Thursday of the Third Week of Lent(Hebrews 10: 8-18)
8 Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),9 then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins,12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’”
then he says,
17 “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Commentary
Here it should be noted that there were two solemn sacrifices in the Law: one on the day of atonement offered by the high priest alone; the other was the continual sacrifice, where one lamb was offered in the morning and another in the evening (Num. 28). This is the one the Apostle intends to discuss here, and in regard to it he does three things: first, he lays down what pertains to the priest of the Old Testament; secondly, what pertains to the priest of the New (v. 12); thirdly, he supports all this with authority (v. 15). He says, therefore; every priest stands daily at his service. He says, every, to distinguish this sacrifice from the one of atonement offered by the high priest alone. But in the former, every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, because they always offered a lamb: which daily sacrifices can never take away sins, because they were repeated: ‘Shall the holy fleshy take away from you your crimes in which you have boasted?’ (Jer. 11:15). But that continual sacrifice prefigured Christ and the eternity of Him Who is the lamb without blemish. Then (v. 12) he shows what pertains to the priesthood of Christ. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states his intent; secondly, the reason (v. 14). 497. – He says, therefore: but when this man, namely, Christ, offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. But the Old Law offered many sacrifices without expiating for sins. This man, therefore, offered one sacrifice, because He offered Himself once for our sins, and sat down at the right hand of God, not as a minister always standing, as the priests of the Old Law, but as the Lord.(Thomas Aquinas)
Musial Selection(Kathleen Deigan)
I am giving thee worship with my whole living,
I am giving thee consent with my whole willing.
O God of all gods, I am giving Thee my soul.
I am giving thee praise with my whole singing,
I am giving thee honor with my whole saying.
O God of all gods, I am giving Thee my soul.
I am giving thee love with my whole emotion,
I am giving thee kneeling with my whole devotion.
O God of all gods, I am giving Thee my soul.
I am giving thee affection with my whole sensation,
I am giving thee my existence with my whole intention.
O God of all gods I am giving Thee my soul.
Collect
God of majesty, we make this heartfelt prayer: that the nearer we come to the great feast of our salvation, the more fervently we may prepare ourselves to celebrate the paschal mystery. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
Friday of the Third Week of Lent(Hebrews 10:19-23)
19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,21 and having a great priest over God’s house,22 let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,23 let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.
Commentary
According to the general meaning of the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ as High Priest offers Himself to God the Father by the Holy Spirit, and thus with the participation of the entire Holy Trinity, in conformity with the character of each of the hypostases. This sacrifice offering is expressed in obedience, in the experiencing of infirmities and temptations, and finally in the shedding of Christ’s blood in His death on the cross; here He is not only the sacrifice, the slaughtered Lamb, but also the sacrificing Priest in the sense that the offering of sacrifice 1s His voluntary deed. He Himself offers Himself as sacrifice to His Father. However, He accomplishes this sacrifice-offering not by His own will but according to the Father’s will, to which He fully subjects His own, filial, Divine-Human will. He makes the Father’s will His own will. Thus, the High Priest is not only fated to become a sacrifice, but He also wills this fate. We have here not only the presence of the sacrificial victim but also the sacrificial state, not only the fact of the sacrifice but also the offering of sacrifice. And to the extent that the power of love is in general expressed in the sacrifice, God’s love for the world is revealed in the high priestly ministry: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9; cf. John 3:16). Going into the world, the Son says about Himself: “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:7, 9; cf. Ps. 40:8).(Sergei Bulgakov)
Musical Selection(Michael Card)
Year after year there the priest would stand
An offering of blood held out in in his hand
Before the curtain there he would stand in fright
It hung there to hold in the holy to keep in the light
A new and living way
Through the curtain that was torn
The climax of the cross
The moment our hope was born
By a new and living way
And when time was full another Priest came to save
He would offer forgiveness for He was the Offering He gave
From the sacrifice from that dark disgrace
Came the power to make anywhere a Most Holy Place
A new and living way
Through the curtain that was torn
The climax of the cross
The moment our Hope was born
By a new and living way
With confidence we come
So let us come now with confidence
With sprinkled hearts with reverence
And hold unswervingly to that Hope
As we look and see that day approach
A new and living way
A new and living way
A new and living way
Through the curtain that was torn
The climax of the cross
The moment our Hope was born
A new and living way
Through the curtain that was torn
The Climax of the cross
The moment our HOPE was born
By a New and Living Way
A New and Living WAY
A New and Living WAY
Collect
Merciful Lord, pour forth your grace into our hearts, that its power may restrain our unruly desires and keep us true to your words of eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.