On Sunday July 20, rather than beginning our meeting with a prayer, I walked us through a prayer. Being that we had reached our twelfth week of talks on body parts, it seemed appropriate to bring attention to one way of “presenting” our bodies to God. I was asked to make that prayer available for others to use in their own quiet time. Since I had not prepared the prayer, this may not be the exact script, but it will be close enough.
I would suggest that you read the prayer onto a recording device in your own voice (there are recording apps for most smart phones). Read slowly and softly, pausing occasionally to allow yourself to feel what is happening in your body.
There is nothing magical, or even unique, about this prayer. It is simply another way to pray that we can add to our collection. As always, the most important part of prayer is the connection with God that occurs in prayer. This is possible through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Begin:
Slowly draw in a deep, cleansing breath, and slowly exhale.
Repeat the cleansing breath, being mindful of the passage of air
into and out of your lungs.
Repeat the cleansing breath.

Imagine a warm oil gently poured over you.
Notice that it covers the entire crown of your head.
Receive this as an anointing of God’s Spirit.
As this warm presence slowly descends, it brings peace.

Feel this warm peace flow down to your eyebrows.
Relax your forehead as your receive this gift.
Surrender to God and the peace of his presence.

The warm peace comes over you eyes,
and the muscles around them relax.
Feel the warmth on your cheeks, over your nose,
and into your sinuses.
At the same time, your ears are covered with peace.

The peaceful warmth spills over your mouth.
Your lips receive it and relax.
Your tongue relaxes.
Your teeth and gums relax.
Now your jaw also is warm and relaxed.
Notice how your entire head and face
are bathed in peaceful rest.
Surrender your head and face to God’s Spirit.

The warmth continues downward.
Your neck receives God’s peace.
Notice the warmth as it moves outward,
over your right shoulder,
down your upper right arm to your elbow;
down your forearm to your wrist.
Feel the peace that flows into the palm of your right hand;
into your thumb,
and out to the tip of each finger.

Now your left shoulder is bathed in warmth;
down your upper left arm to your elbow;
down your forearm to your wrist.
Feel the warmth that flows into the palm of your left hand;
into your thumb,
and out to the tip of each finger.

Take a moment and notice how the warm peace
covers your entire head and neck,
and over your shoulders, arms, and hands.
Rest in God’s Spirit.

As the warmth descends into your chest and upper back,
surrender to the Spirit’s touch.
Relax your neck, shoulders, and upper chest and back.

Feel the warmth cover your stomach and lower back.
Notice how your entire upper body is enveloped in peace.

The soothing oil continues to flow,
down your right hip and into your thigh;
down your upper right leg to your knee;
down your shin and calf, into your ankle;
down to your heel, the sole of your right foot,
and out to the tips of your right toes.

Now your left hip and thigh,
down your upper left leg to your knee;
down your shin and calf, into your ankle;
down to your heel, the sole of your left foot,
and out to the tips of your left toes.
Notice how both legs are relaxed.

Return to the crown of your head,
and follow the flow of peace over your face,
down your neck, shoulders, arms and hands.
Down your abdomen and back,
your hips and thighs;
your legs and feet
to the tips of your toes.
Read in this peaceful presence.

Turning our attention to our insides,
begin with that rational part of your brain.
It is located above your eyes, behind your forehead.
Speak gently to that part of your brain.
Tell it, “For now, there is nothing you need to figure out.
No calculations to make, no riddles to solve.
Be still.”

Moving into the interior of your brain,
tell that emotional part,
“For now, there is nothing to fear.
Nothing to worry about.
No complaints. No arguments.
Peace. Be still.”

Moving down into the brainstem,
where your brain connects with the spinal column,
tell that part of your brain,
“For now, there is no emergency.
There is no need to ring any alarm.
No need to activate the body to any action.
Let your body know that it is in God’s hands;
that it can rest in his love.
All is well.”

Allow God’s peace to move from your spine,
through your peripheral nerves,
into your entire body,
out to the boundary of your skin.

Let your throat relax.
Allow your esophagus to carry warmth
into your stomach
and through your digestive tract.

Feel the air that passes through your trachea,
down into your lungs,
and surrender that part of your body to God’s peace.

As oxygen moves from your lungs to your heart,
say the word “Peace” to your heart.
Say “Peace” to your kidneys and liver.
Say “Peace” to your pancreas and your spleen.
If you have gall bladder and appendix,
say “Peace” to each of them.

Notice how your entire body is in a state of rest.
You trust your body to God.
You surrender it to his Spirit.

Spend a moment enjoying this quiet stillness.

When you are ready,
give thanks to God.
Move into your next activity,
knowing that God is with you,
and you are completely his.

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For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from Mount Zion.
Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
Like keepers of a field are they against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me, declares the LORD.
Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”
My anguish, my anguish! I write in pain?
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet
the alarm of war.
Crash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet? Jeremiah 4:15-21

Intro: Years ago, a woman who was a stranger to me, told me,

“I feel like I know you, because your personality comes out in your talks”
– that caught me off guard – I didn’t know I had a personality
• anyway, reading the prophecies of Jeremiah, I’ve always felt like I know him
• he is truly present in his writings; not only in delivering the word of the LORD,
◦ but in his personal reactions to that word,
◦ his complaints, the difficulties it gets him into with others, and his grief
– he was living in the last days of Judah
• which were bringing to an end David’s dynasty and the temple
◦ he was watching his nation rush to its ruin
◦ he spent his life warning them, “The bridge is out! Stop!”
• but he was ignored, ridiculed, threatened, and assaulted
◦ and all the while, he grieved for his people and his nation

Jeremiah did not actually cry, My anguish, my anguish! but as in the King James Version, My bowels
– the Hebrew word is used in reference to the entire abdomen or torso
• the body cavity and all the organs in it
◦ we can imagine Jeremiah, with his arms crossed over his stomach, crying,
I writhe in pain!
• he felt this traumatic agony in his heart also–that is, its walls
◦ as if his heart were constricted and at the same time beating out of his chest
• extreme stress can cause these sensations of constriction and palpitation

For twelve weeks we’ve explored body parts in the Scriptures

Today we venture inside the body, and specifically to the internal organs
– like other body parts, our organs speak to us, if we’ll listen
• they tell us something about what we’re feeling and how deep it goes
• if we have experienced something similar (rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, anxious stomach) we understand
◦ the Bible doesn’t always label feelings or provide a list of emotions
◦ people at that time did not experience emotion as a mere mental event
◦ they identified its location in a specific organ of their bodies
Thomas Staubli and Silvia Schroer, Israel’s sages and priests “were not content with . . . general statements about the abdomen as a whole. They attempted to make connections between particular feelings and the individual organs, much like the familiar practice of examining the entrails of animals.”
Antonio Damasio, “All emotions use the body as their theater . . ., but emotions also affect the mode of operation of numerous brain circuits: the variety of the emotional responses is responsible for profound changes in both the body landscape and the brain landscape.”
– following the biblical path, we can become more in tune with our feelings,
• and perhaps do a better job of regulating and cultivating them
Jon Kabat-Zinn, “Each region of the physical body has its counterpart in an emotional body or map which carries a deeper meaning for us, often completely below our level of awareness. In order to continue growing, we need to continuously activate, listen to, and learn from our emotional body.”

