Intercession (Judaism, Christianity)

The more one progresses in one's spiritual journey, the more one is aware of the enormous gulf between the immensity of the creator God - all knowing, all seeing, all powerful - and the insignificance of one's own individual self. Because of this gulf, one looks to some intercessor to plead one's cause with God rather than daring to approach directly. In their journey - Exodus - from Egypt to the promised land, the children of Israel begged Moses to be their intercessor, they were terrified of hearing God's word directly, and this is echoed by many who follow the symbolic Exodus. In this context, the High Priest of Israel, after ritual purification with the blood of sacrificed animals, entered the "Holy of Holies" in the temple once a year to seek atonement for the people's sins.

In the Christian religion, Christ is the intercessor with God and yet is God. On his death the curtain in the temple separating the "Holy of Holies" from the world was torn from top to bottom, indicating that atonement was complete, repeated sacrifice was no longer necessary, but Christ would permanently intercede with God for his followers. Nevertheless, just as Christ is an advocate with God the Father, many Christians look for some advocate to intercede with Jesus. For both Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics, the prime intercessor is the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, but many pray to a particular saint with whom they can identify. The saints were fully human and their very humanity makes them approachable. They frequently lived at least the first parts of their lives with the same mistakes and failures as experienced by Christians trying to follow the spiritual path. Thus Christians can identify with a saint whose failures, successes or concerns match circumstances in their own lives.