Speaking on the theme in Hebrews of Jesus as both High Priest and Victim, Albert Vanhoye, a Catholic theologian and cardinal, wrote:
In the old worship, external gifts and sacrifices were offered, cadavers of immolated animals which conferred the ritual purity for external worship but could not establish an authentic covenant with God because they were incapable of having an influence over the conscience of the person. Christ, instead, offered himself without blemish to God under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. His sacrifice was a person offering and not an external offering. It was an offering of his whole human nature. The statement that Christ offered himself complete the passive aspect expressed in chapter 5 where the author says that: “Jesus was made perfect” which is passive. However, Jesus is never content with a passive acceptance of the will of the Father. Throughout his life, he shows himself to be full of initiative; he faced difficulties and resolutely took the road of Jerusalem (Lk 9:53). In Gethsemane, he voluntarily allowed himself to be arrested, even forbidding Peter to defend him.
Christ “offered himself”, while the ancient High Priest could not offer himself. He was neither worthy nor capable. He was not worthy because he was a sinner and so her must offer immolated animals for himself; he could not be a victim pleasing to God because, according to Leviticus, the condition was that the victim be “without blemish” (Lv 1:3; 10) and the High Priest was not without stain of sin. On the other hand, he was not capable of offering himself because, being a sinner, he did not have in himself all the strength of love necessary for offering himself to God. Jesus, instead, was a worthy victim and a capable priest. He was a worthy Victim because he had perfect moral and religious integrity; he was truly “without blemish” (9:14). As the author says, he was “holy, blameless, unstained” (Hb 7:26). He was a capable priest because he was full of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The newness that we find here consists precisely in the role attributed to the Spirit in the offering of Christ. The Gospels frequently mention the Holy Spirit relation to Jesus: firstly, for his conception, then in his baptism and in the course of his ministry; however, they do not mention the Holy Spirit in the passion. The Letter to the Hebrews, instead, says that the Paschal Mystery of Christ was a mystery effected under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, Christ Our High Priest: Spiritual Exercises with Pope Benedict XVI [trans. Joel Wallace; Herefordshire, UK: 2010],108-9)
