By Fr. Vivek Lionel Basu –
Introduction: Generally mediated by the category of priesthood, the presence of numerous ministries emerged in the New Testament, whose plurality is linked to the different ideas and community practices. The category of priesthood is not to build the New Testament foundation of ministers. Instead it must be built by accepting the variety of terminology and content with which the New Testament presents the various functions of the community. There is no specific idea in the New Testament that directly points to Christian ministers as priests or their role as priesthood. In the New Testament the priestly meaning refers to two different realities: the ancient priestly institution, including Pagan and Jewish priests, and the Christian fulfilment of the priesthood, including Christ and the baptized. Hence, the main focus of this article is to investigate in depth these two different realities of priestly ministries and reflecting specifically on the priesthood of Melchizedek and the priesthood instituted by Jesus Christ on Maundy Thursday that is during his last supper.
- The Priesthood of Israel: the ancient priestly institution, including Pagan and Jewish priests. The New Testament always refers to the Jewish priesthood. Greek and Jewish priesthood were characterized by the same logic that is the “mediation” between humanity and divinity. The essential task of a priest is to bless or verify the purity, to guard the sanctuary and preside over the offering of the sacrifice. This task of a priest is to exercise an oracular task that is to act as a bridge between the profane world of the people and the sacred world of the divinity. This separation between the sacred and the profane is therefore the basis of the ancient priestly institution. Within the chosen people, the tribe of Levi is separated from the others by the liturgical priesthood; within the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron is separated for the sacrificial rites and therefore properly constitutes a ‘priestly’ caste of a hereditary; within this family (Aaron), one was chosen to be the ‘high priest’, to whom the highest act of worship belonged to the encounter with God.
- The Priesthood of Christ: Christ’s priestly kingship is outside and before Israel and is not linked to any generation of flesh, to any genealogy and it is not hereditary. This is an exceptional fact. Thus, in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, the priestly titles are never attributed to Jesus. Since the priesthood was reserved for the tribe of Levi and was inherited, Jesus, who belonged to the tribe of Judah, was not a priest according to the Mosaic Law. His ministry was not priestly, but rather prophetic.
Jesus’ death had nothing priestly in it. Jesus did not die in a sacred environment, but outside the holy city of Jerusalem. His death was a legal punishment, the execution of an infamous sentence. It was not an act of ritual sanctification, but on the contrary an act of execution, which made him a curse. It is an interpretation of the death of Jesus in sacrificial terms. Here the death of Jesus shows a link with immolation of the paschal lamb (cf. Exod 24:6-8; blood of the Covenant).
In this realm an important point to be noted here is that Christ gave himself up for us as an offering of himself to God as a sacrifice of sweet odour (cf. Eph 5:2). Therefore, the connection between Christ the victim and Christ the priest represents the most prominent contribution that the Letter to the Hebrews offers to Christology. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews demonstrates that Christ was not only a sacrificial victim, but also a priest who offers himself. Jesus Christ takes up Melchizedek’s priestly gesture. In fact his gesture recalls, resumes and renews the gesture of Melchizedek. That night before his passion, while sitting at the table and presiding over it, Christ takes the bread and wine, the food and drink of every day, but also the content of Melchizedek’s offering (cf. Mt 26:17-28). Christ assumes and makes his own the cosmic priesthood, that of the uncircumcised (Melchizedek), and the historical / prophetic one (Israelite priesthood) according to his own priestly gesture (personal priesthood). This convergence of priestly forms in the person and mission of Christ attests and confirms the universality of the priesthood of Christ, open to all peoples and to all times.
The common priesthood is a personal offering; the ministerial priesthood is a tangible manifestation of the priestly mediation of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the priesthood of Christian ministers must therefore be seen, in this frame. In the Church as a priestly people there are some who magisterially participate in what Jesus does for her. Jesus gathers her with his Gospel, reconciles her to the Father with the sacrifice of his life and sets out for the encounter of the glory of God. The ministers of the one Mediator are the co-operators of God, in Christ and through him they perform their sacred and priestly ministry. In this line we can also understand how the apostles, who have a particular role in the proclamation of the Gospel, and for this reason in the community generated by the word of God, is also at the center of the liturgical assembly, which realizes the announcement of the death of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 11:26).
And Jesus Christ also presents himself as shepherd who also has authority over life and that he has this authority from God. This authority received by the Father allows him to give his life and enables him to dispose of his own life in favour of his sheep. His death on the cross is a giving of himself as a victim but it is also a transforming death into a triumphal royal event, precisely of the shepherd who gives his life to the sheep entrusted to him. And by opting for bread and wine as signs / symbols of the gift of self, of his person and of his destiny, thus going back to the priestly gesture of Melchizedek king of Salem. Christ has also given a hint at the configuration of his own priesthood connecting it to the paschal lamb (sacrifice of communion) and to the scapegoat (sacrifice of expiation). Through this gesture in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Christ determines a new cult, the Holy Eucharist.
Conclusion: Therefore, the ministerial priesthood of the Church is an extension of Jesus Christ’s priestly action through time. The main act of this priesthood is the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the sacrifice of Christ, which has become the sacrifice of the Church; through it she not only offers this unblemished sacrificial victim but also learn to offer her very self. Hence, day by day be brought, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, into unity with God and with each other, so that God may at last be all in all. (cf. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n.79)