Texts: Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 7:23-28
A Prophetic Word of Hope
The Southern kingdom of Israel, Judah, was steadily falling
to the Babylonian armies. With each defeat, the victors would send a selection
of the defeated populace to Babylon as captives. Those who had little value to
the Babylonians were left to eke out a meager existence while tending to the
land where they were left.
Our first reading, taken from Jeremiah, was written sometime
during this portion of Judah’s history. It is part of an oracle of hope, given
by God, to the people who were experiencing the destruction and desolation of
their land.
For ancient societies, there were two things that were
vitally important: land and their gods. For the Israelites, the land was slowly
being taken from them, and their God appeared powerless to prevent it. The
future would have appeared utterly bleak and hopeless.
Into this void, God spoke through prophets, including
Jeremiah. God told the people that their actions had caused this, and that they
would suffer consequences, but they would not be completely abandoned and
forgotten. God affirms that, after some time, God would work to bring the
people back to their land.
A Hymn of Hope
The reading from the Psalms seems to have been composed
after the return from exile, when at least some of the people have returned to
their land and Jerusalem had seen some reconstruction.
There is joy at the return and what God has done for them.
Yet there is a sense that they are still facing an uncertain future. There is
still a call from the people to God to continue to improve their condition and
petitions that their work toward reconstruction and restoration will not be in
vain.
A Sermon of Hope
Early Christians Losing Hope
Now we jump ahead many centuries and arrive somewhere
between the mid and late first century in the Common Era. It’s now been a few
to several decades since the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
This new sect of Judaism, because that’s what it was, was
establishing communities around the major centers of the Roman empire. They had
a sense of urgency, because Jesus was returning soon to finish what had been
started.
But then, the years passed. Many of the disciples who had
been closest with Jesus and had been the founders of this movement had died in
one manner or another. There were sporadic conflicts with the Romans. There were
ongoing differences with other forms of Judaism. The expectations and hope for
the future return of Jesus and the establishment of the kingdom of God had not
yet come to pass. The light began to dim and fade away.
At least for some of these followers of Jesus, it seemed
easier to drift away and avoid any kind of conflict. For others, returning to
practice more of the accepted traditions of Judaism would allow them to exist
more peaceably with other Jews and the Romans would recognize them as licit
Jews, practicing a state-approved form of religion.
It is to this situation to which someone speaks a sermon
that we now have in the Christian scriptures as the book of Hebrews.
Unknown Provenance of Hebrews
Some English Bible translations might include “The Epistle
(or Letter) to” the Hebrews in the title, but the best scholarly consensus is
that this work does not contain any literary features that would mark it as a
letter. Furthermore, “Hebrews” itself was added by an editor due to the very
Jewish content of the work. No one knows who might have given the sermon nor
the specific audience that would have heard it first.
You might have heard the idea that this work was written by
Paul. But virtually no contemporary biblical scholar accepts Pauline
authorship. Even in the early church, its authorship was anonymous. If one were
to try to assign authorship, a couple leading candidates today include Apollos
and Priscilla, with some circumstantial, but strong evidence pointing toward
Priscilla.
The early church, despite its lack of strong provenance and
authorship, found the sermon valuable that it was included in the collection of
works that would eventually become the Christian canon.
The Hope in Hebrews
The thrust of the sermon is that Jesus is the ultimate
messenger, better than prophets and even angelic messengers. Jesus is better
than human priests, because, where human priests must offer regular sacrifice
for their sins and they die, Jesus is without sin and he is a priest forever.
Whereas human priests perform their duties in a sanctuary that is only a
shadow, Jesus is the ultimate high priest who performs his duties in heaven,
which is the perfect sanctuary, in the very presence of God.
If this work we call Hebrews was originally presented
prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, it would have been intended to
encourage the audience to remain faithful to the way of Christ, not the way
mediated by human priests. The themes in Hebrews highlight the
superiority of Christ over all other ways of approaching God.
If the work was presented after the fall of Jerusalem, it
could have been spoken or written as a way of explaining why the Temple fell
and how one might now look upon the priestly ministry that was part of being a
Jew. It would have provided hope to the Christ-following sect of Jews that the
real high priest and temple were no longer to be found on earth, but in heaven.
Both potential explanations offer reasons for why the early
church found Hebrews valuable. It offers one of the most distinctive and
precise Christologies found in scripture. It explains the superiority of Christ
over all other powers and entities. And it explains why worship and religious
service is better when they are not tied down to a specific location, such as a
temple.
Caution When Interpreting Hebrews
But the interpretive history of Hebrews also contains
dark moments. Because its basic argument is “Jesus is better than everything
else,” it has led to the idea that Christianity replaces Judaism, and therefore,
it can lead to the idea Jews are not as good as Christians. And then you can
see how that reasoning can further lead to very dark places.
To prevent that kind of dark logic, we need to understand a
few things about Hebrews.
First, it addressed an audience who were already long-time
followers of Christ. It was not a message to a general audience nor one that
was trying to persuade non-Christians of the superiority of Christianity. It
was meant to persuade already-Christians that they should endure and hold on,
and not give up hope in Christ.
Second, when the situation is dire, as it may have been with
the Hebrews audience, stronger language and what could be seen as
divisive language might be employed to exhort the listener. Outside of
religious settings, we can see this tactic employed in other areas. An example
might be a business CEO who uses strong rhetoric to motivate and inspire
employees to go after the competition, or to reassure them that their products
are superior.
A final point to consider is that whoever was the original
speaker or author of this sermon probably had no idea it would be recorded to
be read for the next two millennia. If they were aware that it would become
part of a permanent collection, and had they known that it might be
misinterpreted and misused, they might have used different words.
Returning to the three readings for today, each of them has
hope as the thread that runs through them. For one, it is clinging to a word of
hope when facing what appears to be literal existential threats. For another,
it is experiencing improvements, yet still hoping for more. And for another, it
is staying true to hope when expectations have not been met and the grass looks
greener on the other side of the fence.
Struggling to Apprehend Hope
I really struggle with the idea of hope, because it can
easily devolve into wishful thinking or naïve optimism. On the other hand, hope
in God can likewise be difficult. How does one hope in a being or the being’s
words when that being is seemingly absent from the world’s affairs? When we
observe the disasters and cataclysms, both natural and human-caused, when we
see the strife and violence and death that is everywhere, and evil seems to
reign, and God is absent… can we have hope in what God has claimed?
I wish I could give you an answer to these deep questions. I
wish I could have even a start of an answer for myself. But these are questions
that have troubled theologians and philosophers for a very long time with no
definitive answers.
Christ’s Example; Our Actions to Invite Hope
Instead, what I want to direct your thoughts to is back to
Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ, through his life, ministry, and death,
demonstrated what God is like. Jesus exemplified God’s love so that we humans
could comprehend it.
Jesus’ own ministry was not grand or that far reaching. What
he did was do and say things that uplifted people that he encountered in his daily
life and travels about a limited geography. Jesus didn’t offer grand answers to
philosophical questions. But he saw every individual as a valuable person,
created in God’s image. Jesus built a small community around him to continue
his methods of offering hope and love.
Maybe that’s what it means to have hope and share hope. Maybe
hope is found in doing things that matter to our neighbors. Maybe hope is
knowing that we matter to someone. Maybe hope is knowing that our very presence
has value. And maybe to love someone is to help them learn to accept that they too,
have value and that they matter to us.
God says that we are loved and valued, but if we are the
body of Christ, then doesn’t it make sense that how we love and value those
among us might be the way we communally experience the hope of the kingdom of
God as it grows among us?
