The writer of Hebrews speaks of a long line of priests endlessly presiding over sacrifices in carefully prescribed ancient rituals meant first to cleanse the priests who prepared and offered the sacrifices and then the people themselves. The priests were only human, after all, sinful and subject to death, so their actions, no matter how meticulous and faithful, were always imperfect and thus never quite good enough.
Jesus changes all that. He is human too—but not only human. He was, and is, “holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” and “perfect forever.” Jesus, who sacrificed “once for all” by offering himself has freed us from never-ending sacrifice.
But what distinction do we draw between sacrifice and offering? To sacrifice is to give up something of value, sometimes out of a sense of obligation or even fear. God’s people once thought that proper sacrifices would gain God’s favor or appease God’s anger. Some may have considered the sacrifice a bribe, an action intended to influence God. An offering, however, is a gift, freely and lovingly given. Embedded in every true offering is an element of sacrifice, and, in every sacrifice, an element of suffering. When we say the Apostles’ Creed, we affirm that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Perhaps it would be better to put a comma after “suffered.” Jesus’ sacrificial offering surely involved suffering on the cross. But before that ultimate sacrifice, he must have suffered when he looked on the injustice and pain of the world. That suffering was born of love, God’s sacrificial offering of love for the world. The One who has sacrificed and suffered for us sees our suffering—and sees us through it.