love
OLIT Post for December 21, 2025, 4th in Advent/Love, Year A
Resources for December 21, 2025 4th of Advent/Love
Because God Smiled
Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/2022/12/05/because-god-smiled/
Printable Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/olitbecause-god-smiled.pdf
Audio: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/olitsermonlindarex2022dec18a.m4a
OLIT Post for November 23, 2025, Christ the King or Reign of Christ, Year C
Resources for November 23, 2025, Christ the King or Reign of Christ:
No Reason to Fear
Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/2022/11/07/no-reason-to-fear/
Printable Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/olitno-reason-to-fear.pdf
Audio: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/olitsermonlindarex2022nov20a.m4a
OLIT Post for July 13, 2025, Proper 10, Year C
Resources for July 13, 2025, Proper 10:
Go and Do the Same
Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/2022/07/01/go-and-do-the-same/
Printable Blog: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/go-and-do-the-sameb.pdf
Questions: https://lifeinthetrinitystudies.wordpress.com/group-study-questions-based-on-the-revised-common-lectionary-year-c/
Audio: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/olitsermonlindarex2022jul10.m4a
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GIwHq6J-c
Our Hope in Christ
By Linda Rex
April 20, 2025, Resurrection of the Lord | Easter—He is risen! He is risen indeed! As we come to this Resurrection Sunday, we enter into this new season with joy and gratitude for all Jesus Christ has done for us in his life, death, and resurrection. We look forward to celebrating the ascension of our Lord, and at Pentecost, the giving of his Holy Spirit from our heavenly Father.
In our first New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 15:19–26, the apostle Paul reminds us that the hope we have in Jesus is not just for this life, but is also for the life to come. This begs the question—what is most important to us? Are we focused on what we can get out of this life? Are we focused on what we can experience right now? Or do we understand there is much more to real life than just this current human existence?
When God created this cosmos, he made wonderful, amazing things beyond our ability to count or fully measure. He gave us intricate, marvelous bodies and minds, which enable us to do tremendous things, especially when we work together in community with others. Our world is full of beautiful, and ugly, and strange, plants and animals, fish, and birds. The huge variety of insects blows my mind, not to mention the intricate and delicate creatures that are so small, they cannot be seen with the naked eye. But every one of these creatures and people will one day die.
We have given much to enjoy. And what a wonderful planet we get to live on! How marvelous that we have air to breathe and water to drink—when we don’t, it becomes a tragic problem. Apart from the grace of God, though, human beings have no way of ensuring that our life on our precious earth will outlast our human proclivity for self-destruction. I was looking at the Doomsday Clock, and according to Google’s AI, in 2025, the Doomsday Clock was set to 89 seconds to midnight. Our human efforts to avoid this catastrophe seem to be limited, and apart from God’s grace, we really have no hope for tomorrow.
The reason we struggle is because we really are very much like the biblical first man, Adam, who set aside his freedom to walk and talk with his Creator, in order to go his own way. He and Eve could have chosen to eat from the tree of life and all the others trees and plants in the garden of Eden. But instead, they chose to reject God’s invitation, and to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By choosing to decide for themselves what it means to truly live, humans brought death into their world.
How often do our choices as human beings bring about death instead life! Think about your own personal history—have you made some choices in your life that took you down the wrong road? Have you experienced death to your plans, death to your dreams, even the death of those near and dear to you? If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that in our own lives, we are not much different than Adam. Death is a natural part of our human existence, and coming to the place of annihilating ourselves in some manner is not that strange a phenomenon for many of us.
This is why the apostle Paul says that if our only hope in Christ is in this life, we are pitiful creatures. Our hope is in the One who lived our life, died our death, and rose again. Jesus Christ’ bodily resurrection means that you and I not only have hope in this life, but also for the life to come. Death is the natural outcome of our human existence, but because of Jesus, we have hope that one day, we will live again. When Jesus returns in glory and ushers in a new heaven and earth, we will be given what the apostle Paul calls spiritual bodies. In that day, we will live a brand-new existence in an even more marvelous environment, in the presence of our Triune God. What a hope we have been given because Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!
