GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
The words, “how much more” used in the English language denote a comparison of two objects. For example, the leaves are starting to fall and create a mess around my home. I could use a broom to sweep up the leaves, but “how much more” better can a leaf blower do the job. Much better! Without question! Another example could be the cell phones I use and have used. I remember getting a cell phone in 2002 when I was in NY, attending St. Vlad’s Seminary. It was a basic phone; but back then all cell phones were basic compared to what we have now. So, “how much more” better are the cell phones of today compared to the cell phones of yesterday? Again, without question! Much better!
The Apostle Paul uses this same language to make a comparison between the animal sacrifices required by the Jewish law, which made expiation of the sins of the Jewish people and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and His blood shed for all mankind as an expiation for the sins of the world. “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9: 11-14) Here, St. Paul is saying that if the blood of animals that were sacrificed had “power” to expiate or atone or forgive for the sins of the people, which is real and legitimate, “how much more” can the blood of Jesus Christ, atone for our sins. The words, “how much more” compared, or rather weighed, the worth and value of the animal sacrifices of the past to that of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, which was in time and history, once and for all, but eternal as well, since the blood of Christ goes beyond time and space.
There are a few points I would like to make in order for us to understand this passage even further:
The sacrifice of animals was only meant to be temporary until the coming of the Son of God and His sacrifice on the Cross.
The Blood of Christ is so powerful that any sacrifice of animals after that was null and void. Christ was the final sacrifice.
Animal sacrifices were a legitimate form of atonement for sins; therefore, Christ sacrifice does not retroactively delegitimize animal sacrifices of the past. He, rather, fulfills everything before Him.
In a practical way for us today we need to see this as a comparison, a weighing of sorts, of the things that we hold so dear to us but not realizing the power of Christ above and beyond that which we hold dear. Here are some examples.
We definitely need doctors in our lives. That is something that we don’t need to have a discussion about. But do we also believe that Jesus is the great healer and physician. Let God’s will be done; but let us try as much as we can to ask God to heal our infirmities.
We definitely need counselors. I would be the first one to say that professional counseling is necessary; but let us not forget “how much more” of a great counselor the Holy Spirit is.
We might seek help everywhere else but we shouldn’t forget the power of prayer, that if the things of the world provide us with solutions and relief, then how much more will the prayers to our Lord make a way for us.
We might want the best of our children and that is why we do what we can to incorporate our children into programs in schools and within the community, but how much more can the things of God within the Church provide direction and skills for our children.
We might think that our sins are too many, but how much more does the blood of Christ cleanse us from our sins. God’s love is greater than our sins.