Crosses are part of our environment, even being worn by people, yet we forget that the
Cross has a message.
In the Temple in Jerusalem, sacrifices were offered twice a day. A lamb was offered in
the morning and another in the evening, according to Numbers 28. The Letter to the
Hebrews asserts that the very fact that the sacrifices needed to be repeated twice daily
indicated that the sacrifices were not effective in eliminating sin.
St. Thomas Aquinas affirms: “Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly
the same sacrifices, because they always offered a lamb: which daily sacrifices can
never take away sins, because they were repeated.” (Commentary on the Letter to the
Hebrews, 495).
Even the prophet Jeremiah laments the futility of the sacrifices: ‘Shall the holy fleshy
take away from you your crimes in which you have boasted?’ (Jer. 11:15).
Nevertheless, Thomas believes that the temple sacrifices symbolized, in an ineffective
way, Jesus’ sacrifice: “That continual sacrifice prefigured Christ and the eternity of Him
Who is the lamb without blemish” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 495).
Thomas points out that Jesus’ sacrifice was Himself: “This man, namely, Christ, offered
for all time a single sacrifice for sins. But the Old Law offered many sacrifices without
expiating for sins. This man, therefore, offered one sacrifice, because He offered
Himself once for our sins” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 497).
The Letter to the Hebrews declares that Jesus “sat down.” Thomas explains the
significance: “He sat down at the right hand of God, not as a minister always standing,
as the priests of the Old Law, but as the Lord: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right
hand’ (Ps. 109:1); ‘He sits on the right hand of God’ (Mk 16:19); at the right hand of God
the Father with equal power in the divine nature, but with the more important goods in
the human nature: ‘He sits on the right hand of the majesty on high’ (Heb. 1:3)”
(Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 497).
Jesus is with the Father forever: “This is forever, for He will not die again, because
‘Christ rising from the dead, dies now no more’ (Rom. 6:9); ‘His power is an everlasting
power’ (Dan 7:14). (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 497).
The Letter to the Hebrews affirms that Jesus’ enemies will be His footstool. For Thomas,
this indicates His mercy: ““From henceforth waiting [expecting] until his enemies be
made a stool for his feet… but it designates His will to have mercy: ‘The Lord waits that
he may have mercy only’ (Is. 30:18)” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 497).
Thomas considers Jesus’ humanity as the instrument of His mercy: “Therefore, those
who are willing are subjected under His feet, i.e., to His humanity; and in this their
salvation consists, namely, in doing His will” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews,
497).

Those who are unwilling receive justice. “Consequently, all things are subject in one of
those ways: ‘You have subjected all things under his feet’ (Ps. 8:8).”
Because Jesus is the Lord, His sacrifice of Himself takes away all sin and sanctifies us:
“‘Every high priest is appointed to offer up gifts and sacrifices’ (Heb. 5:1); but the
sacrifice which Christ offered takes away all sins: ‘Christ was offered once to exhaust
the sins of many’ (Heb. 9:28). Hence, he says that by one offering he has perfected for
all time. This He did by reconciling us and uniting us to God as to our principle; those
who are sanctified, because Christ’s sacrifice, since He is God and man, has power to
sanctify for every: ‘Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered
without the gate (Heb. 13:12). For by Him we are sanctified and united to God: ‘By
whom we have access to God’ (Rom. 5:12). (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews,
499).
“Sins are remitted in the New Testament by Christ’s sacrifice, because the blood of
Christ was shed for the remission of sins; therefore, in the New Testament, in which sins
and iniquities are forgiven, as the authority indicates, there is no offering to be repeated
for sins: ‘They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill’ (Mt. 9:12).
Therefore, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. For
this would be to demean Christ’s sacrifice (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews,
500).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.