Jeremiah’s anguish was located in his “belly”

As I said, all the inner parts are located here – the viscera
Staubli and Schroer, The belly, together “with the heart . . . fill the entire space within the torso, the central part of the body. Heart and entrails, thinking and feeling compose a common space of human inwardness out of which we react and make decisions.”
– this space includes the internal reproductive organs
• so compassion, empathy, and mercy are felt here
◦ I think when the King James Version first appeared, people were more in touch with their bodies
(which explains why they weren’t afraid of using words like bowels or womb to locate emotion)
◦ Paul used bowels when looking for compassion among the Philippians (Php 2:1)
(but ESV translates it metaphorically, affection)
John also referred to the bowels when he asks, Where is the compassion for a person in need if we have the resources to meet their need but don’t open up and support them? (1 Jn. 3:17)
– wisdom can also rest in this area of body (Pr. 14:33)
• the brain was not recognized as the organ of thought or feeling
◦ perhaps because it does not feel pain, like the other organs
Hans Wolff, “. . . it was primarily in sickness that Israel learnt to recognize the heart as the central and crucially vital organ (cf. also Isa. 1.5; 57.15; Ps. 37.15).”
◦ so wisdom was carried close to the heart – wisdom works on heart
• but more often, the belly stood for various appetites and desires
Paul warned Philippians of enemies of the cross whose god is their belly (Php. 3:19)
(see also 1 Cor. 6:13 and Job 20:20, 23

When the Old Testament speaks of inner parts, it frequently refers to the belly
– the organs there can be in turmoil (Job 30:27)
• moan (Isa 16:11), melt like wax (Ps. 22:14) or churn (Lam 1:20)
• they can yearn for someone and have mercy (Jer. 31:20)
◦ but God’s law can also be inscribed there (Ps. 40:8)
– another, more general term for inner parts, tucha
• God can place his wisdom there (Job 38:36)
• where God wants truth of who we are to be located (Ps 51:6)
– qereb (“within”)is also a general term for the interior of the body (Ps 64:6)
• people sometimes harbor deceit here (Ps. 5:9; Pr. 26:24)
– there are also references to inner chambers
• these are very private places, like a bedroom (2 Ki 6:12)
• although cut off from others, God searches these hidden recesses (Pr 20:27)

Two of the featured organs in the belly refer to the womb

Beten can refer to both male and female reproductive organs
Rechem refers more specifically to female reproductive organs
Staubli and Schroer, “Hebrew rahem means ‘to have compassion’ or ‘to have mercy,’ and rahamim is ‘compassion’ or ‘sympathy.’ All these words contain a still simpler and earlier word, namely rehem, the female lap, uterus, or womb.”
Kathleen McAlpin, “Rahamim implies a physical response; the compassion for another is felt in the center of one’s body; it is an upsurge of mercy that also results in action. It is a word frequently predicated of YHWH who has deep mother-love (Isa 49:15; Jer 31:20) or strong father-love (Ps 103:13; Isa 63:15-16) for Israel.” “Mercy, or compassion, is the capacity to be moved, through a depth of feeling, by the vulnerability of another. . . . Mercy is tenderness moved into action for the other.”

It may surprise us to learn the kidneys play large in the interior life

They too are a place where emotion is deeply felt (Ps 73:21)
– rejoicing can come from this inner source (Pr 23:16)
• the kidneys can instruct a person (Ps 16:7)
• sometimes, if God is someone’s mouth, he can be far from this intimate inner space (Jer 12:2)
– in Psalm 139, God formed the poet’s kidneys in his mother’s womb (v. 13)
• even then and there, God was intimately involved in the poet’s inner life

The liver and gall bladder are also relevant to human emotion

The liver can be poured out, emptied out by tragedy (Lam 2:11)
Gall bladder is merrara (Job 16:13) derived from mer, which means “bitter”
Staubli and Schroer, “Different still from the sensitive liver and the vulnerable kidneys is the irritable gall or bile; it is important to prevent this from rising or spilling out. Its name in Hebrew is ‘the bitter’ . . . .”
– this word is used when a person’s experience of life has grown bitter
• or it can refer to someone’s actions that are prompted by impure motives (Acts 8:23)

By far, the word used most frequently for inner life is heart

Henri Nouwen, “In our milieu the word heart has become a soft word. It refers to the seat of the sentimental life. Expressions such as ‘heartbroken’ and ‘heartfelt’ show that we often think of the heart as the warm place where the emotions are located in contrast to the cool intellect where our thoughts find their home. But the word heart in the Jewish-Christian tradition refers to the source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional, and moral energies.” “From the heart arise unknowable impulses as well as conscious feelings, moods, and wishes. The heart, too, has its reasons and is the center of perception and understanding. Finally, the heart is the seat of the will: it makes plans and comes to good decisions. Thus the heart is the central and unifying organ of our personal life. . . . It is this heart that is the place of prayer.”
Staubli and Schroer, “In the Bible the heart is primarily the locus of reason and intelligence, of secret planning, deliberation, and decision. According to Deut 29:4 the human being has eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart (NRSV ‘mind’) to understand.”

It can be stubborn or hard (Ps 81;12; Ex. 7:3; Mt. 19:8)
– it can also be soft or tender (2 Chr. 34:27)
– it is meant to be pure (Mt. 5:8); united (Ps 86:11); whole (Ps 86:12)
– it can be stricken by hardship (Ps 109:22)
– a person can have a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:12; Pr 14:33)
– the heart can be strengthened with food (Gen. 18:5)
– it can carry sadness (1 Sam 1:8; Pr 15:13) or joy (1 Sam 2:1; Ps 13:5)
– people can lose their hearts (Gen 42:28; 1 Sam 17:22)
– depression can fill the heart (Ps 13:2; 38:8-10)
– the heart holds our secrets and desires (Pr 6:25)
– it can be lifted up (with pride or conceit; De 8:14; Ps 131:1; 2 Chr 32:25)
– everything we think or do comes from heart
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life (Pr 4:23)
– the heart is the body-part that has understanding (De 29:4; Ps 49:3)
– and wisdom (Pr 14:33; Ps 90:12) and it seeks knowledge (Pr 15:4)
– talking to the heart is talking to one’s inner self (1 Sam 27:1)
– it is the repository of memory (Lk. 2:19)
– its mood affects all of life (Pr 15:13; 17:22)
– it can be agitated (Pr 23:17) or tranquil (Pr 14:30)
– courage, fear, grief, and despair are all felt in the heart (De 28:67; Isa 7:2; Ge 45:26)
– for someone to speak to the heart of another refers to romantic or comforting words (Hos 2:14)
– the heart is private (Pr 14:10), but God knows every heart – he searches every heart
(1 Ki 8:39; Ps 44:21; Pr 15:11 and 24:12; Ps 44:21; Acts 15:8)
– to be without heart means to be lacking wisdom or good sense (Hos. 7:11)
– while humans see a person’s outward appearance, God looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7)
– the Lord is near the brokenhearted (Ps 34:18)
He heals and binds up their wounds (Ps 147:3)

Staubli and Schroer, “The integrity of a person was preserved by the heart and kidneys, that is, thought and feeling. Even God tests character by shoving both organs, like gold or silver bars, into an oven to test whether they have been mixed with worthless slag in order to deceive. This image from the language of metallurgists appears fairly often in the Psalms; frequently it is those praying who, confident of their innocence, challenge YHWH to test them:
Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart [kidneys] and mind [heart]! (Ps 26:2).”

