27 January 2021

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
Hebrews 10:11-18, NRSV.

In today’s reading, we have another comparison between the sacrifices made daily by the Temple priests and the sacrifice made by Christ. The writer concludes that the repeated sacrifices of the Old Law cannot achieve the salvation won by Christ’s sacrifice. Not only did Christ make the sacrifice of his life but his sacrifice was acceptable to God at whose right hand he now sits. As a consequence of this, every believer who approaches God through Christ will now be granted forgiveness. Not only will their sins be forgiven but God will no longer remember them. The power of the Law has now been replaced by the power of God’s grace.

• • What impression do you think these words may have made on the Hebrews? 
  • How does it feel to know that God is able not only to forgive but also to forget our sins?

Pray for those who are troubled by the guilt of past sins.