Clearly God spoke a new Word in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
The will of God the Father, as described in this letter to the Hebrews, was to be a sacrifice of Love.
To die upon a Cross was not in itself salvific, but to Love and Forgive on that Cross was.
The Son was the perfect expression of the Father, Loving and Forgiving those who were hating and killing.
It wasn’t that he died on the Cross, but how he died on the Cross.
And no bull or goat could teach that lesson — and that lesson once taught is forever!
Jesus, the Christ, certainly took away the first (sacrifices of bulls and goats) and established the second: an act of perfect Love.
And so it should and would be no surprise that Jesus would say, once again, the things that he would say: “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at them, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
He said it! He did it! He willed it!
To Love even in the face of hatred!
His words simply must become our words, too. “Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.”
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