In the New Testament specifically:
– adultery can be committed in the heart (Mt. 5:28)
– wherever a person’s treasure is, their heart will be there (Mt. 6:21)
– Jesus seeks to plant his word in human hearts (Mt. 13:19)
– the heart is the place of sincere action (Mt. 18:35; Rom. 6:17)
– a good person has a good heart from which goodness flows (Lk. 6:45)
– as in the Old Testament, the heart can experience anguish (Ro. 9:2; 2 Cor. 2:4)
And it also knows desire (Ro. 10:1)
– a Christian community can have one heart (Acts 4:32)
– a person can hold another in their heart (Php. 1:7)

A vital truth God revealed to his prophets: His people needed heart surgery
– either an new heart or some serious work done on their hearts (Ps 51:10; Eze 36:26; Jer 31:31-34)

Conclusion: I need to bring this to a close

It might as well be with the most shocking statement in the entire Old Testament:

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath (Hos 11:8-9)

God exercises his prerogative as God to show mercy versus justice
– he does it, because his own “inner parts” are roiling within him
– a decision must be made regarding his people
• and it’s as if he is feeling the turmoil that Jeremiah suffered
• God loves too much, cares too much, feels too much to give up his people

How do we respond to such love and mercy?
With our whole heart and all our inner parts
Our everyday lives bring events that affect us
Our internal organs respond to those events,
as our nervous system activates them
Our organs speak to us
butterflies in the stomach
a lump in the throat
a gut feeling
We can learn to respect the wisdom of our bodies
Try to be more aware of what they’re telling us
Allow God, who searches our hearts,
to speak to us through these experiences

Jon Kabat-Zinn, “A number of specialized meditative practices such as loving kindness meditation are specifically oriented toward cultivating in oneself particular feeling states that expand and open the metaphorical heart. Acceptance, forgiveness, loving kindness, generosity, and trust all are strengthened by intentionally centering and sustaining attention in the heart region, and invoking such feelings as part of formal meditation practice. But these feelings are also strengthened through simply recognizing them when they arise spontaneously . . . .”

How to respond to such love and compassion as God shows us?
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name! (Ps. 103:1)

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Thus says the LORD:
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest”
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:1-2

Intro: This week Calum, my eight year old grandson, asked to play games on my phone. When I told him the battery was running low, he said, “Let’s see how much battery is left.” He then took my phone, swiped down from the battery icon, and up popped a display of various apps and their status. Surprised, I said, “Wait! how did you do that?” Smirking, he asked, “Grandpa, how long have you had this phone?”

– I admit, that I do not access ninety-nine percent of what my phone can do
• in a similar way, we never access as much help as the Bible has to offer us
• we struggle with the Bible because we don’t know how to read it
– last week, we reminded ourselves that the Scriptures are sacred writings
• that tells us something about how to read scripture
• the big idea today is that we need to
Read the Sacred Writings with Reverence

In the Isaiah passage, God answers an intriguing question

What draws God’s attention to a person (in a positive way)?
– immediately, we can delete any answer having to do with achievements
• that is, given what God has made and what belongs to him
• God is not impressed with the mansions of the wealthy,
◦ the accomplishments of “successful” people, or “winners”
◦ all through Isaiah’s prophecies, God takes aim at arrogance and conceit
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
For the LORD of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low (Isa. 2:11-17)
Isaiah is explaining that God will level anything that breaks the line of the horizon, and his list of exalted things includes the cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, the lofty mountains, all high towers and fortifications, and tall-mast ships
– what draws God’s attention is the person who is:
humble, broken, and that trembles at his word
• in the Old Testament, the word of LORD was considered a divine force
◦ it was the creative power of God
◦ God’s word made things and it made things happen
• many times people who heard it responded with absolute seriousness
◦ at Mt. Sinai, Elijah in the desert, King Josiah hearing the Book of the Covenant read, the returned exiles in Nehemiah chapter 8
◦ it is not that God wants us to be terrified of him or his word,
◦ but he wants us to know our place and to take him seriously

At this point, it may help if we revisit the word “sacred”

For now, dictionary definitions will not suit our purpose
– we need to think about what is like to experience the sacred

My wife, Barbara, grew up in a Lutheran church. In the front of the sanctuary there were three steps that led up to a platform, and on the platform was a low wall or altar rail. In front of the altar was a candle that always burned. The pastor explained that it represented God’s everlasting light. Barbara learned from her mother to always respect the sacredness of the flame and what it symbolized.
While in junior high school, Barbara belonged to the church’s youth group. After their evening meetings, while waiting for their parents to pick them up, she and the other kids would play tag, hide-and-seek, or other games outside the church. One night, she slipped into the sanctuary through a side door, thinking it would be a good place to hide. Once inside, she noticed the change of atmosphere from that outside, and that this environment was silent, still, and engulfed in darkness except for the soft glow around the “everlasting light.” Assuming that this would be the perfect opportunity to take a close look at the candle, she moved toward the platform, but when she placed her foot on the first step, she sensed an overwhelming presence and this realization, “This place is holy.” Reverently she stopped, then slowly backed away. Later she described what she felt in that moment as “a good fear.”

• the feeling evoked by a close encounter with the sacred is reverence
◦ the Bible usually uses “fear” for reverence, but it doesn’t mean “scared”
◦ reverence is not like being afraid of an abusive parent
◦ it doesn’t mean frightened, terrified, or any kind of phobia
• it is what we might think of as a healthy respect
◦ the caution we practice around power tools
(It’s possible to repair a “live” electrical switch,
but don’t try it if you don’t know what you’re doing!)
◦ reverence is mixture of fear and fascination;
of risk and a desire to get closer

Awhile back, a friend of mine was trying to grasp the meaning of sacred, and what it would feel like to experience holiness. One night in a Bible study he said, “I get it now. If someone handed me a book, and while I held it they told me it was the Satanic Bible, I would put it down immediately. I would not want to touch or even be near the thing!”

– he was talking about experiencing something more than the book
• the feeling he referred to is fright,
◦ and it is caused by things that are spooky
• unlike fright, reverence is a positive experience
◦ reverence it what we feel when we encounter that which is truly sacred

We have to learn what reverence is, because it goes unrecognized

Reverence rarely appears in mass culture
Paul Woodruff, “I believe reverence gives meaning to much that we do, yet the word has almost passed out of our vocabulary.”
– reverence isn’t nurtured in schools, corporations, or the media
• movies are sometimes advertised as “an irreverent comedy”
◦ what can you say regarding a culture in which irreverence is an art form?
• we’ve given comedians plenty of material to roast Christians and their leaders
◦ but they sometimes cross the line – blasphemy isn’t funny
– irreverence is blind to many things:
• the value of other lives (God’s covenant with “every living creature”)
◦ to what nature’s beauty, untouched, does for the human soul
◦ to the importance of being faithful to treaties and commitments
◦ to what is sacred to other people – e.g., their beliefs, traditions, rituals
• irreverence diminishes the experience of everyday life
Henri Nouwen, “The issue is no longer how to express the mystery of God to people who are no longer accustomed to the traditional language of church or synagogue; the issue is whether there is anything in our world that we can call ‘sacred.’ Is there among the things we do, the people we know, the events we read about in the newspapers or watch on TV, someone or something that transcends it all and has the inner quality of sacredness, of being holy, worthy of adoration and worship?”

