Passion Sunday

Christ is both the temple, the priest, and the sacrifice. When Jesus came to Jerusalem and drove out of the temple those who were selling and buying, He said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” By this, Jesus meant His death and resurrection, showing that His death on the cross would complete all the sacrifices of the old Covenant. That is why He drove out of the temple those who sold animals and birds intended for sacrifice: they were no longer needed.

The Epistle to the Hebrews says that Christ entered as a high priest into the tabernacle not made with hands. He entered, not with animal sacrifices, but with His own blood, which has obtained eternal redemption for us and purified us, so that our consciences may be purged from dead works and we may serve God.

One analogy the Epistle uses is the ashes of a red heifer, which, mixed with water, were used under the Mosaic Law to purify those who had defiled themselves by contact with a dead body. The blood of Christ cleanses us better than the ashes of a heifer – and we need purification and sanctification, because what truly defiles us is not our external contact with a dead body, but the fact that there is death within us: we are corrupted by sin and therefore on the way to eternal damnation.

God does not want us to perish. God wants us to be saved and live. That is why He gave His only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him and have been redeemed by His cross and resurrection might have new life and sanctification in Him. In Him we are called to receive the promise of eternal inheritance.