This life becomes fuller and more wonderful when we recognize and begin to live in the reality that, in Christ, we are God’s own adopted, beloved children. When we realize that we are forgiven, accepted, and included in the life and love of our Triune God, our whole existence changes. When we open ourselves up to reality that we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, all of a sudden, we are met with the comfort and peace of a divine personal Companion and Friend, who never leaves us, but is always with us. We discover that we have a heavenly Father who adores us, and wants to be with us from now on, into eternity.
Life in this world, becomes richer, as we participate in our spiritual family, the Church. And our hope for eternity grows brighter, for we know that these relationships will not come to an end, but only grow deeper and healthier and happier in the world to come. We have great reason to hope, not just in this life, but in the life to come, because Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed!
Our heavenly Father, thank you for loving so much, that you determined from the beginning to include us in your life and love. Thank you, Jesus, for sharing our human existence, so that one day we may share in your life with your Father in the Spirit in the new heaven and earth. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for not only breathing life into us, but giving us new life in and through Jesus. May we ever celebrate our participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection, with gratitude and praise. Amen.
“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:19–26 NASB
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD.” Isaiah 65:17–25 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/olitour-hope-in-christ.pdf ]
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Just Making Noise
By Linda Rex
February 2, 2025, 4th Sunday in Epiphany—During this season of Epiphany, we consider how Jesus Christ is revealed to us as being the Son of God in human flesh, and what that means for us as God’s children. Recently, we’ve looked at the way in which God has equipped his people with spiritual gifts, for the sake of the community of faith, so that we all may grow up in Christ, share the good news of Jesus, and serve others.
In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 13:1–13, the apostle Paul uses a poetic summary of the love of God expressed to us in Christ, to enable the members in Corinth to see themselves in a new light. They believed that the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues was the supreme gift. They valued prophetic speaking and special knowledge, and miracles. But Paul says that apart from love or agapē (God and Christ’s self-giving love—Utley), a person speaking in tongues is just making a lot of noise. In the same way, a generous and sacrificial person, apart from agapē, has done nothing profitable. Paul says that person who is a great preacher and does a lot of miracles, apart from agapē, is nothing.
For those of us who are active in the Christian faith, and trying live lives that are full of service and sacrifice, these are powerful words. Just what are the motives which drive us? How do we express ourselves in our everyday lives? As I have gotten older, the Lord has shown me more and more how my motives for doing what I do are often mistaken. This is why it is all of grace. We need Christ in us, the hope of glory, for apart from his love at work in our hearts by his Holy Spirit, we are all just making a lot of noise.
The apostle Paul wanted the church at Corinth to realize that the Lord they said they worshipped was not at all like how they were living. He wanted them to grow up in Christ—to put on Christ in such a way that they were a true expression of humanity as God intended it to be. By looking into the mirror of their soul, Jesus Christ, they would see themselves as children who needed to grow up and put away the childish things which were keeping them from living in God’s love as they were created to live.
When reading this passage closely and with open hearts to the Spirit, we begin to realize that this is a description of Jesus, and of our Triune God. In his life here on earth, Jesus was patient, kind, and not jealous. He did not brag, but spoke truthfully about who he was and why he was here on earth, even though people did not believe him. He was never rude, though he was often straightforward and honest with the people he encountered. He did not take into account any wrong done to him, even those wrongs which placed him on the cross. We find Jesus, to the bitter end, loving all of us in spite of how we treated him, in such a way that he died a horrific death.
It is hard to look at ourselves sometimes, to see the truth about our motives and inclinations. We don’t like it when the Spirit gives us that gentle nudge which says, “That thing you are doing—it needs to stop,” or “To not do that when you could do it to help them—that’s sin.” When our hearts condemn us—and they do sometimes—God is greater and knows the truth. But he also knows what’s going on inside when we go through the motions of the Christian life without having our hearts in the right place. And he calls us to repent—to have a change of heart and mind which turns us around and gets us going in the right direction again.
