Question:
Answer:
Short Answer:
Jesus’ sacrifice did not begin and end with Passion and death. Rather, it culminated in everlasting glory in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:1–3; 9:23–24) and is sacramentally re-presented and offered anew through liturgical remembrance and according to the order of Melchizedek (Luke 22:19–20; Heb. 5:7–10).
Longer Answer:
There is no doubt that Jesus’ suffering to atone for our sins is over, so that he suffers and dies only once. But did Jesus complete his one paschal sacrifice when he died? Or even when he rose from the dead?
Recall what Jesus says to Mary Magdalene when she recognizes him on Easter Sunday. As we read in John 20:17,
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father” (emphasis added).
So as great as Easter is—and indeed Easter is the high point of the Church’s liturgical year— Jesus conveys to Mary that he has something left to do.
What could that something be?
We learn more in Hebrews 9:11–12:
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9 is referencing the Old Covenant sacrifices of the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur (see Lev. 16), and their New Covenant fulfillment in Jesus.
So, Jesus’ one sacrifice culminated in everlasting glory in the heavenly sanctuary, where he continues to offer it now. Scripture says that Jesus holds his priesthood permanently (Heb. 7:23–25), and the prime function of a high priest is “to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb. 5:1). Hebrews affirms that Jesus is a high priest in heaven, so he must have something to offer now (Heb. 8:1–3; 9:23–24).
In this light, although the suffering and death of Jesus is finished on Calvary, his sacrifice as a whole continues, because his ministry as the high priest of heaven continues.
In this light, we see better that the Mass is the sacramental offering anew of his one sacrifice in fulfillment of the Old Covenant Day of Atonement sacrifice. In the process we grasp that Jesus also fulfills the Old Covenant Passover sacrifice, according to the liturgical principle of biblical remembrance, which applies to memorial sacrifices. And so we partake of his body and blood, the New Covenant Lamb of God (John 1:29, 35–36), under the appearances of bread and wine, that is, according to the order of Melchizedek.
The Eucharist is not cannibalism, nor does it violate the Old Covenant prohibition against consuming blood; nor does the Hebrew idiom to “to eat my flesh” help the Protestant argument that the Eucharist is merely symbolic. Consequently, we see again that Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory/remembrance of me,” are not a call for merely symbolic recollection, but something much more powerful.
For more information on the sacrifice of the Mass, see our related tract and Dr. Scott Hahn’s insightful article, “Hunt for the Fourth Cup.”
See also our tracts on Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, including what Jesus discusses in John 6, as well as how the early Church Fathers affirm this key doctrine.