Corpus Christi Blog

Priests offer sacrifice

10-25-2015HomiliesFr. Chad King

I must admit I was having a hard time deciding what our Lord was calling me to share with you this weekend in this homily.  I was asking myself,- do I preach on the Gospel or the 2nd reading- both are so full of great inspiration, but I can’t do both (or we will be here all day).  I decided to preach on the 2nd reading, but if you let me, I’m going to give you a little homework assignment to do in your prayer time on the Gospel. 

In your prayer, I encourage you to let our Lord speak to you personally through this story of the healing of Bartimaeus at the end of tenth chapter in Mark.  I invite you to read this Gospel story to slowly yourself trying to picture in your mind the scene and what the interactions of the people in the story might look like.  And place yourself as one of the characters- maybe you are one of the disciples, or maybe one of the crowd, trying to ignore and silence this blind man crying out.  Or maybe you imagine yourself as Bartimaeus and you hear Jesus ask you what you want Him to do for you.   Whatever character you choose, in your prayer time, ask our Lord to speak to you through this Gospel story.  And by the way, this is a good way to pray any time and let God speak to you through Scripture.

Before I begin my homily and reflect how our 2nd reading applies to you and me in our daily lives, I am going to read most of the short 2nd reading again to remind you so that what I say can make more sense.  Our 2nd reading begins, “Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifice for sins”.  He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.  No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was”. 

It is important that we truly appreciate and understand a little theological teaching before we reflect on what that means to you and me.  You might remember that in the book of Exodus, Aaron, Moses’ brother, who was from the tribe of Levi, was called by God from amongst all the Israelites to be the first priest; Aaron was the first high priest and Aaron’s sons were the other priests.  Aaron was the assistant for Moses, so Aaron was called to say and do what the Lord commanded through Moses.  The primary responsibility of the priests were to offer the various sacrifices for the people, particularly the Passover lambs.  However, each year the priests would draw lots to see who would be the High Priest that year.  Just before Jesus was born the high priest was Zechariah.  The book of Leviticus says that the High Priest once a year was to enter into the Holy of Holies, which is the inner sanctum of the Temple, the place where the tabernacle in which God dwelled was kept.  The High Priest’s primary responsibility each year was to offer the sacrifice on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, for the forgiveness of the sins of all the Israelites.  On the Day of Atonement the priest would be stripped of his clothes wash his hands and his feet, and then immerse himself in water and dried off and put on white garments, similar to the white alb the priest and altar servers puts on before they enter the Sancturary.  Then the High Priest would offer a bullock, a young bull for his own sin offering as our 2nd reading reminds us, and fill the Holy of Holies with incense; thus he would be considered purified and ready to offer the sacrifice for the people.  The people would then bring to the High Priest 2 goats, one goat would be offered to the Lord and the other would become the scapegoat.   After the one goat was sacrificed to the Lord, the High Priest would take the live scapegoat and lay his hands upon the scapegoat and confess all the sins of the Israelites onto it.  Then a Gentile, because no Jew would want to go near the goat that had all their sins, would tie a scarlet red ribbon around its neck, lead the scapegoat out into the desert, and push it over the cliff.  So when the scapegoat would be pushed over the cliff and die, the Israelites knew all their sins were forgiven.  And here is where the scapegoat gets fascinating.  The way the Israelites would know their sins were forgiven is because the High Priest would tie another crimson red ribbon on the door of the Sanctuary.  Jewish Rabbi’s tell us in the Mishna that every year whenever the scapegoat was pushed over the cliff that crimson red ribbon tied on the door to the Sanctuary would miraculously turn white, that way all the Israelites would know their sins are forgiven.  And what is even more amazing is that Jewish Rabbi’s also write that the miracle of the red ribbon turn white happened every year until the year 30, the time of Jesus Christ upon the earth.  This is proof that the Sacrifice of Jesus upon the Cross is the final sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins of all people, and so Jesus fulfills the Jewish Feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  And like all the Jewish High Priests, Jesus too was stripped of his clothes before he was crucified, therefore Jesus is the Great High Priest who offered himself as the final sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

So Jesus is the Great High Priest, and I myself, in a particular way, and all ordained priests, share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.  And like Christ, as our 2nd reading says, we are taken from among men and called by God to represent God on earth and offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.  I have been a priest for 5 years now, and continually I am so thankful and convicted in what God has called me to be.  I am so convicted, sometimes afraid, at the fact that I am called to be a representative before God.  I am called to represent God and plead to God with you, and on your behalf.  I am so convicted in the fact that me and every priest is called to represent God, and it is because we are held to a higher standard that when priests don’t live up to that standard and let our humanness be shown more, it can be most troublesome for people’s faith.  It is for this reason that I ask you to pray for me and all priests, that we can become as holy as we can be, and so better represent God.  But most importantly God calls me to offer sacrifice on your behalf; in particular to offer the one sacrifice of Christ which God makes present again for us in each and every Mass.  In addition, to offer the Sacrament of Confession for the forgiveness of sins.  I think after offering Holy Mass, my favorite part of being a priest is hearing confessions, especially of those who have been away from God and His Church for a while.  I love being an instrument of God’s mercy and seeing the people truly being reconciled and are able to experience the love of God.  I am so willing to represent God, to offer the Sacrifice, and hear confessions for the forgiveness of sins, not because I have a special kind of connection to God, as I don’t think I am holier than you.  But in fact, as our reading says, I am able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, because I myself am beset by weakness, for I too have many human shortcomings and weaknesses.  It is for these reasons that I so often preach to myself as well, that I say Mass for myself as well, regularly go to confession.  I know that I have many human tendencies that are sinful, but it is because of my awareness of these, and most importantly because I have and am trying to completely surrender these in prayer every day to the purifying love of God, that I can have compassion for you in your human struggles.

I share the joy of being a priest not only for those young men in our parish who might be called to become a priest or religious brother, and for the young women who are called to give themselves as religious sisters.  I ask you to pray for their openness as next week is the National Vocation Awareness week, may God touch their hearts in a deliberate and intimate way and may they desire to seek and follow God’s will for their lives. I share the joy I have in my vocation because all of us from our baptisms are called to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.  All of you are called to represent God to your family members, co-workers, and neighbors.  All of us are called to offer sacrifices for the good and salvation of others.  All of us are called to give of ourselves, to do something we would rather not do, for the good of others.  I know that parents sacrifice themselves a lot for their children, but I ask you are you sacrificing yourself, are you giving your whole self, for the love and good of your spouse?  And children, are you sacrificing yourself, are you doing things you’d rather not do, for the good of your parents?  One great way to offer sacrifice, particularly for a particular intention, is to fast- to intentionally give up food or a certain pleasure for the purpose of an intention, ideally on Friday- the day of Christ’s sacrifice.  Are you sacrificing yourself in prayer every day, are you purposefully taking time out of your day to surrender your day and all the things you have to deal with to God who wants to help carry your burdens?  My brothers and sisters, I am committed, with your prayers and support, to being the best priest I can be for your good and your salvation.  Are you willing to commit yourself to share in the priesthood of Christ and offer sacrifices for the good and salvation of your family and neighbors? 

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