Pentecost 24: Being a Priestly People

1 Kings 17:8-16

Psalm 146 

Hebrews 9:24-28


Mark 12:38-44

It seems lately that I am always speaking about sacrifice, and yet again as we come to this Sunday’s lessons the themes of sacrifice loom large:  the widow in Zarepath who shares the little she has with the prophet Elijah, the widow in the Gospel who “out of her poverty has put in[to the Temple treasury] everything she had, all she had to live on,” (Mark 12:44), and Christ who, as the letter to the Hebrews highlights, “appeared…to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:26)  Sacrifice.  In the secular calendar today, we are also confronted with theme of sacrifice as we observe Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, and call to mind all those who have served our country in the armed forces, and those who in so doing made the ultimate sacrifice.

The word “sacrifice” finds its origins in the Latin word sacrificium, “performing priestly functions”.  In the ancient world, including the world of Bible, it is the priest who intercedes to God for the community, and who as intermediary between God (or the gods) and the people offers sacrifices – usually  in the form of animal sacrifice – for the well-being of the people, and for the expiation of their sins.  Through the sacrificial rites the priest reconciles the people to God.  For these reasons, the early Christians understood the work of Jesus as that of a priest, Indeed, in the fourth chapter of the letter to Hebrews the writer calls Christ our “great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14)  Moreover, in his second letter to the Corinthians Paul writes that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

There is another sense and context in which we use the word “sacrifice”; one which appears first in print in the late 16^th century, but which undoubtedly was in common usage before that.  It is sacrifice in the sense of “something given up for the sake of another.”  The Scriptures and the Tradition understand Christ’s work in this sense also.  We can hear it inchoately in the letter to the Philippians: Christ, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8).  Christ sacrifices his own divinity – even if only for a time – and his own well-being for sake of obedience to the Father and the world’s salvation.  The day’s collect also hints at this sort of sacrifice: “O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.”   Again, Christ makes a sacrifice in living within the messiness of this world in order that he might restore the world according to God’s vision, and return to us our inheritance as children of God with all which that entails.  But perhaps this sort of sacrifice is most explicitly expressed in Jesus’ words recorded in the Gospel of John: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

Christ the priest, Christ the reconciler, Christ the one who empties himself and lays his life down for the other – all these titles or offices of Christ are woven through with the themes of sacrifice; and because in our baptism our life our life has been “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) sacrifice is woven into our lives too, and the Scriptures make that clear.  The first letter of Peter urges us to share in Christ’s priesthood: “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5)   In the same place where Paul writes about the world being reconciled through Christ, he says, “all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation..., entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)  Equally, as Christ gave himself up for our well-being and that of the world so Paul says to the Christians in Rome – and to us – “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.” (Romans 5:12).  After which, he urges them – urges us – to humility, to ministry and to self-less compassion.  Yes, because sacrifice is woven into the nature and mission of Christ, sacrifice must be – for us who follow him and are called by his name – woven into our lives; indeed, must be a defining character of our lives, and a defining character of his body, the Church: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5)

For each of us and for each community, the nature of that sacrifice will be different, but the effect, the aim, must always be the same: the reconciling of the world to God and to God’s purposes, the opposition of evil in any and all of its forms – “the works of devil”, as the collect calls it – and the revealing of the glory of the children of God.  By our sacrifices in their myriad forms the world must know something of the truth of God, of the dignity inherent in creation and in every human being made in the image and likeness of God.  We make our various sacrifices that the world may reconciled to the reality of God, and for the sake of others.  Throughout history people have made these kinds of sacrifices – sacrificng their own resources, they have given to relieve the plight of the poor; sacrificing their own health and well-being, they have cared for and nursed the sick and the dying; sacrificing their good name and social position, they have stood alongside the marginalized; sacrificing their own lives, they have gone into battle to gain or to protect the freedoms of others.  Each of these sacrifices are an offering to God, each are part of this enterprise of reconciliation.  Today, the eleventh of November, is set aside to remember some of them.  Nevertheless, our readings direct us to remember others too.  And it is left to us by own lives and sacrifices that their sacrifices – whatever their sacrifices may have been – may not have been in vain.  Certainly, we pray that we will not be called to make sacrifices so large, but if we are faithful to our baptism – to our lives being “hidden with Christ in God”, then sacrifices must a part of our lives, part of the expression of our faith.  The invitation, the opportunity, will at some time or another be presented to us.  May God have mercy on us, and by his grace may we always respond with integrity, fulfilling our calling as a priestly people, a reconciling people, a sacrificial people and declaring the “mighty acts of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)