Monday, April 27, 2015

I stumbled, by chance, on the Radio, into Evensong. I understand the broadcast was from an Anglican church, but most of the readings were as described in the current Roman books. In any case, there was an extra lesson (read in French, but that should not frustrate us!) from Exodus (Ex 28), and it included these verses I'd never before noted:
31 And thou shalt make the tunick of the ephod all of violet, 32 In the midst whereof above shall be a hole for the head, and a border round about it woven, as is wont to be made in the outmost parts of garments, that it may not easily be broken.
And what this directly called to mind were these words from St. John's Gospel:
[...] Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be [...]
John himself points to prophecy of this moment; I'd like to think that he's also pointing out that Jesus walked to Golgotha actually vested as a priest.

Thoughts?

4 comments:

me said...

I'm quite sure He was vested as a priest on the way to Golgotha. As I understand it, the whole Triduum liturgy is considered as one Mass, from Holy Thursday (which ends with the stripping of the altar and Vespers rather than a blessing), through Good Friday (which starts kind of suddenly with the ministers prostrating themselves before the altar, and not the normal penitential rite), to the Easter Vigil, which begins outside with the new fire, and which finally concludes as Mass generally does, with the addition of a couple of Alleluias. Christ celebrated the first Mass, the first ordination even, as we say by tradition on Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper, right? And from there He went out to pray. He had no time to change after that before He was arrested, put on trial illegally by the Jews, and then brought before Pilate and Herod in the morning. So I think that, as we commemorate it, so He celebrated the Mass as extending from the meal to His immolation on the Cross, and his Resurrection (at which point He was surely no longer vested as before, though I see no reason for Him not to be wearing more glorious vestments).

Anonymous said...

This also shows up in Revelation, where Jesus is also dressed in a garment "down to the ankles," which is supposed to mean he was dressed as a priest.

Belfry Bat said...

Welcome to the blog, Good Banshee; dare I ask, is there a Metropoltergeist? and, goodness me, to have a writer and scripture scholar chime-in, what a pleasant surprise!

Indeed there are even plain statements in the Epistles that Jesus is our High Priest, and so of course it's natural to look for indications of Jesus in priestly vesture; what struck me most about this instance (once it had struck me) was how it snuck-up, almost backwards as it were, and with such unexpected outside helps.

Belfry Bat said...

Dear thou, I don't mean to diminish your scholaship; I'm simply reveling in novelty.

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