13th December, 2010

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Hebrews 5-7: 10

Previously, I have mentioned what I take to be an understandable temptation confronting us as we work our way through this letter. It is understandable because this letter is, in fact, somewhat foreign to our everyday way of thinking. Not completely different perhaps, but significantly so. We may too easily assume that because it is a New Testament book, and since the New Testament is a gift of the Lord to the disciples of Jesus in every age, then surely its message must become familiar to us if only we try hard enough to apply its statements to ourselves.

Since we have now covered the "preliminaries" of how King Jesus is our High Priest, are we not ready to see ourselves as the spiritual benefactors of the long line of faith that this letter presupposes? Christ has come. The King has now ascended to sit on the right hand of the Majesty on High; we are "all one in Christ Jesus"; Christ now dwells in our hearts by faith; we have the power to comprehend with all the saints the breadth and length, the height and the depth of His love (see Ephesians 3: 17-18). So what is this temptation I am talking about?

SUPERCEDED: The writer to Hebrews explains how it is that the Levite priesthood (pictured is an engraving of a High Priest published in an 1868 history of religious dress) is superceded by the coming of Christ. PICTURE: © Steven Wynn (www.stockphoto.com) "Here we receive the considered reflections of one who, perhaps with a teaching office, perhaps a Levite like Barnabas (Acts 4: 36), had to face the fact that Christ's intercession now completely supersedes the Levitical priesthood. Whether the writer was actually a Levite is beside the point. The Levitical priesthood has come to an end."

I suspect that, having got to the half-way point through the letter (that is, to 7: 10), we will be tempted to see the discussion as it unfolds between 7: 11 and 10: 18 as a repeat of what has already been laid down in the earlier chapters. The temptation will be to simply skip to 10: 19 since all this intervening material is well captured by 10: 17 telling us, "and their sins and lawlessness I will remember no more" (10: 17).

Having reached that momentous affirmation are we not justified in "moving on"? The problem I have is this: knowing that affirmation is coming up do we, in reading the next three chapter "move on" already and assume we know what it is all about and simply " go through the motions" as we read about the ancient liturgies of the Old Testament people of God? Going through the motions? That is the ironical side of the temptation to which, I am suggesting, we need to be alert in our reading.

So, do we really have to go back over this material about the Levitical priesthood, particularly when it has so little relevance to how we live today? We don't have priests, let alone those of the ancient order of Aaron! Is it really necessary to work through the same material yet again?

Is there not validity in viewing this part of the letter in this way? Does not our reading become tedious? Can we not look for some justifiable short-cuts? Before trying to do so, let's first recall that, historically speaking, this letter was not addressed specifically to us, nor was it addressed to people that we often identify are culturally similar to ourselves. Still, that does not mean we can ignore the advice the letter gives its readers. Consider the warnings: "we must give increasing attention...how shall we wriggle out if we pay no heed?..." (2: 1, 3); "let us fully assess Jesus" (3: 1); "take note of this in case with any of you there be an evil and unbelieving heart holding out...challenge each other...to avoid the deceitfulness of sin" (3: 12-13); "let us then maintain a fear" (4: 1); "set ourselves to enter guarding against anyone falling away...and with boldness approach" (4: 11,16);" your hearing has become muffled and by this time you should have become teachers... solid food is for the mature" (5: 11-13); "let us set off with resolution" (6: 1).

Any Gentile, say, who heard or read this - adopting, say, an imaginative "outer court" stance - would be overhearing what the Jewish writer was saying to fellow Jews about their conventional liturgies. She, or he, could just as easily, as I hope we have, taken this advice to heart. But dare we assume that we are blessed simply by hearing these things. Jesus' own brother taught us to live otherwise, "the one who is blessed is not the forgetful hearer but the one who does what the law perfectly reveals to those who look into it" (James 1: 25).

And this principle applies to all who now receive the Gospel and heed the law of love as a rule of gratitude:

• Matthew, the tax collector, with Zacchaeus, his fellow-professional, knew what it was to be considered "outsiders" - those performing such public duties were easily lumped together with "sinners" and those who acted lawlessly outside the Torah's limits. But Matthew tells us of his first hand experience of how Jesus welcomed those who needed the chief physician of the kingdom of God (Matthew 9: 10-13). This welcome meant they didn't have to resort to complex legal argument to get them off the hook. Their right-standing had been established by God's mercy and then repentance involved restitution, which was also according to Torah, which became a rule of thankfulness, the lamp for their feet to walk by, a guide to the path ahead (Psalm 119 :105).

• The proselyte doctor, Luke, must have appreciated the invasive impact of the operation that rendered eunuchs impotent, was able to point out that the Good News sent such a foreigner on his way with more reasons to rejoice than anyone with tribes of descendents (Acts 8: 26-40; Isaiah 56).

