Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Hebrews 8-9: Re-lig-ion

Within the context of my spiritual upbringing, "religion" has been a dirty word for as long as I can remember. After all, "...it's not about religion! It's about relationship!"
But "religion" is just a word; a word that describes making a practice of something to increase our understanding.
"re"-again
"lig"- grasp
"ion"- action
...and when we do something over and over again to try to understand or grasp hold of it, we might say we do it "religiously".
Religious motivation comes from a catalytic belief.
Hebrews 8-9 refers to the religious practices of the Hebrew priests.
Practices of apparel, washings, structures, sanctified objects, sacrifices...
practices ordered by God for the Hebrews to do
over
and over again.
...Practices set up by God to help them understand that they would never sufficiently grasp hold of Him
by what they wore or what they did or what they said.
The Hebrews understood that they needed to live in relationship with their God; so they tried
but
"...gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience," (9:9)
Nothing they practiced "religiously" was enough to wipe out their awareness that they would fail
again.
And they would have to seek atonement
again.
When Jesus was sent to die on the cross, the shedding of His blood signified that God offered them the gift of himself
again.
What was lost of relationship at the intrusion of sin, was being restored.
His perfect life, lived-lost-resurrected, became the all-sufficient, once and final offering for a secured relationship with God.
"but now ONCE at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (9:26b)
It's true. I am a religious person.
I have practices of reading my Bible, praying, going to church...
I want to understand Him better!
But I do so because He already "grasped hold" of me
through Christ.

Friday, June 12, 2015

...someone's said it first! Hebrews 6-7

     For a month and a half I've been stuck in Hebrews 6-7 with nothing worth writing. This is not to say that these chapters are not filled with profound hope and truth...just that I've found no way to write about them. It occurred to me today that what should be said has been said by someone else and so I share these thoughts...not my own, except that I wholly agree!
"...original sin leads us to doubt the benevolent love of the Father and to close our hearts to the gift of his '...proposal' (offer of Himself). John Paul II wrote that 'faith, in its deepest essence, is the openness of the human heart to the gift..." This life is poured out for us in Christ's self-gift to His (people) on the cross. In essence, Christ's self-gift says to us: 'You don't believe in my Father's love? Let me make it real for you; let me incarnate it for you so that you can taste and see. You don't believe that God wants to give you life? I will bleed myself dry so that my life's blood can vivify you. You thought God was a tyrant, a slave driver? You thought he would whip your back if you gave Him the chance? I will take the form of a slave; I will let you whip my back and nail me to a tree; I will let you lord it over me to show you that the Father has no desire to lord it over you. I have not come to condemn you, but to save you. I have not come to enslave you, but to set you free. Turn from your disbelief. Believe and receive the gift... I offer you." Christopher West, prologue to: Theology of the Body Explained
     In this description of God's intense love for us and the communication of that love through Christ; we read of the powerful hope the life of Christ provides us. We read and are reminded to accept God's love, initiated and secured by Him through his Son.
He purposed to love us when He created us. He fulfilled His promise to love us in the gift of Jesus' life. THAT is the nature of our God. Unchangeable in His purpose; unmovable in His promise.
Heb. 6:19 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil," ( veil...the depth of God's existence that we cannot see and remains a mystery to us apart from the intercession of Christ). "...where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us,"
And there, before God, Jesus continues to act on our behalf.

"Therefore He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us (exactly what we need) to have such a high priest (facilitator of forgiveness and restoration with God), holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners (un-compromised by sin) and exalted above the heavens;" Hebrews 7:25-26