The announcement of the birth of the Messiah by the angel of the Lord to Joseph citing the text in Isaiah 7: 14 about the virgin conceiving and bearing a son called Emmanuel, meaning God with us, already contained the roles of Jesus as priest, king and prophet (Matthew,1: 18-25). It was further enhanced by Matthew by the story of the visit of the Magi from the East who offered the baby Jesus gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh signifying the Messiah's roles of kingship, priesthood and prophet-hood (Matthew,2:11). In Luke's Gospel it is specified that it was angel Gabriel who was sent to Mary to announce the birth of a son who should be called Jesus. His title was given as "the Son of the Most High" who will be given the throne of David to rule over Israel as king forever and he will be called "son of God" as he was going to be conceived by the power of the Most High overshadowing Mary at the coming of the Holy Spirit. The apprehension of Mary being a virgin, contrary to what the angel seemed to imply and therefore inconsistent with the plan unveiled by him, was overcome by the revelation of God's plan for her by the angel. It was after the birth of Jesus that a group of angels announce to the shepherds in the field that the Messiah, the Lord, was born in the city of David (Luke, 2: 10-11). Being the promised Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus was and is and will be the most eminent priest of God.
It is imperative to have an idea of the kind of priesthood Jesus was invested with in order to appreciate the comprehensiveness of his priesthood. If we are obsessed with any one idea to the exclusion of the other equally legitimate ones concerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we shall have an incomplete if not distorted view of his priesthood. Thus even the most sublime aspect of his priesthood manifested through his resurrection, ascension and sitting at the right hand of God the Father may not be taken as the defining criterion of his priesthood to the exclusion of his sacrificial death, public ministry, preparatory life, Incarnation and the pre-existence as the Word of God. All of them have a bearing on the nature of his priesthood that Jesus remains the eternal priest in participation from whom every other priest or priestess may be called a priest or priestess. The reason why one tends to reject a particular form of priesthood as invalid is his or her pre-conceived idea about what constitutes a priest as priest. If we think that the imposition of the hands of the Apostles and their successors is the only valid mode of conferring priesthood, we are thinking of the ministerial priesthood established in the Church by Christ and the Apostles. What about the royal priesthood conferred on the baptized where the imposition of the hands is not mandatory to be participants in Christ's priesthood? A step further, we may think of the universal priesthood of all men and women conferred on them in virtue of the Incarnation and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Finally, the cosmic priesthood of Christ as the Word of God through whom and for whom everything was created and in whom the whole universe is reconciled to God bears testimony to the elements of transformation created in the entire universe for unification with God. Thus we see that there are different senses in which the priesthood of Christ may be considered without sticking to an abstract and unitary concept of priesthood.
It is true that even the Apostles and the Evangelists could see the baby Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God and consequently as priest only after his resurrection from the dead and the coming of the Holy Spirit on them on the day of Pentecost. It does not, however, diminish the importance of his priesthood even as a child understood in the sense proper to the life of children. As we have remarked earlier, the goal and purpose of priesthood is union with God and that was never lacking in the life of Jesus at any time. As a child, when he was prompt in doing his duty and was obedient to his parents, Jesus was exercising his priesthood in a very true sense of the word. Further Posts shall treat about the nature of Jesus' priesthood at various stages of his life as an adult, in public ministry, passion and death etc. culminating in 'the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek'
It is imperative to have an idea of the kind of priesthood Jesus was invested with in order to appreciate the comprehensiveness of his priesthood. If we are obsessed with any one idea to the exclusion of the other equally legitimate ones concerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we shall have an incomplete if not distorted view of his priesthood. Thus even the most sublime aspect of his priesthood manifested through his resurrection, ascension and sitting at the right hand of God the Father may not be taken as the defining criterion of his priesthood to the exclusion of his sacrificial death, public ministry, preparatory life, Incarnation and the pre-existence as the Word of God. All of them have a bearing on the nature of his priesthood that Jesus remains the eternal priest in participation from whom every other priest or priestess may be called a priest or priestess. The reason why one tends to reject a particular form of priesthood as invalid is his or her pre-conceived idea about what constitutes a priest as priest. If we think that the imposition of the hands of the Apostles and their successors is the only valid mode of conferring priesthood, we are thinking of the ministerial priesthood established in the Church by Christ and the Apostles. What about the royal priesthood conferred on the baptized where the imposition of the hands is not mandatory to be participants in Christ's priesthood? A step further, we may think of the universal priesthood of all men and women conferred on them in virtue of the Incarnation and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Finally, the cosmic priesthood of Christ as the Word of God through whom and for whom everything was created and in whom the whole universe is reconciled to God bears testimony to the elements of transformation created in the entire universe for unification with God. Thus we see that there are different senses in which the priesthood of Christ may be considered without sticking to an abstract and unitary concept of priesthood.
It is true that even the Apostles and the Evangelists could see the baby Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God and consequently as priest only after his resurrection from the dead and the coming of the Holy Spirit on them on the day of Pentecost. It does not, however, diminish the importance of his priesthood even as a child understood in the sense proper to the life of children. As we have remarked earlier, the goal and purpose of priesthood is union with God and that was never lacking in the life of Jesus at any time. As a child, when he was prompt in doing his duty and was obedient to his parents, Jesus was exercising his priesthood in a very true sense of the word. Further Posts shall treat about the nature of Jesus' priesthood at various stages of his life as an adult, in public ministry, passion and death etc. culminating in 'the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek'
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