• John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus and son of a Levite, had drawn the attention of all and sundry, and they came to him in the backblocks of Israel. There were the sons and daughters of revered Abraham, the hypocrites and the smug, the tax collectors and the soldiers. The message went out indiscriminately to those within earshot and did so without pulling any punches - no doubt the spies of that frantic royal couple, who were amorously maintaining an adulterous union, had been sent to listen to John. Those who were to become Jesus' disciples were out there and even Jesus Himself went out to John, to hear about the Messiah's immanent arrival when He would baptise with the Holy Spirit and cleanse with a holy fire. We could add other examples - Paul's letters and the other writings of the New Testament.

The point is that when this Gospel is proclaimed to all and sundry, it reveals how the law of the Lord is the way to shalom for all people. The Gospel tells us how this is possible because all are called to live under the Kingly Rule of God's Son. Peter explained to the first converts "For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him" (Acts 2: 39).

Now, on that inaugurating Pentecost, those listening were Peter's "fellow Israelites" (Acts 2: 29). But the promise goes out beyond that crowd of what were predominantly Greek-speaking Jews, to all who God now calls to Him. Our issue here, in attending to this letter, concerns the way we should now listen to this reiteration of the Good News for these Israelites, our fellow Christians. Yes, in listening, we note how it spills over so we "overhear" its message for ourselves. The Gospel's indiscriminate appeal goes out even to us and it can be heard even as this Gospel-Letter is directed toward the education of these Greek-speaking Jewish Christians concerning their own religious background. Apparently, with the passage of time, they had become quite ignorant of these matters. Clearly they knew that the Messiah who had come had long been promised to Israel. As well, they knew that Israel had a distinctive Levitical priesthood that had been instituted to carry forward the hope of the Messiah's coming by a peculiar liturgical service for all the people of Israel.

But now Jesus has come. The Levitical priesthood is pronounced defunct. So, why does the writer go to such lengths to explain the Jewish and Hebraic background in so much detail? Why did they need to be educated at such length into matters that have, in any case, been superseded with the coming of Christ Jesus? And further, what can we, who do not have this particular religious background, hope to gain from this exploration of things that do not now pertain today?

At this point, listening in from a standpoint not unlike the outer court of the Gentiles in Jerusalem's temple, we recall Psalm 95 (3: 7-11) when the psalmist changes the emphasis to remind those singing the Lord's praises that they should by no means harden their hearts. Such a juxtaposition reminds the readers that they need reminding "today", precisely when they are full of praise to the Lord. But if we now assume we understand the background and don't really listen to what is contained in 7: 10 to 10: 18, simply "going along for the song" as it were, and going through the motions as I suggested we might be tempted to do, might not we be hardening our own hearts, simply indulging in an uncultivated soaking up of what falls (6: 7), and in the process becoming dull (6: 12) with little prospect of a bountiful harvest?

So, by what strategy do we posture ourselves here as we listen to and heed what the writer describes in detail about the old covenant from a Levitical perspective? Before we answer that we should note that, by his own description, it is but a sketchy overview "of these things there is not now the opportunity for discussion in detail" (9: 5b).

And of course, he knew that these matters are dealt with at great length in Exodus and Leviticus. Here we receive the considered reflections of one who, perhaps with a teaching office, perhaps a Levite like Barnabas (Acts 4: 36), had to face the fact that Christ's intercession now completely supersedes the Levitical priesthood. Whether the writer was actually a Levite is beside the point. The Levitical priesthood has come to an end. This letter addresses a Jewish Christian congregation about the fact - with ourselves overhearing the pronouncement along these lines:

"The curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the outer sanctuary has been rent in two. The stone rejected by the builders has become chief cornerstone; this marvellous doing of the Lord is cause for rejoicing "today", this very day of the Lord's work, and we are mighty glad (Psalm 95, 118: 23). It's all over - the Levitical priesthood is ended. That was then; this is now. For you Jewish Christians, I give some of the details about the original purpose and work of the Levitical priesthood to help you more clearly understand Christ Jesus' sacrifice and why He achieves for His brothers and sisters what the Levitical priesthood could never do. You Gentiles standing at the back! You should be all ears to this! By taking away sin with His once-for-all sacrifice your situation is entirely changed. You now inherit the promises to Abraham as well as the prophetic word to King David."

So the way to listen here is to reckon with the educational task the letter-writer has taken up on behalf of the people he addresses. The way to listen is by attending to how he educates them about themselves, about aspects of their ethnic background of which they are so familiar. This is background to his observation that instead of being in the forefront of teaching and living this amazing good news, they were still wanting milk. Their hearing was muffled. It is his expectation that the Lord will move these people to "inherit the promises through faith and long-suffering patience" (6: 12).

In other words, he aims that they will take up their priestly office of intercession as servants of the Lord, brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus, their Great High Priest.

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