There’s another reason reverence is vanishing and we’re to blame
– we realize it is wrong for Christians to think they are better than others
• our concern is valid concern – but how we deal with that is also a concern
◦ one response has been to erase the distinction between sacred and secular
◦ but the result is not that all of life becomes sacred,
◦ but just the opposite; all of life becomes secular
• God upheld the holy/unholy distinction from Moses to Ezekiel
◦ sacred applies to the realm of the transcendent;
secular applies to the world of material things
◦ “secular humanism” is respect for life apart from acknowledging God
“sacred humanism” begins with God and our being made in his image
Paul Woodruff, “Reverence requires us to maintain a modest sense of the difference between human and divine.”
– in our world, living in complete secularism is all too easy
• as always, living by faith is the challenge
Henri Nowen, “Maybe the distinction between secular and sacred can be bridged when they have both been identified as aspects of every person’s experience of being human.”

Many people have yet to rediscover reverence

Maybe that is included in what Jesus meant by us becoming like a child

I have a friend who is a Russian pastor. He first contacted me after reading There Is A Season. He felt that Russian pastors needed to hear the message of that book and asked if it was alright with me if he translated it into Russian. Sometime later, Slava came to California with his wife Olga and their daughter Nastia. While staying with Barb and I for a few days, we took them to Disneyland. We had a full day in the part, and after the sun went down, there was a spectacular presentation as well-known storybook characters acted out scenes from Disney movies on a huge screen of water. I wondered what seven year old Nastia thought of all this. When I looked, she was sitting on her father’s shoulders, her eyes wide, her mouth open and her face frozen in wonder. Her expression was beautiful and unforgettable. I do not know if she felt reverence, but what she did feel was close to it

– I tried to think of an example of reverence most of us could appreciate
• what came to mind, was being present for birth of your child
◦ I mentioned this to friends in a Zoom meeting last week
◦ one woman said that the hushed tone of her husband’s voice was totally different
◦ then she added, “I also felt reverence when my mom passed”
◦ I remembered feeling the same, sitting my my dad when he breathed his last breath
Jon Kabat-Zinn asks, What is “spiritual”? Science? Taking a walk, painting, playing music? “Obviously, it all depends on how you encounter it, how you hold it in awareness.”
• reverence can be evoked by anything that astonishes us
◦ by immensity – Grand Canyon or the ocean (infinity or eternity)
◦ there is always a transcendent sense, of something more that is present
◦ it overwhelms – it is veiled in mystery

I do not believe we can make ourselves feel reverence

But we can work on being aware of it when it comes
– we can remind ourselves of the sacredness of moments
• of sacred spaces and sacred events
• like baptism, Communion, weddings, and memorials
Paul Woodruff, “Without reverence, rituals are empty.”
– when we experience reverence, we can surrender to it
• reverence naturally draws us to our here and now experience
◦ it tends to elicit a physical response; we bow, remove our sandals, sigh
◦ silence and stillness are tied to reverence
◦ we go speechless, because our experience cannot be put into words

Reverence evokes a constellation of feelings
– humility, it because changes our perception, giving us a sense of proportion
• a subtle and ineffable joy is another common feeling in reverence
◦ a sense of privilege, “Lord, it is good that we are here” (Mt. 17:4)
(Of course Peter could not keep quiet. Mark explains that Peter said this because he did not know what to say. And while he was still speaking a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son; listen to him)
• of course, reverence includes feelings of awe and wonder
◦ there is another feeling we may not have expected,
◦ and that is love — that we are loved and that love is flowing through us

Conclusion: In the sacred writings we encounter God

Hans Ur von Balthasar, “Here and now . . . this encounter is to take place. At this moment in time God’s revelation is addressed, not to people in general, but to me. The light of God’s loving choice falls on me. Christ is born for me. He dies on the cross for me. . . . I need to have a most vivid sense of this here-and-now uniqueness.”
– when Moses was given instructions for the sanctuary,
• God explained that the entrance of the tent was
where I will meet with you, to speak to you there (Ex. 29:43)
Robert Alter, “The gates are the threshold, the point where the pilgrim crosses from the zone of the profane into the sacred precincts of the temple.”
• when I sit down to read my Bible in the morning,
◦ I remind myself of this verse
◦ I inhale and pause in the threshold of breathing in and out
◦ I remind myself that I’m about to step into sacred space of God’s word

I want to be there, in reverence
Reading the sacred writings with reverence,
we receive them into a deeper place in our souls,
a place where they can do the most good
Reverence waters the seed of the word in the soil of our hearts

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For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Hebrews 10:1

Intro: The writer of Hebrews has been commenting on the “new covenant”

The first half of chapter ten is a continuation and conclusion of this theme
– he explains how God writes his will into our hearts and minds
• in order to clarify the way Jesus works on the inside of our lives,
• our writer has enumerated contrasts between the old and new covenants
◦ more contrasts appear here, all the way to verse 18
– again, he refers to the old as having only a shadowy existence
• I’m fascinated by this language that he uses:
◦ copy, shadow, pattern, symbol, earthly (versus heavenly)
◦ what seems real to us is a mere silhouette of reality
• a shadow entails a light source – a physical object – and a surface
◦ the physical object prevents light from reaching a specific area of the surface (of the ground, floor, wall, or whatever the surface may be)
◦ a shadow is a darkness that indicates the presence of something else

The shadow of Jesus falls across the surface of the Old Testament
. . . let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (Col. 2:17)
– New Testament writers discerned the outline of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures
– even if a shadow is the absence of light, a shadow is not “nothing”
• a shadow is informative–it tells us there is a light and an object
◦ sometimes we notice the light – like the full moon on a clear night
◦ sometimes we notice the object, and may recognize what it is by its shadow
• shadows cannot sustain our lives – they have no substance
◦ but they point to everything that can support life
◦ the shadow of religion points us to Jesus

I’m going to ask a delicate but sincere question:
– Are we living in the shadows?
• religion is a shadow that some people never get beyond
• take worship, for example; it requires “forms” of expression
– the forms that embody worship include ritual, offering, prayer, song, etc.
• it’s a serious error to mistake the form of worship for worship itself
◦ to mistake the elements for the essentials
. . . this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me . . . (Isa. 29:13)
◦ “we must distinguish praying from saying prayers,” David Steindl-Rast
• the essence of worship is to draw near (v. 1)
◦ the shadow is saying prayers
◦ the reality is our spirit drawing near to God’s Spirit
. . . the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (Jn. 4:23-24 — not)

