oJ ajjpovstolo" in Hebrews 3,1 255 The verse refers to the public praise given God by the recipient of a signal divine favor as part of the Old Testament cultic practice of the tôdâ. Under the Sinai dispensation the tôdâ ceremony centered on a bloody sacrifice in the temple and involving a ritual consumption of bread accompanied by the public singing of hymns and the recitation of prayers. The purpose of the ritual was to thank God publicly for a signal intervention of devine providence in the life of the one performing the ceremony (15). In the opinion of the present writer Heb 13,1-21 is a detailed adaptation of the Sinai covenant tôdâ to Christian reality, and this opinion of Heb 13 is being used here as a warrant for viewing in Heb 2,12 an allusion to the Christi tôdâ (16). In this evocation of the Christian tôdâ, i.e., the Eucharist, at Heb 2,12, Christ is pictured as the high priest who presides at the celebration in order to render public thanks/praise to God for God’s saving act of resurrection on his behalf. He calls the participating Christians “brothers”, using the words of the psalm citation, to indicate that the Christians by the very fact of professing to be followers of Christ, i.e., believers in the claims of Christ on the basis of the resurrection, share in Christ’s faith-trust in the face of death. Their participation in the Eucharist shows their faith-trust in believing that God has raised Jesus from the dead and their thanksgiving for his so doing. Their participation also shows their faith-trust in the face of their own future resurrection which they will experience as followers of the risen Christ (17). What follows from the above line of reasoning is that the pairing of the word ajpovstolo" in Heb 3,1 with the word ajrciereuv" is justifiable. For Jesus in Heb 2,12 would seem to be acting as high priest when he presides at the Christian tôdâ. The tense of the verb ajpaggelw' is future, possibly because not one act but many are envisioned. In any event, the choice of wording seems determined by the text of Ps 22. It is the risen Jesus who is in question, for 2,9 presents Jesus unambiguously in his risen state ( ... blevpomen jIhsou'n dia; to; pavqhma tou' qanavtou dovxh/ kai; timh'/ ejstefanwmevnon ... — “ … we gaze on Jesus crowned with glory and honor on account of his suffering death …” )(18). But that seems to leave an insurmountable problem: how the risen Jesus, seated at the right hand of the father (cf. Heb 1,13), can be said to officiate at the Christian tôdâ. The answer is hinted at by the referents of ajpovstolo" and vj arciereu". Arciereuv refers to the subsection 2,13a-18, i.e., Jesus, earthly high j priest by reason of his earthly, mortal body (cf. 2,17); 2,8a-13a refers to Jesus, (15) Cf. SWETNAM, “ejx eJnov" in Hebrews 2,11”, 522 (with references to more extensive treatments). The classic treatment of the tôdâ is that of H. GESE, “Der Herkunft des Herrenmahls”, Zur biblischen Theologie Alkttestamentliche Vorträge (Tübingen 1989) 107- 127. (16) Cf.: J. SWETNAM, “A Liturgical Approach to Hebrews 13”, Letter and Spirit 2 (2006) 159-173; J. SWETNAM, “A Liturgical Approach to Hebrews 13”, The Incarnate Word 1 (2006) 3-17. Cf. also the following web site: “James Swetnam’s Close Readings” http://web.mac.com/jameshswetnam. Ps 22,22 in its original context is an allusion to a tôdâ ceremony, and this allusion is kept in Heb 2,12 with the refinement that the ceremony is adapted to Christian realities, as seems to be the case in also in Heb 13,1-21. (17) All of this is rehearsed in SWETNAM, “ejx eJnov" in Hebrews 2,11”, 523-524. The author of Hebrews is expressing Christian meaning with Old Testament words. (18) Cf. A. VANHOYE, Situation du Christ. Hébreux 1–2 (LD 58; Paris 1969) 285-286. Understood, of course, is that the “gazing” is done with the eyes of faith. Vanhoye communicates this supposition of faith by translating blevpomen as “nous constatons”.