Hebrews 10:5-10

The Priesthood of Christ

Years ago, I discovered chocolate molds. It was an easy enough food craft that I could do it with the children. You just melt the chocolate and pour it in the molds. Oh, you can get fancy if you want and use colors, but with little children it was easiest to just melt, pour, and refrigerate. Boom! Chocolate flowers, hearts, snowflakes (in white chocolate of course). So, I decided one year that chocolate would be a great way to teach the children the Christmas story. I found a set of molds online that made a Nativity, complete with sheep, cow, wise men, angels, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and a creche. The children and I assembled the whole thing in one short afternoon and read the Christmas story. It was a lovely centerpiece for the table.

After Christmas, it was no problem to eat the chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate. I had no problem biting the head off the cow…or Joseph. Mary was a little weird. But then came Baby Jesus. Cast in one piece, he was a cute little chocolate baby in a tiny manger. I absolutely couldn’t look at the face of Baby Jesus and bite him in half. And I couldn’t handle the idea of my children doing the same,nor was I comfortable with throwing him away or melting him down into something else. I was having an existential crisis over a piece of chocolate. Finally, I called them all into the kitchen, put Baby Jesus on the table, and explained that I would step out of the room and when I came back, the Baby Jesus needed to be gone. I did not want to know what they did with him. The children readily complied and the problem was resolved.

Every year during Advent, I think what the family calls now The Chocolate Baby Jesus Incident. A friend recently dubbed it “I want s’more Jesus.” And, yes, it’s a humorous story of good intentions gone wrong. But it’s more than that. There are three offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King. Hebrews 10 describes Christ in the office of priest; the sacrifice he made for our sins. Under the law, the Jews were bound to make the same sacrifices over and over again for their sins, but the blood of bulls and goats was never enough. The apostle is arguing here, using the Old Testament for backup, that Christ is the only sacrifice that is enough and that he was given to us to be given for us. And the Psalm the apostle uses? Psalm 40? It’s a song about the coming of the Messiah. Paul is basically quoting a song in his sermon and the Hebrews listening would have immediately known the next few lines; the ones that say “I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly.” (Psalms 40:9) Paul is telling them that Jesus is the Messiah. He came to save you. To save you means he sacrifices himself as sin offering to be consumed, used up, devoured.

In the season of Advent, we wait in darkness and lament for the already and not yet of Christ. We feel the weight of sin and look forward to the light of hope that is the Incarnation. We look to the glorious birth of the Baby Jesus. And because of the already and not yet, because we already know the story and how it ends, we can lament that the Baby Jesus will be the one who is the sacrifice for us. He will be consumed by our sins. He will be devoured by death. He will free us all through his sacrifice. So, now we lament the Baby Jesus who will suffer for us, even as we know in our hearts the Risen Lord who rules in love.