YOU HAVE COME TO MT. ZION, THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD

YOU HAVE COME TO MT. ZION, THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD

By Fr.Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

A Reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews (12:18-19, 21-28).

In this final section of the Letter the excitement is tangible. The

comparison is being made between the two covenants, the one made on

Mount Sinai by Moses and the other made on Mount Zion by Jesus the high

priest and mediator.

In the former the whole accent was on the awe and majesty of the scene

and the danger of death for anyone who came too close, the frightening,

noisy confusion; even Moses himself was afraid. In the latter all is

peace and celebration, with millions of angels gathered for the

festival, and everyone is a first-born son, supremely valuable as

individuals. This is the prospect to which everyone is looking forward.

This sums up the two main themes of the Letter, the theme of

pilgrimage, the ineffectual pilgrimage to Mount Sinai at the time of

the desert wanderings, contrasting with the pilgrimage to the heavenly

Jerusalem. The overall theme of the Letter, however, is the

ineffectiveness of the sacrifices of the Old Law, contrasting with the

supreme efficacy of the priesthood and blood of Christ.

The purpose of the Letter is to liberate the Hebrew priests from their

hankering after the sacrifices of the Old Law. In this summing up, that

priesthood and the ineffective sacrifice of Moses is not even mentioned

in the contrasting excitement of the approach to God, the welcoming

supreme Judge, and to Jesus, the mediator who brings the new covenant

of supreme and lasting value.