Are we living in the shadows?
– Israel’s worship was effective in changing their status with God
• from defiled to clean, from sinful to forgiven, from unholy to holy
• but their worship could not change them!
it could never . . . make perfect — that is, never bring them to completion

How does the writer know this?
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:2-4

Verse 2 is a question
– if the sacrifice worked, why did they have to offer it again and again?
• we’ve seen that worship according to law did not affect their consciousness
cannot perfect the consciousness of the worshiper (Heb. 9:9)
could not, like Jesus’ sacrifice, purify our consciousness (9:14)
• in fact, in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins
◦ if you memorize Bible verses, memorize this one:
For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Ro. 3:20)
◦ this tells us what the law cannot do and what it can do

Imagine a woman who is told she is in critical need of a specific surgery on her heart if she is to survive. The surgery will be painful and the period of rehab will be long and unpleasant. Once she accepts that she must undergo this procedure, the doctor tells her that she must have this same surgery every year. A natural question would be, “Isn’t there one surgery that could fix me for life?” Besides that, your annual surgeries would be an ongoing reminder of your condition and compromised health.
Or what about a medicine that relieved symptoms, but did not heal an infection, so that symptoms keep coming back? You would never have the confidence of your health being one hundred percent.
That was the nature of the sacrificial ritual. On the Day of Atonement Israel’s sins were covered for the past year and the sanctuary was purified for the next year, but then the whole ritual would have to be repeated. Their sins would never be fully resolved once and for all.

As Luke T. Johnson says, “This section concludes with a flat denial,” that is, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (v. 4)

I grew up in a religious subculture that was fixated on sin
– preachers and teachers talked more about sin than anything else
• it was constantly thrown in our faces
• our reminder of sins, was not every year, but every Sunday night!
◦ the sermons were designed to make us feel miserable with guilt
◦ and we’d have to make our way back to “altar: to get saved again
Are we sill living in religion’s shadows?

The writer introduces another quotation from scripture
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:5-10

But notice, the writer does not say the quote comes from scripture, but from Jesus
– when Christ came into the world–that is, from birth this was his destiny
• the New Testament does not take aim at Old Testament religion
◦ the writers considered themselves to belong to the same faith
◦ only, in Jesus they had reached a new experience of God
• the critique of Israel’s sacrificial worship was already in the Old Testament
Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams (1 Sam. 15:22)
For I desire [mercy] and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hos. 6:6)
– God did not send Jesus to perpetuate more of the same
• he gave him something different from repetitive sacrifices – a body
◦ if you read Psalm 40:6, you will see that it does not say
a body you have prepared for me
but
my ear you have opened
◦ a Hebrew idiom has been, in the Setuagint version of the Old Testament, translated into a Greek literalism
• I have come to do your will, O God
◦ this is so much the life of Jesus in the Gospel of John
I can do nothing on my own . . . because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me (Jn. 5:30)
I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. . . . He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him (Jn. 8:28-29)
My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (Jn. 4:32-34)

God prepared a body for Jesus, so Jesus could give it back to him

In verses 8-10, the writer interprets the quotation
– in these verses he discerns a two-stage development
• stage one: God’s rejection of sacrificial worship according to the law
• stage two: Jesus announces what he has come to do
– on the basis of this development, the writer concludes,
He does away with the first in order to establish the second
• that is – he does away with the old sacrificial system
◦ and he establishes the fulfillment of God’s will in the person of Jesus
• then in verse 10 the writer explains:
◦ in doing God’s will, and offering his body, Jesus Christ has made us holy
◦ and the offering of this sacrifice was effective, so he only had to offer it once for all time

The writer reiterates the point he has made
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:11-14

The priest stands, because he always has more work to do
– Jesus sits, because his one single sacrifice was for all time
• and where he sits is in ultimate greatness and majesty

Kevin McCruden, in a well-researched essay entitled “The Concept of Perfection In the Epistle to the Hebrews,” examined how the word perfect (perfected, perfection) is used in the Book of Hebrews. He brought out dimensions of Jesus’ perfection, being perfectly human, our perfect high priest, and so on. Then he moves on to talk about the perfecting of Jesus’ followers, and how it is ultimately future (Heb. 12:23). But he also observes, “As experienced in the lives of the faithful . . . perfection also has a present dimension in Hebrews, since those who participate in Christ are pictured as already enjoying access to God in their earthly existence.” He adds, “In keeping with its strongly sacrificial assessment of the death of Jesus, Hebrews tends to relate the perfection of the faithful to the idea of sanctification.”
That is the exact connection that we see in verse 14, where Jesus has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Notice how the conditions of our perfection (in salvation) are past tense, where as the process of sanctification (being made holy) is ongoing–we are being sanctified.

The writer returns to the Jeremiah quotation
(only here, it is now the Spirit who is speaking)
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Hebrews 10:15-18

This is a closer examination of new covenant, focusing on one clause
– the writer did not comment on the lines quoted here in verse 17
• in verse 3, the repeated sacrifices for sin under the old system were
a reminder of sins
◦ but now all sins can be forgotten, because God will
remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more
• and where these is forgiveness of these,
there is no longer and offering for sin (v. 18)

Conclusion: When hippies came to faith during the Jesus Movement

They brought their counter-culture values with them
– including peace, love, and a dislike for “the establishment”
• so it was not surprising that when they were asked,
“What religion are you?”
they answered,
“I don’t have a religion, I have a relationship!”

– “religion” refers to the externals of our relationship — the shadows
• you cannot create a relationship out of religion,
• you can only express the relationship you have through it
◦ otherwise, prayers, offerings, and sacrifices of praise are not acceptable
– “acceptance,” in fact, is a primary goal of worship
• so from the beginning, and all through scripture, acceptance is crucial
(see Gen. 4:7; Lev. 1:3; 22:19; Psa. 20:3; Isa. 56:7; Jer. 6:10; Rom. 12:2; Php. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; 1 Pe. 2:5)
• if the sacrifice is accepted by God, so is the worshiper who offers it
◦ the offering, even if otherwise perfect, is not better than the one who brings it
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him (Pr. 15:8)

Have I been living in the shadows?
Or am I walking in light as he is in the light?
Jesus leads – we follow;
that is how he does his work in us.
We miss a step, and he takes us back to try again.
We slow down,
and he picks up the pace.
Jesus came to do God’s will,
and in him we learn to do God’s will.
We learn to surrender to God’s will
until it becomes our own.
Describing her work in Calcutta, Mother Teresa said, “From the first [day] to this day—this my new vocation has been one prolonged ‘Yes’ to God . . . .”

It is not so much that we have to go and find God’s will;
God’s will finds us us–every day.
It finds us,
and we surrender to it when it comes.
And then we discover
God’s will has always been to love us
as his cherished children.
And through us,
to love the world.

Reflexion will be observing the Lord’s Supper on our Facebook page this Thursday evening, June 18. Have bread and wine prepared and join us at 7:00 pm. (Search: Reflexion, a spiritual community.)

In these strange days, Communion is one important way to anchor our souls in Jesus. Though we observe this sacred ritual as a community, at the same time our experience is personal, as each of us encounter Jesus as if alone with him.

