Jesus Christ Is The Eternal High Priest Who Stands In Between God The Father And Us

It was God who instituted the role of priesthood. He had Aaron, the brother of Moses, anointed a priest. Abraham's great-grandson Levi was singled out by God to be the father of the priestly tribe. When the Law was given on Mount Sinai, the Levites were identified as the servants of the Tabernacle, with the family of Aaron becoming the priests. The priests were responsible for making intercession to God for the people by offering the many sacrifices that the law required. Among the priests, one was selected as the High Priest, and he entered into the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement to place the blood of the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:7). By these daily and yearly sacrifices, the sins of the people were temporarily covered until the Messiah came to take away their sins.

When Jesus Christ appeared he was the great High Priest. He came into the world as the Son of God. He lived a sinless life, offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of His people, rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the majesty of God, and there He pleads for us and bids us draw near to God our Father through Him. He did not come to fit into the old system of priestly sacrifices. He came to fulfill them and end them.

He is the reality; the priests before Him were shadows and copies of the Reality. When the Reality came, the shadows passed away.

Let us not forget that all of us, through our Baptism and Confirmation, share in the priesthood of Christ. I, through the Sacrament of Ordination, have a greater sharing in Christ's priesthood. And bishops have a greater sharing than we priests do. Lord Jesus, we cannot thank You enough for giving us this wonderful privilege. May we make ourselves us worthy as we can for this office.