The Letter to the Hebrews is believed to have been written fairly late in the first century, between ad 80 and 90. By this time, Jerusalem had been destroyed, the Temple was no more, so also was the priesthood that served it. Why then does Hebrews focus so much on the Temple and the priesthood?

When the Temple was standing, the Jews believed that there was only one spot on the earth where God lived as in a house. That spot was the Jerusalem Temple. The Temple was compared to a King’s palace. God lived in the palace, seated on His throne, in the holy of holies. The priests were His ministers, the intermediaries between God and the people. They brought the people’s word to God and brought God’s word back to the people. The Temple was the centre of the Jewish religion.

When, therefore, Jerusalem together with the Temple was destroyed in the year ad 70 by the Roman army under Titus, the Jewish people had a serious crisis of faith. How would they maintain their religious and national identity without the Temple? This was a problem for all Jews, both those that believed in the new covenant under Christ and those that upheld the old covenant under Moses. They all worshipped in the Temple until it was destroyed. Their response to the question of how they could carry on their religious obligations of sacrifice without the Temple took two forms.

First, there was the moral response. Here the temple was reinterpreted to be the throne of God in the depths of the believer’s soul. Every believer was seen as a priest who could offer acceptable sacrifices to God by the daily personal sacrifices involved in loving God and loving one’s neighbour. The brick and mortar temple does not matter. What matters is to worship God in spirit and in truth. This new understanding of temple worship was supported by the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well who asked Jesus about the right temple in which to worship God.

"Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ... 23 The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, ... 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:20-24)

The second response was the analogical response. Here Christ was seen a the fulfilment of the Temple. The entire Temple religious establishment was seen as a prototype, an imperfect beta release in order to find and fix the bugs before releasing the final, stable version. The real thing, the real sacrifice that reconciles humanity with God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself. Support for this new understanding of the temple and the priesthood is found in the dialogue between Jesus and the Jewish leaders following Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple.

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21)

The Letter to the Hebrews represents this alternative reinterpretation of Temple. In today’s second reading, Hebrews gives three reasons why the priesthood of Jesus is to be preferred to that of the former Temple priests.

Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:11-13)

Firstly, the Temple priests stood, which signifies an unfinished business. Christ sits down at God’s right hand, which signifies that the business is finished. Secondly, the temple priests offered their sacrifices day after day. Christ offered his sacrifice once and for all. And finally, Temple sacrifice was ineffective, it could not take away sins. Christ’s sacrifice was effective, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (verse 14).

Sacrifice is regarded as the most important act of worship in any religion. As Christians today, do we have a sacrifice. Yes, we can make the one sacrifice of Christ on Calvary our own. This we do as a family when we gather together for the Eucharist, a sacrifice of thanksgiving. On a personal level, we make daily sacrifices in the living temples of our bodies, on the altar of God living within us, when we give up our self-seeking interests, our pleasures and our own will to do what pleases God and our neighbour. For “you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16).