When the priests of the Old Testament offered atonement to God it was an imperfect sacrifice. They could not offer themselves – that would have been suicide – so they sacrificed animals as victims to represent them.
On two occasions God entered into a covenant with His people in a binding agreement based not solely on law but on love.
Through Moses as mediator God made a covenant with His chosen people. He agreed to love and care for them, and they promised to be faithful to Him. Sadly, they broke the terms of the agreement and were unfaithful.
How comforting are these words, “The power of Jesus to save is utterly certain.” Why is this so? “Since He is living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through Him.” These are the opening words of the first reading. In them we can find great security. We want to be saved and now we know for certain we can be saved through Jesus our High Priest, “holy, innocent, uncontaminated, our Mediator with God the Father.” “He has His place at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in heaven.”
Among the Israelites the priesthood was hereditary. A man became a priest by being a descendent of Levi, and when he died the priesthood was passed on to his sons. Melchizedek was an exception.
That is why Jesus is compared with Melchizedek because His priesthood is also quite different - given to Him directly by His heavenly Father and it does not end with His death but continues, because He is a priest forever.
A priest is called to be a mediator between God and humanity. He is a bridge which spans the gap between God and us. Jesus Christ is our priest, our bridge with God. The unknown writer of the first reading reminds us that the chief duty of a priest is to offer sacrifice to God for the sins of the people. Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sins on the Cross to God the Father. Every time we come to Mass Jesus renews this sacrifice on our behalf.
John the Baptist was a man with a mission. His life was planned for him. His task was to herald the coming of the Messiah to the Jews. He prepared himself for this task by living an austere life in the wilderness.
Today’s first reading quotes Psalm 95 with its warning to us not to be like those Jews in the wilderness who were disgruntled with God because of their hunger and thirst. But He had worked wonders to bring them out of Egypt. Should they not have trusted Him to care for them and bring them safely into the land that He had promised? Obviously they had not allowed the word of God to penetrate their hardened hearts and, as a result, had lost God’s favour and were not given the privilege of entering the Promised Land.
The prophet Nathan was given a very difficult task from the Lord which demanded a great deal of courage. He was to confront King David with his sins of adultery and murder, and call him to repentance. Prudently, and with a great deal of ingenuity, he prepared David by telling him the parable of the selfish rich man. David fell into the trap.
