Christ the High Priest

Christ offering himself to the Father is central to the meaning of the mass. As this eternal sacrifice is made present to us, the priest conforms himself to the words and actions of Christ the High Priest.

Readings: Hebrews 2:10–18

The following homily was preached to the student brothers during compline. You can listen here or read below:

When father so-and-so says mass, who is he talking to? Or, more interestingly, who is he not talking to? He is not talking to Jesus. Or, at least most of the time, he’s not talking to Jesus. Most of the time, he’s actually talking God the Father. For example, he says, “to you therefore most merciful Father, etc.” “…so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ” He’s talking to the Father. So where is Jesus? Is the priest ignoring Jesus? Well, we might think that Jesus is somewhere in between the priest and the Father. But that’s not exactly right. Jesus is not in between the priest and the Father. Rather, Jesus is right there where the priest is standing. And when the priest speaks words to the Father, these words which are coming out of the mouth of the priest, those words are being spoken by Jesus. Jesus speaks these words through the priest.

So the priest is like a pencil in the hand of Jesus. Suppose I take a pencil, and I write “the chair is blue” on a piece of paper. Now, who wrote that sentence? Did I write the sentence? Or did the pencil write the sentence? Well, I wrote the sentence, but I wrote it through the pencil. Now suppose I write “this is my body” on a piece of paper. Who wrote that? Well, I wrote it; but I wrote it through the pencil. Now let’s go back to mass. When the priest says “this is my body,” who is speaking? Jesus is speaking. Jesus is saying “this is my body” but he’s saying it through the priest. So the priest is like a pencil in the hand of Jesus. He’s an unworthy pencil (every priest is an unworthy pencil), but he’s a very important pencil nonetheless.

This is true for other sacraments as well. When the priest says “I absolve you of your sins” who is speaking? Jesus is speaking. Jesus is saying “I absolve you of your sins,” but he’s saying it through the priest. When the priest says “I baptize you,” who is speaking? Jesus is speaking, but he’s speaking through the priest.

So when we go to mass, where is Jesus? Primarily, Jesus is in the Eucharist. He’s not just using the Eucharist as an instrument; he is the Eucharist. But Jesus is also right there where the priest is standing, speaking through the priest, and acting through the priest. You know when the priest says “he took bread in his holy and venerable hands”? Notice at that moment the priest actually picks up the bread. “He took bread in his holy and venerable hands, and with eyes raised to heaven.” Notice at that moment the priest actually moves his eyes up. He’s supposed to do that. The liturgy book actually says that the priest is supposed to move his eyes up. So what’s going on? Why is the priest doing this? He’s doing it because Jesus is doing it. Jesus is raising his eyes to Father.

Jesus, the true High Priest, is worshiping the Father and offering his own body to the Father. And he’s doing this, even when mass is not going on. Right now, Jesus is in heaven, he’s in the heavenly sanctuary eternally offering his own body to the Father. So wait. Does this mean that Jesus in two places at once? How can Jesus be both in heaven and in the Church of Blackfriars, Oxford? How can he be in two places at once? Well, because these are not exactly two places. Normally they are two places, but when the priest says mass, the distinction between heaven and the Church of Blackfriars, Oxford, gets blurred. They become the same place. So Jesus is not in two places, he’s in one place. Jesus offering himself to the Father is the nexus point which blurs the distinction between heaven and the Church of Blackfriars, Oxford.

I asked “where is Jesus” when we go to mass? But here’s another question “where are we when we go to mass?” We’re in heaven. We just got lifted up to heaven. The throne of God is right there at the altar, there’s angels all around us.

Jesus is at the altar, eternally offering his own body to the Father. He’s doing it for us. He’s doing it through a pencil (aka, father so-and-so), an unworthy pencil, but an important pencil nonetheless, and he’s inviting us to offer his body to the Father with him. We are here at the throne of God. We are here to worship.