Hebrews 5.1-10
Mark 10.35-45
This morning I’d like to talk about an idea in both our readings, one that crops up again and again in the Bible – the idea of sacrifice. In our first reading, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that “Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” At the end of the gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples about his own sacrifice: “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” So what is sacrifice and why is it so important to our Christian life? Why does it matter to us now?
When you hear the word ‘sacrifice’, what comes to mind? We usually think of giving something up or losing something, perhaps in order to gain something else. We might think of the sacrifices people make in public service or the sacrifices we make for our children. We might even think of people who sacrifice their lives for a greater good or a political ideal. We might sacrifice our time or resources for someone else’s good, or for the greater good. This common understanding of sacrifice focuses on suffering a loss, renouncing or even destroying something.
Whilst there’s an element of that understanding of sacrifice in the Bible, it’s not the whole picture. It doesn’t always mean losing or renouncing something. To sacrifice something means to dedicate or give something to a particular purpose or ideal in the expectation of some kind of return. Here’s an example.
In the Old Testament we read about the life of ancient Israel and the Jewish people from whom Jesus came. Their worship was focused on the Temple in Jerusalem. From amongst the people of Israel, priests were appointed from the tribe of Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, and Aaron, the brother of Moses. We trace the priesthood even further back, to Melchizedek, a priest who blessed Abraham, the father of our faith. It was the priests’ role to offer sacrifices to God in the Temple on behalf of the people. Those sacrifices or offerings could take many forms, from incense, grain and oil to animal sacrifices. This is what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews describes in this morning’s reading.
So why these ritual sacrifices? These offerings or gifts were made in response to human sin in order to restore communion with God. But how? Let’s take the example of a grain and oil sacrifice. The grain and oil might be ritually offered to God, dedicated to his holiness in repentance for sin, but then returned in the form of bread for a meal. The eating of the meal was a renewed communion with God, sharing God’s life and the gifts he gives us. So this kind of sacrifice did not involve losing or renouncing something, but the offering of something in the expectation of a return gift. Just as we express our communion with each other in sharing Sunday lunch, a family meal or a wedding breakfast, so the ancient Israelites expressed their communion with God in sharing sacrificial food in the Temple.
As Christians, we believe that the supreme sacrifice – the perfect, once for all sacrifice – was offered by Christ on the cross to restore communion with God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ is the eternal high priest. St. Mark tells us in the gospel this morning: “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Christ’s offering of himself is perfect because he is divine and without sin. It is an offering for us because he is also fully human. So Christ reconciles us to God by his self-offering so that once again, despite our sin, we can share God’s life and be in communion with God.
But how does that become real for us, now? Why is it not just a memory of Jesus who died on the cross two thousand years ago, once for all? Can it be a living reality as well as a memorial? It is, of course, a living reality. We still have priests in the Christian church. In a few moments, Canon Michael, the priest, will take bread and wine and call us to enter Christ’s perfect offering of himself to his Father on the cross. Michael will call us into Christ’s sacrifice by offering bread and wine to God, just as Christ did at the last supper. That bread and wine will be returned to us, just as the sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem were returned to the priests and people. The bread and wine will be returned to us, given to us, as the body and blood of Christ. In sharing these gifts, we eat again at the table of the Lord and share his life and presence. The separation caused by sin is overcome and our communion with God and each other is restored. We ritually share the life of God in the meal he gave to the Church, in the Eucharist.
But there’s another step. As we enter the sacrifice and self-offering of Christ to the saving purposes of God, we are invited to offer ourselves, our lives, to God’s holy and loving purposes. We’re not just spectators; we are drawn into the life of Jesus. So before we leave church this morning, after we’ve received communion, we will pray these words:
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us
with the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ.
Through him we offer you our souls and bodies
to be a living sacrifice.
We become living sacrifices. Not sacrifices of death, renunciation or loss, but living sacrifices. That phrase ‘living sacrifice’ is, of course, straight from the Bible, from St. Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
We offer our lives, our work, our relationships, our skills, desires, talents, our joys, sorrows, woundedness, regrets, fears and hopes – we offer these things to the loving and holy purposes of God as a living sacrifice in this worship. In that sense, we are made a priestly people who offer the living sacrifice of our lives. God will make of our offering something rich, beautiful and eternal for the building of his kingdom, just as Jesus once turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, and turned death to life in his sacrifice on the cross and in his glorious resurrection.