If Thursday evening does not work for you, we will leave the post up for several days to give you opportunity to share this experience with us.

Until Thursday, grace and peace.

As of today, there is no definite date for resuming our Sunday morning meetings when we will be together again physically. Although there are a number of logistical challenges to overcome before we get to that place, our primary concern is for everyone’s safety, especially those who for health reasons are most at risk.

I doubt that you need to be reminded that it is necessary to discern the difference between faith and presumption. When the devil tempted Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, Jesus could have said, “Yeah, I’ll do that; I believe in a God of miracles! And when the angels catch Me, you’ll see that I am the Son of God.” But he didn’t. What the Lord said was, “It is written,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'”
Now, if the angels would have caught anyone, it would have been Jesus, but he chose instead not to test God. So that is the path we are taking as well.

If you need to speak to someone person to person, please private message us on our Facebook page or leave a comment on our blog site with your phone number, and we will get back to you.

Grace and peace

O God, our Father,
Creator of all that is good
and beautiful,
breathe again Your Spirit into our hearts.

Today we are grateful for all those
who every day risk their own health and safety
to devote themselves to healing others.
Please, Lord, protect them from this disease.
And also, keep safe all those
who are most vulnerable,
because of their age,
or impaired health,
their living arrangements,
or their poverty,
or homelessness.

Bless all those who continue working
to provide essential services.
Bless all farmers and packing house workers,
all truck drivers and grocers,
all pharmacists and clerks.

Though we are separated by the danger
of worldwide pestilence,
let us feel the oneness of heart
that we have together in You.
A safe distance from each other,
may we feel our sacred togetherness.
Let this time be to us
a valuable investment in our spirits,
to keep us strong and loving for others,
and faithfully devoted to You.
These things we pray
through Jesus Christ,
Your Son and our Lord and Savior.
Amen

Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices . . . . Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb . . . . since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. John 19:39-42

I have not been especially mindful of Holy Week this year—too many other distractions. However, this morning my reading in John’s Gospel brought me to the crucifixion of Jesus and, appropriately so, that became my meditation.

As John’s footnote indicates, we have already met Nicodemus. It was near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and a moment when the story was filled with hope and promise. Nicodemus arranged a private meeting with this impressive young man whom he recognized to be “a teacher come from God.” Jesus taught Nicodemus the two sides of religion, that which is manufactured by “the flesh” and that which can only come by “the Spirit.” Nicodemus learned from the Lord that he needed to be born into the life of God’s Spirit.

Then, about halfway through Jesus’ ministry Nicodemus resurfaced. He attempted to defend Jesus, or at least slow down a rush to judgment, when the chief priests and Pharisees were prepared to condemn Christ without allowing him a fair hearing. However, Nicodemus was quickly and effectively silenced by a prejudicial attitude the religious leaders held against Galileans (Jn. 7:50-52).

Nicodemus’ reappearance at the end of Jesus’ ministry sharpens the grief surrounding the cross. The Lord’s disciples, family and friends were not the only ones who lost him when he said, “It is finished,” bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. There were others on the periphery of his ministry like the unnamed Samaritan woman, the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, and the blind man whom Jesus told to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam, and when he did he could see.

And there was Nicodemus. His curiosity about Jesus at the first, then the fight in him when Jesus was treated unjustly, and the hope he felt that this man might be Israel’s salvation — all of that was gone. There was nothing left to do than bury the body. It was safe for Nicodemus to assist with this responsibility, because he was not a known disciple of Jesus. Besides, he belonged to the Pharisee sect, most of whom were hostile to the Lord. He was willing to come and help lay Jesus—and the Jesus movement—to rest.

We cannot lose Jesus! To lose him is to lose everything. Jesus cannot become to us nothing more than a fond memory, a nostalgic remembrance of happier times. We cannot return to the garden now and then to leave flowers on his grave, as if the world can go on without him. To his last breath, there was a chance he might somehow escape death. But when his corpse was removed from the cross and placed in the tomb, the stone that was rolled over its entrance, sealed all hope in darkness.

The sorrow of Good Friday is not only the suffering of deep grief, it is complete despair. It is the saddest, the most difficult and frustrating cliff-hanger of all time.

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Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Hebrews 2:1

Intro: We have seen that there is an overall structure to whole book

It is a wave-like pattern that alternates between revelation and warning
– the first revelation came in chapter 1,
• and now in chapter 2 we have the first warning
◦ the warning sections can be severe
◦ but the writer also softens them softened with encouragements
Harold Attridge, “The God who speaks through . . . the Psalms defines for a covenant people the goal toward which they strive and motivates through words of encouragement and warning, their [faithfulness] to that covenant. . . . They have heard him promise, as well as threaten. They have heard words of encouragement and consolation as well as words of warning. They have heard in the person of God’s Son a model for their own dialogue with God, a paradigm for words of faith lived out in action.”
• the writer reveals new dimensions of Jesus’ awesome nature and gifts
◦ so he tell his readers, “You do not want to miss out or lose this!”
– why the warnings?
• Christians were not the first people to be called by God as his own
◦ God first chose Israel to be his people
◦ their history is clouded by many failures (e.g., see Psalm 106)
• as Hebrews explores the spiritual wealth we have in Jesus,
◦ the writer recognizes humans have not held up their part very well
◦ failure is possible, but it is also preventable

Verse 1, The first warning

As always, the word “therefore” is a link to what came before
– in this case, that includes everything all the way back to first verse
• Long ago . . . God spoke
◦ the same word for “spoke” is here translated “declared”
◦ only now the emphasis is not on the speech, but our response
• the “therefore” points to an additional factor
◦ an insight to be gained, a conclusion to be drawn, or a lesson to be learned
– “we” is inclusive: the writer, his audience, and every reader ever since
• he pulls us onto the stage of this cosmic drama
◦ there are ramifications to the message that affect us
◦ we are the people who benefit from service of angels
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Heb. 1:14 )
Timothy Johnson, “. . . receiving so great a salvation demands a response.”

What are we warned to do? To pay attention
– this word is used in a variety of ways in the New Testament
• it can mean, watch your step, be aware of your surroundings, beware of others, and so on
◦ here it is applied to what we have heard
◦ that is the message regarding Jesus and through the person of Jesus
• and not just pay attention, but much closer – more intensely focused
◦ notice that the writer is not saying merely to “hang in there”
◦ but to dig deeper, look more closely, be more attentive and alert
– the danger is that we can drift away from what we know of God
• let’s put a bookmark here and return to it further down

A two-part argument

For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Hebrews 2:2-3a

The particular form of this sort of argument was very common
– rabbis referred to it as kal wahomar – “light” and “heavy”
• it is not like drawing a contrast between right and wrong
◦ it is more of a comparison of what is good to what is even better
◦ Jesus used it often, usually with the phrase, “how much more”
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Lk. 11:13)
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! (Lk. 12:24)
– the message declared by angels proved reliable
• there was a tradition about angels being with Moses on Mt. Sinai (Acts7:53)
◦ how did that earlier message prove “reliable?”
every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution
◦ Israel never got away with disobedience to God’s commandments
• so the question is,
how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
◦ the point is, the message through the Son is more reliable than that of angels
◦ and if Israel suffered the consequences of breaking God’s covenant,
how much more will wee

There is a subtle idea here, but one that is important
– it is in the word “neglect”
• we do not have to reject Jesus, or act defiant, or rebellious
◦ the danger for us is not that we will turn and walk away,
◦ but that without turning, we will drift away
we will let too much space grow between us and the Lord

Years ago, the youth ministry of Capo Beach Church hosted a summer camp on Catalina Island. That week, the youth minister sustained a serious injury and was in significant pain. So he allowed six students to return the ski boat to the mainland. But as they were navigating their way home, the boat engine failed and they were adrift at sea. All night long a search and rescue helicopter flew between Catalina and the Dana Point Marina looking for them. At last, just after dawn a fishing vessel spotted them at sea out from Oceanside. They had drifted more than thirty miles south of their destination.

