ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Ninth Sunday of Trinity, 2009
Sermon preached at Evensong by the Vicar, Fr Alan Moses

Proper 14 B Hebrews 12:1-17

Over the last couple of Sunday evenings, my reverend and learned colleagues, Fr. Gerald and Fr. Julian, have remarked on the challenge of having to preach on readings from the Book of Job and the Letter to the Hebrews together: two of the most difficult books in the whole canon of Scripture.

It'sonly fair that tonight it should be my turn! Even the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks that Hebrews is difficult. He will have a passage, including the first couple of verses of tonight's reading, to preach on at All Saintstide: so he can make up for my inadequacies.

Apart from their difficulty, there is not much obvious connection between the two readings, so I am going to leave Job's argument with God for another time and concentrate on Hebrews.

I will begin by saying a little about the book as a whole.

While it is called a "letter", it is almost certainly not one; but rather a homily, a sustained piece of theological argument and rhetoric, which has a letter-type ending attached to it.

We know neither who wrote it nor to whom it was written. The title "Hebrews" is quite a late addition, as was the attribution to St. Paul, who certainly did not write it: its theological interests and literary style are quite unlike his. We do not know exactly when it was written, although the fact that it is quoted by St. Clement of Rome about 95AD suggests that it must have been written at least twenty or thirty years earlier for it to have become sufficiently accepted.

The title "Hebrews" is deduced from the writer's concern with matters of the Jewish law and covenant , priesthood and sacrifice. The reference to "Italians" in the postscript suggests that it was intended for an audience in Italy - to be read out to the church on behalf of the preacher who could not be present, but who wanted to give serious attention to problems facing that church.

We can only deduce what the problems were from internal evidence. It seems likely that those being addressed are Christians who are feeling tempted to give up their faith because of the pressure of public hostility. It may be that they are Jewish converts who are tempted to slip back to the safety and certainty of their old religion; or they are Gentiles who wonder whether it would be wiser to do this. This was a time of increasing separation between church and synagogue. The Jews enjoyed a measure of acceptance in the Roman Empire; they were a "licit religion". Christians did not.

The writer sets out to counter this primarily by speaking to them of the superiority of what has been revealed in Jesus Christ. Hebrews, with Paul and John, is the most original of the New Testament theologians. He writes the best Greek and is clearly familiar with the techniques of classical rhetoric, how to argue persuasively, and with the Greek translation of the Old Testament from which he quotes liberally.

Like John, he sets out to speak of the divinity and humanity of Christ united in the incarnation. So in that marvellous passage which we hear at Mass on Christmas Day, along with the prologue of John's Gospel:

"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days, he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power."

At the same time, "we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with us in our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are , yet without sinning."

He sees the purpose of God being to make access to him possible for believers through the ministry of this high priest who bridges the gulf between the divine and the human.

He develops an argument based on a unique exposition of passages from the Old Testament which demonstrate that Jesus as the high priest after the order of Melchizedek and the new covenant he has established, is superior to the priesthood and sacrifice of the old covenant. He has opened a permanent way of access to heaven. He has taken humanity into the presence of the divine and continues to relate to his people for whom he intercedes.

It may be also that those being written to were suffering from anxiety about the forgiveness of their sins, so Hebrews makes it clear that Christ has made the perfect and complete atonement for sins. There is no need for the constant repetition of sacrifices.

Last Sunday evening, we heard part of Hebrews' recital of the great heroes of faith held out as an example to fearful believers. In a typical shift from exposition to exhortation, these are referred to as the "great cloud of witnesses" - a phrase taken up in the Proper Preface for the mass of All Saint Day.

The metaphor is that of the athlete competing in the games: "let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

The witnesses are those who have completed their race and now, like the audience in the arena, watch us as we compete, but not as detached observers, but as those who will us to succeed; who act as our example yes, but who also pray for us, joining in the prayer of the high priest who ever lives to intercede for us; knowing that their perfection is dependent on ours.

Jesus is the "pioneer", the one who has gone before us to open the way. We are to follow in the way he has led, confident that the way is open and that the "perfecter" of our faith will aid us in the race.

There is something vital here. When the Church is presented with some problem or crisis, the temptation is to find some programme to deal with it; something for us to do. But here we are reminded that whatever practical means we might in the end opt for, we must begin with Jesus, with the Church's understanding of Christ.

We are to look to the Jesus who "for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame." You might think that after 2000 years we would have learned all that there was to know about the world in which Jesus lived. But we are still learning not to understand that world simply in terms of our own.

The ritual of crucifixion was not intended simply to be a cruel way of putting someone to death; a demonstration of the physical pain which the Roman state would not hesitate to inflict on those who challenged it. With its stripping naked of the victim and his public display on the cross, it was meant to be a public humiliation, a putting to shame as well as to death: no wonder the Jews regarded anyone who suffered it as cursed and the Roman citizens were exempt: it was the punishment for slaves.

The ancient world was a culture in which honour and shame were major factors, so a major obstacle for people coming to belief in Jesus was this shame and dishonour at the centre of the Christian faith. The Christians for whom Hebrews was written were probably regarded with contempt, hostility and suspicion by the surrounding population; prejudices which cannot have made being a Christian easy. A few days ago a Christian community in Pakistan was attacked by a Muslim mob after rumours had been spread through the local mosque that a Christian had burned pages of the Quran. In not time at all, a mob had assembled, houses were set ablaze and people killed. This is the kind of threat that, along with all sorts of legal disabilities and social discrimination, Christians in that country have to live with all the time. Christians in the Roman Empire lived with a similar combination of official disadvantage and communal hostility. The temptation to give up would have been considerable. So, the writer urges them to look to Jesus:

"Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

The writer then turns to the tradition of Wisdom, common the both the Old Testament and classical writing, to speak of the place of discipline. But this is about more than the deliberately adopted discipline that the athlete or soldier, or even the vicar setting off pilgrimage by foot, might take on as part of their training, tough as that might be. There are disciplines which Christians are called to: regular worship, daily prayer, spiritual reading, almsgiving, fasting and abstinence, which are good for the soul.

But this is about accepting the trials of life, of persecution, of public disgrace, as disciplines from God. The two forms are not incompatible of course. The former helps to prepare us for the latter. The latter demonstrates to us the value of the former.

Hebrews then takes up words from Isaiah: "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

The disciplines of the Christian life are not a matter of individual self-improvement; they concern the life of the whole community, the communion of saints in which others depend on our perfection. "Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled"

Our passage ends on the note of rigour and urgency which is a recurring feature of Hebrews: "See to it that nobody becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears."

If we read the story of Esau in the book of Genesis, we tend to think of his as a bit a dimwit. Rabbinic commentators made of him a more active example of immorality and godlessness. We have a great heritage of faith available to us, a rich source of blessing to aid us on our journey. We must not be as careless and unthinking about is as Esau was about his birthright and blessing; casting it aside for short term gratification. In Scripture and Sacrament, Community and Worship, we have been given the means of grace necessary for our spiritual journey; we must not neglect to use them; "neglecting to meet together" as some of the Hebrews did.

So, as we look to Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament, let us resolve never to do so.; never to be careless of his presence to help and strengthen us in word and sacrament and fellowship.