REFLECTIONS TODAY
In the Gospels, Jesus is perceived and given various “titles”: prophet, teacher, Messiah, Son of David, Son of God. He is never thought of as a priest because priesthood in Israel was attached to the tribe of Levi. The Letter to the Hebrews puts it, “It is clear that our Lord arose from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests” (7:14). Still, the same letter calls Jesus our compassionate High Priest (4:14- 16)—not on the basis of the Law that establishes the levitical priesthood but on the declaration of God, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (7:17).
Melchizedek (“righteous king”) was a priest-king of Salem who brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham after his victory against four kings (Gn 14:18- 19). The absence of his genealogy and report of his death in the Bible points him out as a mysterious figure, “Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever” (Heb 7:3). The point of the author is that Melchizedek’s priesthood is greater than the levitical priesthood, and so is Christ’s priesthood, made perfect by his obedience to God.
In the Gospel, Jesus takes the cup of wine at the Last Supper, declaring it as his blood of the covenant which will be shed for many, meaning “all.” On the cross, like the high priest in the Old Covenant, Jesus brings blood, not the blood of animals, but his own blood which is able to cleanse us of our sins. On the cross and on the eucharistic altar, Jesus is both Priest and Victim, our priest-mediator before the heavenly Father.
First Reading • Jeremiah 31:31-34 [or Hebrews 10:11-18]
The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, and I had to show myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
Gospel • Mark 14:22-26
While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.
Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.