• the natural motion of boats is to drift,
◦ carried by the forces of currents and winds
◦ to resit drifting, they must be anchored or moored to a dock
• we cannot think our spiritual journey will take care of itself
◦ by paying closer attention to what we have received from God,
◦ we anchor ourselves in him

The message we received was not delivered by angels

It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will Hebrews 2:3b-4

It was declared first by the Lord
– no more messengers, the Lord came and delivered his word himself
• notice, the author still hasn’t referred to him by name
• after the Lord, the message was “attested” by those who heard
◦ attested means “confirmed”
◦ it is the same word translated “reliable” in verse 2
◦ the Lord’s message was reliably transmitted by his apostles
– God also became a witness to truth of the message
• in John 5, Jesus claimed to have the support of certain witnesses
◦ John the Baptist, Jesus’ works, the Father, and the Scriptures
• God’s witness to the apostle’s message was through
signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will
(we see this many times in the Book of Acts and in the letters of Paul)
◦ the last line is remarkably similar to what Paul says about spiritual gifts in the church
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Cor. 12:11)
◦ the Spirit continues the work of Jesus in the Christian community

The flow of the message turns in a new direction

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking Hebrews 2:5

This is not a totally different theme – angels are still kept in view
– but there is a shift in perspective and a new theme
• the new perspective shifts to the world to come (future tense)
◦ but notice “subjected” is in the past tense
◦ something regarding the coming world has already been arranged
It is a “done deal”
• the new theme is “subject”
(five times in this chapter: subject, subjected, and subjection)
◦ this means to “submit,” to be placed under someone’s authority
◦ the point is, angels are not in charge of the world to come
– of which we are speaking
• even though the writer has not really been discussing this
◦ he could be referring to general Christian discourse
◦ after all, Jesus taught us to pray
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:9-10)
• our entire Christian life is built on this
◦ it is what Paul refers to as “the blessed hope”

If the world to come is not in the hands of angels, then who?
– the author answers the question in a round about way

We return to the Psalms–this time Psalm 8

It has been said somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You have made him for a little while lower than the angels:
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone Hebrews 2:6-9

This psalm is a favorite of many
– it also gives us a clue as to how we pay much closer attention
• and that is, by immersing ourselves in scripture
◦ the writer found something in this psalm that shed light on Jesus
◦ we can have a similar experience through the close attention we give to scripture in reading, studying, meditating, and sharing with others
• the psalm asks a question–in light of the universe, What is man?
◦ God placed humankind on highest rung of the animal kingdom
◦ slightly lower than the angels, but above everything else
God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Ge. 1:27-28)
– the author adds three points to the quote:
• “everything” means everything (even death; 1 Cor. 15:22-25)
• we do not see everything in subjection to humans–at least “not yet”
◦ by nature, not every insect, reptile, mammal, or primate is our pet
◦ however,
we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels

The writer of Hebrews has waited until now to reveal the name
– he is the Son, and he is the Lord, but here we learn he is Jesus
– when we look at Jesus, what is it that we see?
• for a short time he was lower than angels
◦ Jesus did not always have this status, he submitted himself to it
. . . who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Php. 2:6-7)
◦ this will be explored more fully in the following passages
• now crowned with glory and honor
◦ he fulfills God’s destiny for humankind
◦ in doing so, he became the firstborn of a new people (Ro. 8:29)
• because of the suffering of death
◦ the reason why he made the descent into human flesh

The final themes are too big to tackle right now
– but the writer will share many more details regarding:
• Jesus’ suffering — its purpose and goal
• his death — what he accomplished by it
• how through Jesus we have access to the grace of God

Conclusion: There are many thoughts I could leave you with for now

Like ways that we could pay closer attention to what we have heard
– but for me, the most striking and reassuring thought is this:

We do not see our God-appointed destiny fulfilled
we do not see the heavenly world to come,
but we see Jesus
We see him in multiple dimensions;
in his earthly life,
in his transition through the human condition,
in his suffering and death,
and in his resurrection to glory and honor
We see Jesus in the Scriptures,
many times in each other,
and also in the widow, the orphan, and the stranger
And with eyes of faith,
we see Jesus in there here and now of prayer
It is when we cannot see Jesus that we start to drift
It is in paying closer attention that we see him,
and in seeing him that we are safely anchored in him

Podcast

I am going to begin with the verses we covered last week, only this will be my own “interpretive paraphrase” of the first four verses of Hebrews.

God spoke in the past and God has spoken in our time.
There are differences in how he spoke then and now.
In the past he spoke
• many times in many ways
• to our ancestors in the faith
• through the prophets
Now he has spoken
• one time (i.e., the life, death and resurrection of Jesus) in one way
• to us
(note that this spoken word has created a community, an “us”)
• through his Son–God’s ultimate word regarding himself
Everything has been passed down to God’s Son,
So that we now understand how Luke 8:25 can say
“he commands even winds and water, and they obey him.”
The universe does not exist apart from the Son,
but was created through him.
As we do not see the distant stars, rather we see their light,
So we see the Son, the light and glory of the invisible God.
The Son is God, making himself visible and knowable to humans.
God stamped his impression on human clay,
and the Son is that image of God perfectly represented and revealed.
In the words of the old Gospel chorus,
“He’s got the whole world in his hands.”
Knowing the Son in this way,
we can understand how his capacity
to wash away all the sins, of all humankind, for all time.
The Son has joined God, at his right hand.
The Son of God is our divine Shepherd and King.
He provides and he protects.
As awesome as the angels are in splendor and might,
God’s Son is superior to them.
The Son has a name, an identity, more excellent than theirs.

