Hebrews 13:1-4
Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have even extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you. Honor marriage, and guard the sacred intimacy between wife and husband.
Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. God assures us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” Therefore be fearless, no matter what. Who or what can get to you? .....For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
We have now finished our series on Imagining a World with More..., and before that we did several weeks exploring the concept of Covenant in the life of the church, so now we’re going to drop back into the lectionary, most likely for the remainder of Cycle C, which will run until the Sunday before Advent begins for the new cycle.
So, today is the 13th Sunday after Pentecost but I am using the New Testament reading from last week (because I find it much more interesting.)
Hebrews is an interesting book, rich in imagery and teaching. We don’t know who wrote it. No author’s name is attached to it—not like the letters that claim to have been written by Paul but clearly were not. If there ever was an author’s name attached, that name has been lost to history. Over the centuries some have ascribed it to Paul, but as Marc Borg put it, “There’s no good reason to think Paul wrote it, and many reasons to think he did not.”
We don’t even know to whom it was written. Paul’s letters (with the exception of Philemon) are all written to specific communities —the church in Corinth, the church in Thessalonika, etc. This letter isn’t even written like a letter—there’s no salutation—no greetings to specific persons.
Even the title, Hebrews, is confusing because it is clearly written to a Christian audience—most likely 2nd generation Christians who were familiar with the Jewish scriptures.
It's an interesting little puzzle—a letter that doesn’t always seem like a letter, written by an unknown writer to an unknown group of people living who knows where. The Letter to the Hebrews is almost as interesting for what we don’t know about it as for it’s contents.
Even the date is unknown, with scholars split almost 50/50 on whether it was written before or after 70 CE. This is an important date because the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in that year by the Romans—a big event which can often help with dating based on if it is mentioned or not. There’s no mention of it here so half believe it was written before, and the other half believe it was written after and therefore didn’t need to be mentioned because everyone already knew about it—so, not very helpful at all.
As I said, an interesting puzzle. But what is truly important about Hebrews is not it’s mysteries but the claims this unknown writer makes about Jesus—and what they show us about what second generation Christians believed about Jesus.
This whole document—only thirteen chapters long—is basically a lesson in the faith history of the Hebrew people—and of Jesus’ place in that history. It is also, again quoting Marc Borg, a “thoroughly subversive” history, because at every step Jesus is clearly ranked above all other figures in that history, and in the end, Jesus replaces even the need for the Temple.
In the opening words of this “letter” we are told:
A few verses later we are told:
The writer goes on for several chapters making it clear that Jesus is not just a wonderful teacher, not just the Master the disciple followed here on earth, but he is the Son of God—and more than that he is God—from the beginning and forever.
Continuing, our writer relates an encapsulated history of the Hebrew people, emphasizing the great heroes such as Abraham, Joshua, and Moses, and how for all their greatness they were only leading up to the greatest, Jesus, who was and is the great high priest.
There follow many comparisons to past high priests but Jesus is the greatest of them all—this one who “holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.” The blessings of past high priests were never permanent, they had to be given over and over because they didn’t last, but the forgiveness given by Jesus lasts for eternity. We can have faith in this because Jesus holds that forgiveness for us—forever. There is no longer a need to rely on Temple sacrifice because Jesus has made himself the ultimate sacrifice—now and forever.
And because we are the inheritors of all that Jesus brought to our world, we can live with faith and hope—even in those times where faith and hope do not seem obvious to us. And because Jesus came and lived among us and died for us and blessed us with the new covenant we are called to serve in a manner well-pleasing to God--on good terms with each other and held together by love, as our opening scripture tells us.
And we are called to do it fearlessly, for who or what can harm us? For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
So, today is the 13th Sunday after Pentecost but I am using the New Testament reading from last week (because I find it much more interesting.)
Hebrews is an interesting book, rich in imagery and teaching. We don’t know who wrote it. No author’s name is attached to it—not like the letters that claim to have been written by Paul but clearly were not. If there ever was an author’s name attached, that name has been lost to history. Over the centuries some have ascribed it to Paul, but as Marc Borg put it, “There’s no good reason to think Paul wrote it, and many reasons to think he did not.”
We don’t even know to whom it was written. Paul’s letters (with the exception of Philemon) are all written to specific communities —the church in Corinth, the church in Thessalonika, etc. This letter isn’t even written like a letter—there’s no salutation—no greetings to specific persons.
Even the title, Hebrews, is confusing because it is clearly written to a Christian audience—most likely 2nd generation Christians who were familiar with the Jewish scriptures.
It's an interesting little puzzle—a letter that doesn’t always seem like a letter, written by an unknown writer to an unknown group of people living who knows where. The Letter to the Hebrews is almost as interesting for what we don’t know about it as for it’s contents.
Even the date is unknown, with scholars split almost 50/50 on whether it was written before or after 70 CE. This is an important date because the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in that year by the Romans—a big event which can often help with dating based on if it is mentioned or not. There’s no mention of it here so half believe it was written before, and the other half believe it was written after and therefore didn’t need to be mentioned because everyone already knew about it—so, not very helpful at all.
As I said, an interesting puzzle. But what is truly important about Hebrews is not it’s mysteries but the claims this unknown writer makes about Jesus—and what they show us about what second generation Christians believed about Jesus.
This whole document—only thirteen chapters long—is basically a lesson in the faith history of the Hebrew people—and of Jesus’ place in that history. It is also, again quoting Marc Borg, a “thoroughly subversive” history, because at every step Jesus is clearly ranked above all other figures in that history, and in the end, Jesus replaces even the need for the Temple.
In the opening words of this “letter” we are told:
- Recently God spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says.
A few verses later we are told:
- You are God, and on the throne for good; your rule makes everything right (this is God speaking to Jesus).
The writer goes on for several chapters making it clear that Jesus is not just a wonderful teacher, not just the Master the disciple followed here on earth, but he is the Son of God—and more than that he is God—from the beginning and forever.
Continuing, our writer relates an encapsulated history of the Hebrew people, emphasizing the great heroes such as Abraham, Joshua, and Moses, and how for all their greatness they were only leading up to the greatest, Jesus, who was and is the great high priest.
There follow many comparisons to past high priests but Jesus is the greatest of them all—this one who “holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.” The blessings of past high priests were never permanent, they had to be given over and over because they didn’t last, but the forgiveness given by Jesus lasts for eternity. We can have faith in this because Jesus holds that forgiveness for us—forever. There is no longer a need to rely on Temple sacrifice because Jesus has made himself the ultimate sacrifice—now and forever.
And because we are the inheritors of all that Jesus brought to our world, we can live with faith and hope—even in those times where faith and hope do not seem obvious to us. And because Jesus came and lived among us and died for us and blessed us with the new covenant we are called to serve in a manner well-pleasing to God--on good terms with each other and held together by love, as our opening scripture tells us.
And we are called to do it fearlessly, for who or what can harm us? For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
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