10th October, 2010

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Hebrews 1-4 (4: 14)

As we work our way through this intriguing Letter to the Hebrews, we find ourselves immersed in a communiqué of great encouragement. With greater clarity than when we set out on reading this letter, we now realise that this has been written so that Christian believers of Jewish background can understand their place in God's Kingdom.

The one who is now confessed as the Name above every name (Philippians 2: 1-11), greater than the Angels (1-2: 3a), the Kingly merciful Son of Man (2: 3b-18), and the One who reveals and clears the way to entering God's Sabbath (3: 1-4: 13), is now also declared to be their Great High Priest, the One to whom has been given all authority on heaven and earth (Matthew 28: 18-20).

This is also a noteworthy part of the New Testament, in that it is the only book written specifically to address a Christian-Jewish readership, but no less edifying for Gentiles on that account.

In this regard, it might be well to reflect upon how the good news as proclaimed by this letter might assist Christians to think about their relationships, not just with Jewish people, but also with that other dynamic and seemingly volatile world culture, Islam, with whom Christians share Abrahamic (Hebraic) roots. The taken-for-granted view of this letter is indeed Abrahamic, in that the Lord God had promised to bring forth blessing from his family by which all the families of the earth would be blessed.

We have already mentioned Peter's address on the day of Pentecost. This was part of that proclamation: "For David, who did not ascend into heaven, says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I have made thy enemies a stool for thy feet'. And let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." (Acts 2: 34-36).

It prompted those who were there - many of whom were, like the recipients of this Letter, Jews of the dispersion - to face up to their responsibility before Heaven and ask Peter what they needed to do. This was the beginning, what we call the birthday of the Christian church. "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to Him" (Acts 2: 39).

This announcement of Divine mercy blows any mythic justification for persecuting Jews for their part in Jesus' crucifixion completely out of the water. The persistence of that myth in what we call the "Christian age" simply verifies the fact that the teaching of this letter, and indeed the entire New Testament, has been subject to a warping process that makes it somewhat difficult to now grasp this letter's actual teaching. But that is what this letter calls "us" to do "today". And then, accordingly, to boldly live out of this wonderfully good news.

We recall that at the hour when Jesus' judgment was declared, a defiant presumption arose from the crowd gathered before Pilate's judgment seat: "His blood be on us and on our children." (Matthew 27: 25). But with Jesus risen from the grave and ascended to God's right hand, we are told that "this One being the dawning of His true (and hallowed) status and the true, spitting image of Himself, while openly carrying all things (forward), by the public declaration of His power, after having performed the priestly cleansing duty [needed because] of our sins, He has now assumed His place (office) at the right hand of the Almighty, (well and truly) named as the One who oversees everything" (Hebrews 1: 3-4).

His rising can not change the historical facts that led to His death, and to believe in this Messiah is not to avoid the public-legal injustice, the lies and exaggerated justifications, which led to Pilate's capitulation. But now, those who believe, whoever they are, do so trusting that the death of this risen and ascended Messiah has freed them from the penalty of their own sin, all of their sins. Their belief in this Saviour acknowledges the Lord's justice. The Gospel is plain; the announcement of God's justice for the sake of Christ Jesus is an offer of mercy for His sake. Mercy has triumphed over judgment, over sin and death. This letter, as pastoral encouragement to Jewish believers, does not fudge the rebellion of the Lord's own people, but announces the Lord's ongoing victory over sin and death in the ongoing life, from generation to generation, of the People of God.

I don't know how it is with my readers of "Hindsights from Hebrews", but every time I complete a page of this project, to then launch it on the net, I find myself reassured and saying to myself, "Great! That's clarified the situation for me. This is a letter to the Hebrews but it truly is a letter for me, a Gentile. It encourages the people initially addressed to understand the kindness of their Lord and mine, their Messiah and my King. And my King is now also my High Priest, who also cared intimately for these people awkwardly situated with respect to Gentile neighbours and their own Hebrew families."

Will the next part of the letter stretch my knowledge and experience of interpreting the "old, old story" even further? Well, yes - its aim remains to stretch us further, so that we set off boldly, allowing ourselves to be carried on to the full maturity which the Lord desires us to have (6: 1). So we have every good reason to live in such a hope. As each new part is considered we are confronted with a fresh sense of the Lord's purpose for all disciples of Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. I am not an "outsider" listening in on this conversation. This letter calls upon me, a Gentile, to join those initially addressed to "give increasing attention" (2: 1), to "fully assess Jesus" (3: 1), to "hold firm with boldness and pride in our household" (3: 6) and indeed to "remain fearful of neglecting the promise" (4: 1). Yes, this letter may not have been specifically addressed to those who had no Jewish heritage. But that does not make me an outsider to this letter - I am listening in as an insider, as a citizen of the Kingdom ruled by Jesus.

It assists us all to get a sense of how the Gospel allows Jewish believers to read their own history. This is a history in which this Messiah is taking His people down the path with Him as "the suffering servant" (Isaiah 40-44). This is "the way" (Acts 18: 24-28; Hebrews 3: 10) of sacrificial service, the way of love to neighbours, opened for us by the One who laid down His life for His friends. Our neighbours, like ourselves, are created in the Image of God. We Gentiles, even in any of our imaginative mimickings of our brothers and sisters of Jewish-heritage, are so embraced by the Messiah's mercy that we join with them, in a calling that overflows with the generosity He pours out by the Spirit.

And so, when it tells us that the Jewish recipients of this communiqué had become dull in their listening, the writer then proceeds to remind them of the consequences, just as Paul had warned the Gentile Christians against resting wise in their own conceits (Romans 11: 25). If the Lord could graft them (us Gentiles) into the vine, do you think He is incapable of cutting us out if we become dead and lifeless branches? The more we heed the New Testament's teaching, the more it becomes apparent that writers like Paul and the writer of this letter had "marinated" in the teaching of Jesus Himself (see John 15: 1-11). And so we encounter the basic encouragement that "apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15: 5), indeed nothing at all.

This letter demands much of its readers if its message is to be mined. These are believers whose knowledge of God's covenantal mercy should have been shaped by a generation to generation anticipation of the Coming of the Lord. But instead of being in the forefront of teaching this Good News, a lazy dullness has afflicted their understanding (Hebrews 5: 11-14). Is this the clue to rightly interpreting the message here? Maybe, if we who identify ourselves as "Christians of the West" face up to our own inherited " lazy dullness" concerning our Christian profession, we may begin to sympathetically identify with the writer of this letter in his efforts to diagnose their problem. They might be a people with an ancient lineage but they have a child's need for a simple milk-like introduction. We, inheriting a Christian tradition of many centuries, are likewise too often in need of similar diet. But the Letter is saturated with the message of God's mercy so that they will instead boldly approach the Throne of Grace and become mature. And that is what this letter calls upon its readers to become!

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