The curtain was rent asunder and that meant there was open access.
Where before there was a set procedure to get your religious stuff sorted and that meant going through the priest system, Jesus fulfilled all that in His sacrifice on the Cross.
The wonderful thing about the arrangement highlighted in Hebrews is that Jesus is not only the Lamb, but He is the High Priest as well! That bit was really outstanding – He is fit to be the sacrifice, and He is fit to offer Himself to God. His act decisively means I require no other human representative other than Him.
It’s funny then – and not in the laugh-out-loud sense – that even as some areas criticise the papal system for setting up a representative system, that other expressions of church also have a representative system that’s a bit more subtle. Here the hierarchy is that God reveals Himself to the man of God – usually the pastor or the bishop – and then for us to gain proper access we have to go through this man of God.
It is the case that a gift in the Body designed to enable others to enjoy the direct access to God through Jesus Christ is horribly distorted to disable that very relationship. It’s one thing to need the community to pray for you – that’s healthy and fine. It’s another thing to depend on others and specific others to be your representative to God, when Jesus came to suggest those days are over.
As that is the case, it would surely have a bearing on our expression of church. It would surely prevent it from being a spectator occupation focussed on the ‘ministry’ of one or two, to become more of a collaborative occasion with the ministry of the many. We all have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, none more than anyone else, that surely has to be reflected in our we express who Jesus is. Especially as it is only Jesus representing.
Just blogging.
That is all.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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