifice, like that of all priests, would be nothing more than his obedience and his suffering.

The author remembered:

No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.

Not even the Messiah would dare aspire to priesthood unless he was called by God. This vocation can be given only by God and recognized by the Church.

Our Catholic tradition has honored the astonishing insight of Hebrews by ordaining our leaders as priests. Initially they were presbyters, subject to their bishops as their counterparts in the Jewish synagogues were subject to the chief rabbis. Our ordination service uses the two words interchangeably.

But we never forget there is only one priest. He alone offers the Sacrifice of the Mass. He alone is worthy to enter the temple with the gifts of his body and blood. The rest of us can only watch and say Amen.