Read Hebrews 4:12-16 .
None of these things are bad in themselves. But they are not where we place our faith. The writer to the Hebrews challenged his readers. It seems they thought they were “OK”. But things were really not OK. They were losing the idea of who Jesus is, and why Jesus matters. And they had forgotten some facts about God the Father, too.
God sees everything. In modern terms, God is like a doctor with a scalpel. The “two-edged sword” means that God can separate the truth from the baloney, the virtue from the self-deceit.
And self-deceit is such a thing. In every society. We often act from our own feelings and the standards of our community. The ancient Hebrews held Moses in high regard for leading their ancestors towards freedom – the “Promised Land”. But Hebrews – in the chapter before today’s reading – reminds us that the people were largely unfaithful. You can’t judge your actions by those around you, and you can’t depend on a strong-man leader for your salvation.
Today’s reading begins with “For”. “For the word of God is alive and active ... sharper than a double-edged sword”. “For” as in “because”. What went before “for”? What was the deluding thing that the people couldn’t see for themselves?
A hard heart, unresponsive to God. A heart obsessed with self. Such people won’t enter God’s Sabbath-rest.
Sabbath-rest in Hebrews 4 is really speaking about a final resting place for faithful people. But I wonder if one of our own blind spots is to deny ourselves a weekly sabbath-rest - especially when, for many people, the boundaries between work and home have been broken down under the pandemic. Remembering the Sabbath was important enough to be encoded as one of the Ten Commandments.
We delude ourselves. Arrow-prayers are part of faith-life, but they don’t substitute for deeper times. Every relationship deserves quality time.
The big idea that the book of Hebrews brings to us is Jesus the Great High Priest. Think “high priest” and you might think of a splendidly-robed senior cleric – someone who is totally dedicated to high-level duties. In today’s world, it might be a senior church executive. Sometimes, church leaders seem little different from strong-man leaders like those in many countries today.
But Jesus is special. Yes, he is sinless, and can present as worthy to God the Father. Yet he understands us completely. He has been human, here on earth. He has suffered human burdens and even suffered death for us. When we cry out, he has sympathy. He has been there. But as High Priest, he also has power. Faith in him is our route to rescue. Our wrong turns will be forgiven. A prayer-life in Jesus will lead to the promise of eternal rest, and, until then, an assurance that gives us confidence. In that way, rest can also be ours, here and now, in the world today.
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