2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 01-23-25, Year C
Readings: 1st Reading: Heb 7-25-8:6; Psalm 40:7-10,17; Gospel Mk 3:7-12
Optional Memorials: St. Vincent, Deacon & Martyr-(USA); St. Marianne Cope, Virgin–(USA)
Theme: Jesus, the Perfect Priest
I am not a saint. Just because I was called to the ministry of the diaconate, does not mean I have some special grace, or that I am somehow a better person than others. Quite the contrary. I am probably worse than most. But God does not always call the righteous, He calls the sinners, because those who are healthy are in no need of a physician, but the sick are.
Jesus is a physician of souls. He knows that to convert the hardness of a heart it takes a complete submersion into His life and love. With that conversion made manifest in the softening of a person’s heart, they can begin to live a new life, put on the new man or women and see the world from Christ’s eyes. It becomes an epiphany, and the realization of a past life squandered with the new hope of a future one well spent.
So how do these newly converted and called hearts teach others a more perfect way to live? They follow the pattern of the priest and king, Melchizedek. Offering bread and wine, and blessing Abraham, Melchizedek set the pattern made by God to foreshadow Jesus’s perfect priesthood. Melchizedek’s priesthood was as perfect as any priest at that time could be, however, he was still imperfect because he was a sinful man, like you and me. He had to offer sacrifices for himself and then for those of his people.
Jesus, in His death and resurrection, took His seat at the right hand of God and became the highest priest, who is the minister “of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.” Because He is perfect, there was no need for Him to offer sacrifices for Himself or others. He is the mediator between us and God the Father and constantly intercedes on our behalf to Him. Without Jesus, we have no one to intercede to God the Father for us, and therefore, no path to salvation.
This ministry, set in motion by Melchizedek, was ordained by God who has made it known that we should not deviate from His plans or instructions. Everything has been set before us by God Himself. We should not dilute or corrupt His teaching as it is written:
“They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary,
as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle.
For God says, “see that you make everything according to the pattern
shown you on the mountain.””
God has also told us at Jesus’s Transfiguration:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him”
These statements from God the Father have told us that we need to pay attention and listen to Him as taught by Jesus, His Son. God is very clear that we should follow His instructions to the letter. This is evident in His warning to Moses on the mountain, not to waver from His template in building the tabernacle on earth and that our worship should be made more perfect on earth in the line of Melchizedek.
The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our most high priest and that He ministers and intercedes for us from the ultimate high sanctuary and true tabernacle in heaven. He is not like the priests on earth who have to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well as those of others. “He did that once for all when he offered himself.”
As Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, we are called to serve in God’s presence and minister in the pattern He showed us through Melchizedek, with all their faults and failures as sinful human beings.
As for all others, who were called to a particular form of priesthood from the anointing at their Baptism as priest, prophet and king, they are also called to follow the pattern set by God Himself through the teaching of His Son, Jesus.
We should never deviate from God’s will and always listen to Jesus, His Son, who can cure every disease, heal every heart and make atonement for ours sins to God the Father. Through Jesus’s intercession as the perfect high priest, we are granted eternal life.
Saint James Catholic Church 