Catholics for a Changing Church

The most obvious answer to the question phrased above is that Jesus was not a priest. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin. Only those born of the tribe of Levi were born to priesthood. Yet in our Catholic iconography Jesus is a priest. The Letter to the Hebrews calls him High Priest. Indeed there is an idea that goes back many centuries that the only way to be like Christ is to be a priest. It is only the priest who can be called “another Christ”. Few remember that in the history of the early Church, up to the end of the second century, the only person titled Priest in the Christian community was Christ himself. He was the only priest.

In the course of this reflection I hope to explore the lay identity and vision of Jesus of Nazareth who became in his Resurrection the Christ (anointed) of God. He was not a priest. No one called him priest, the Gospel writers do not call him priest, Jesus did not call himself a priest. The crowds who followed him called him Prophet or Teacher. These were the two most frequent titles given him.