The remainder of the chapter will support verse 4; that is, the Son’s superiority to angels
– the author does this with, what I call, a string of pearls
• seven quotations from the Old Testament, mostly from the Psalms
• the point he wants to drive home:
◦ Jesus is not a culmination of all that came before–he is greater
◦ greater than angels, Moses, Joshua, priests, and so on
– in a sense, the author began making his point in verses 1 and 2
• the Son is greater than all the prophets
◦ they revealed bits and pieces of the word of God
• the Son is the Word of God

The whole idea of angels has become messy and muddled

C. S. Lewis observed how depictions of angels were diminished in visual art
– he wrote,
“ Fra Angelico’s angels carry in their face and gesture the peace and authority of Heaven. Later come the chubby infantile nudes of Raphael; finally the soft, slim, girlish, and consolatory angels of nineteenth century art, shapes so feminine that they avoid being voluptuous only by their total insipidity—the frigid houris of a teatable paradise. They are a pernicious symbol. In Scripture the visitation of an angel is always alarming; it has to begin by saying ‘Fear not.’ The Victorian angel looks as if it were going to say, ‘There, there.’”
• through history, the tendency has been make too much or too little of angels
• I think most people living in North America,
◦ find it easier to believe in existence of demons than angels
– at any rate, they appear in the pages of Bible from Genesis to Revelation
• they are messengers
(both the Hebrew and Greek word “messenger” is used for angel)
◦ it is obvious that they are intelligent spiritual beings
◦ they have access to God’s immediate presence (Is. 6:1-3; Heb. 12:22)
◦ they are powerful – God’s “heavenly host” or army (2 Ki.19:35; Ps. 148:2)
◦ they watch over and assist God’s people (Ps. 91:11)
◦ every nation has an angel (Dan. 10:21; 12:1)
(and perhaps every church; Rev. 2-3)
◦ there are angels for individuals (Acts 12:15)
◦ there are especially angels for children (Mt. 18:10)
◦ people can interact with angels without knowing it (He. 13:2)
(if a New Testament Christian were with us today, he or she would likely believe angels were present too)
◦ there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Lk. 15:10)

When reading the quotations in Hebrews 1, keep in mind two thoughts

First, we may not see the logical connections that holds two quotes together
– the author uses various methods of interpretation, Hebrew and Greek
• Hebrew scholars could find a link between verses that shared a thematic word
◦ e.g., the word “son” connects the quotes in verses 5 and 6
◦ in both, the father is God and the Son is royalty, a king
Frank Matera, “Hebrews generates its theology by a creative and insightful reading of Scripture. Rereading Israel’s Scriptures in the light of Christ, it provides its audience with new ways of understanding the person and work of Christ and the nature and destiny of the community that believes in him.”
◦ I agree, except for “creative” I would prefer “inspired”
• it would not hurt to read each quote in its original context
◦ we may see other reasons why the author chose them
◦ and we may discover additional insights from them

Second, keep in mind how the Old Testament regarded King David
– he was Israel’s ideal king – the one who was God’s pick
• a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14)
He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand (Ps. 78:70-72)
• God’s promise to Israel through the prophets was:
◦ he would give them another king like David
◦ a descendant of David, but more
– all the kings of Judah were measured by David’s example
• at a coronation, the king was anointed with oil
◦ so they were referred to as God’s “anointed one”
◦ this translates the Hebrew word for messiah and the Greek for Christ
• Christians found Jesus in every Old Testament reference to the Messiah

The first three quotations establish the Son’s relation to God

For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the word, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.” Hebrews 1:5-6

The string of quotations begins and ends with a rhetorical question
(the answer is already known – the question is asked for its effect)
– the first quote is from Psalm 2
(the answer to the question would be, None)
• the psalm celebrates God’s absolute rule over the nations
◦ he laughs at their rebellion
◦ he hands over his universal authority to his Son
• in verse 5, “today” looks like it applies to a definite time
◦ but what it suggests is more like a definite happening
◦ in chapter 3 today applies to
when the psalm was written
when it was read by its first audience
and when its been read every time after that, to the present
– the second quotation is from 2 Samuel 7:14
• the prophet Nathan predicted Solomon’s reign
• but for all his greatness, Solomon turned out to be a disappointment
◦ so the interpretation of Nathan’s prediction was expanded–and intensified
– the third quotation may be from Psalm 96:7 or perhaps Deuteronomy. 32:43
• “brings the firstborn”
◦ brings: “introduce” – like bringing someone up on stage
◦ firstborn: let’s just say, Jesus has gone before us
into the new way of being (in God’s kingdom)
through death into life
And because of this, he made it possible for us to follow him
(later Hebrews will refer to Jesus as “the pioneer … of our faith”)
• angels worship him – every time we get a peak in heaven’s door
◦ we see angels worshiping God
◦ the Son is also worshiped by the angels

The next two quotations compare the essence of angels and the Son

Or of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions Hebrews 1:7-9

In Psalm 104, angels are winds and fire –
– for winds, perhaps “spirits” would be a better translation here
• if so, it would harmonize with verse 14
• angels are ministers or servants
– verses 8 and 9 provide the longest quote yet
• in contrast to angels, the Son has an eternal throne
◦ but what is more–and very surprising–he is referred to as God
• it seems that he met certain qualifications: love and hate
◦ his anointing is referenced in Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18, and Acts 4:27

The next quotation compares creation with its creator

And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end” Hebrews 1:10-12

“Heaven and earth” are frequently paired throughout the Old Testament
– together, they represent the entire creation
• the nature of created things is that they change, wear out and perish
• God’s nature does not change and does not perish
– you are the same will be echoed at the end of the book of Hebrews
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8, “same” is the same word in both places)

The final quotation excludes angels from the honor given to the Son

And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?” Hebrews 1:13

I find the psalm quoted here, Psalm 110, particularly fascinating
– the author will return to, and emphasize this psalm further on
• the first Christians quickly picked up on verse 1, applying it to Jesus
• Peter quotes it in his first sermon (Acts 2:34)
– before that Jesus used it to stump his critics (Lk. 20:41-44)
How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?
• in their culture, it didn’t work
◦ honor was always paid to the fathers, never the other way
◦ so how could David ever address a descendant as “Lord”?
• Jesus did not divulge the answer to them
◦ it was an insider secret
◦ Jesus is both David’s son and David’s Lord

The final verse is not a quote, but a summary statement about angels

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14

Angels are sent out to serve–us
– of course, this is not all about us; it is about the Son
• yet we are the focus of the Son’s life and work
• Jesus inherits everything (v. 2)
◦ we inherit salvation
◦ salvation, not as a hoped-for future, but our current experience
◦ we are already being put back together–healing toward wholeness
– to assist us, there are these invisible helpers
• they are serving our Lord in their care of our souls
• we’re never alone and on our own

Conclusion: These last couple of weeks,

We have either been amused or disturbed by the panicked purchase of toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and whatever else people feel they must stock up on and hoard
– panic itself can be lethal
• even in a situation that is not deadly, panic can kill
◦ as when a crowd is rushing toward an exit
◦ a person trying to rescue someone from drowning; panic causes the victim to grab on to their rescuer tightly, with the result that the rescuer is unable to swim and they both go down
• but knowing panic can be lethal isn’t enough to prevent us from feeling it
◦ panic can hit our bodies before we realize what’s happening

Even so, we can also learn to recover quickly
This is a skill we gain through practice
And for us, practice comes through prayer,
through running back to Jesus, everyday,
and by doing this in times of peace
our hearts are conditioned and prepared
for times of hardship, trial, and emergency
The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous person runs into it and is safe (Pr. 18:10)

We have not yet made much progress in Hebrews,
but we’ve come far enough to know
that our Lord Jesus is great enough
to keep us in his care through all things,
including life and death