Welcome to another installment of the Shimmering Points of the Shimmering Points of Scripture for 2009. This week I chose, from the lectionary, the passage from Hebrews 9 as our focus scripture for the day. It became an easy choice because the choir had their anthem based on the Psalm reading, I was not too thrilled to preach on Ruth (not that there is anything wrong with the book of Ruth, just didn’t shimmer), and when I got to the Gospel reading Jesus started off the passage in Mark by saying “beware of scribes who like to walk around in long robes… have the best seats in the synagogues… and say long prayers,” so I was obviously not going to talk about that passage (I’ll give you a second to get to the humor of that).
In all seriousness Hebrews shimmered for me because there is a lot going on, and without some critical study, we can be lost as to what is being said in the scripture.
So with point number one we had to clear up the confusion that may arise among us gentiles as we compare Jesus with the temple priesthood. Many are not aware of the customs of the high holy days of the Jewish faith, particularly the day of atonement or Yom Kippur. In the days of the Temple, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, the original place for the ark of the covenant, and offer the blood of an animal sacrificed to God for the sins of the people of Israel. This was a yearly ritual that was repeated by the high priest because the law required it. However, in the coming of Jesus who is our new high priest, we no longer need an intermediary between us and God, he offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice, and atoned for our sins once for all time and is in heaven itself. Not the earthly temple. This is good news for all people, so that we can be freed to live a new life in Christ.
The second point hat we focused on was how this was accomplished. Hebrews tells us he did this by becoming mortal as we are, and offering his own blood as a sacrifice for all, and in his resurrection standing before God on our behalf he has not only reconciled us to God for all time, but we have the promise that he will return. This of course is no small task, but as we know Jesus did so because of the love and desire of God to have us in full relationship with each other. The confusion that we still have today I believe is in this act what he accomplished. Jesus as the scripture said removed sin. He has dealt with it. Today too often we as Christians focus on repentance of sinners and the judgment. But the good news here is that we do not have to try and worry about our own sin or anyone else’s because Jesus has dealt with that. Our job as the people of Christ is to follow the example of Jesus the high priest, so that as the scriptures are fulfilled we build the kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in heaven. Some asked, well then what is our role in those whole thing. One is to believe in this in the first place, then by taking on an understanding that we are chosen to represent Christ in the world, but also to look for Christ in the world to be and also recognize his hands, and his feet.
That leads us to our third shimmering point, which is asking what will it look like when Jesus returns? We all have different images that we have been taught explicitly or implicitly, or have imagined for ourselves as to the return of Jesus. Some people mentioned clouds, others mentioned bright light and the sound of trumpets, others while we may not want to admit it see it as the end of the world and destruction. Hebrews simply tells us that when he returns that he will not deal with sin, because he has already dealt with it, “but to save those who are eagerly awaiting it.” A friend of mine shared a story of his son asking the question to his friend “When do you think Jesus will come to take back the world.” It’s profound that a 9 year old can think that way. As I reflected on that sharing it lead me to ask another question: who says he hasn’t already? Perhaps we have not recognized him.
If we look at the examples that Jesus himself gave, both in the gospels and Revelation, Jesus return will more than likely not be like anything we imagine. In Matthew 25 Jesus says that he will separate the sheep from the goats, and reminds us that when we have served the least of these, we have served him. When we the church call ourselves the body of Christ, we are reminded that we are all created in God’s image. When we encounter each other we also encounter Christ. The challenge for us is to allow the Christ in us to meet the Christ in others so that together we may have grace and joy. Do we recognize him when we see him? And in the fullness of time when Christ returns, it will not be for destruction, and vengeance, but for the establishment of the new Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place will be among mortals and there will be no more suffering and death. It will be the dawning of a new age. But we also do not know when that is, and one person even asked, what would we do if we did know? A profound question to ask indeed. What we do know is that those who eagerly await him wiil and do recognize him even if not right away. It is this eagerness that draws us closer to Jesus, and reminds us that we are forgiven, and that we have a hope that Jesus is with us now and will be fully once again.
Well that may be a lot to chew on, and I know there may be some divergent viewpoints. Fell free to post your comments as well as we walk through the scriptures together.
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