It is God’s heart of love, given to us by his Spirit, which flowing into us and through us, enables us to love others as God does. It is Christ in us, living in and through us, who enables our everyday life to reflect the divine glory. We open ourselves up to the Spirit, welcoming the presence and power of God, flowing in and through us. And we respond to the Spirit’s lead in ways that express the love of God in Christ. As the apostle Paul shows us, these are ways grounded in the motive of agapē which reflect the very nature of God, and are an expression of spiritual maturity, a true reflection of our Lord Jesus Christ in this dark world. Apart from God’s grace, we are all just making a lot of noise. Thankfully, God is ever at work bringing us into the orchestrated wonder of his heavenly kingdom, and he will not quit until we are all singing his perfect song of agapē as his beloved children.
Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you that your motive in all that you do is genuine love. Fill us anew with your presence and power, that we may love as you do. May all we say and do come from your heart of love and grace, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:1–13 NASB
“And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’ … And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.” Luke 4:21–30 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/olitjust-making-noise.pdf ]
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Each is Necessary
By Linda Rex
January 26, 2025, 3rd Sunday in Epiphany—In my last sermon blog, we tackled the first part of 1 Corinthians 12 and saw how all of the gifts the Spirit pours out are meant for the common good. As the body of Christ in the world, the Church best reflects our Lord Jesus as we serve one another and those around us with compassionate care and concern. When we serve and care for those around us as a unified whole, we more truly reveal Jesus Christ to the world in which we live.
As we read on into the next section, 1 Corinthians 12:12–31a, the apostle Paul continues to address the issues which were causing division in the church at Corinth. Paul reminds them that their unity is found in Jesus Christ. They were baptized into Christ, having been given the one Holy Spirit. Our value is not lessened or increased by the spiritual gifts we are given. Nor is it changed by whatever role we have in this life, our culture, or our gender. Rather, we are defined solely by our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus elevates us to a place of unity within the body of Christ.
And God himself determines the place we have in his Body, the Church. Just because the way God has made us or gifted us isn’t obvious to others and doesn’t play a dramatic or significant role, does not mean we are less important. In God’s view, each person and their gifting are an essential part of the whole.
Speaking from personal experience, I found that it was next to impossible to effectively lead a church without people who were specifically gifted to do such things as pay attention to whether there is plenty of toilet tissue and paper towels on hand, ensure there is proper drainage around the building, or help clean people’s houses. Some tasks are just not very “spiritual” in nature, but are very essential to the proper working of a fellowship and its service within a community.
People may expect a pastor to do all of these things him or herself. And that may be how it works out at times, but this is actually why God brings a lot of people together into a group and gives each of them different gifts. It’s a good thing for a pastor to serve others by keeping track of inventory, digging ditches, and cleaning houses. But if a pastor spends all of his or her time doing these things, he or she will struggle to complete the specific tasks he or she was called and gifted by God to do such as preaching, teaching, and evangelizing.
This is why we see the example in Acts 6 where the apostles selected certain people to help the Hellenistic widows so that the apostles could focus on the ministry of the Word of God and prayer. Over the years, there were some very beautiful people I met along the way in my ministry who took on these challenging tasks I didn’t have time for (and wasn’t gifted for) and did a marvelous job of keeping up with them, thereby easing my burdens. Because of their service, I was freed up so I could preach and teach, and serve in music ministry at the church. And I’m so grateful for each person who did this, and for the gifting the Spirit gave them, and how they generously and faithfully offered their gifts to God and to the church.
Going back to our passage for this Sunday, we are reminded that the apostle Paul sought to help the members in Corinth quit placing so much emphasis on speaking in tongues and on having greater status in the church, depending on which gift the Spirit had given them. What Paul continued to emphasis in this chapter is how each and every person is specially gifted by God’s Spirit to play an important role within the body of Christ. Because God values each person, each person should respect and value the other members of Christ’s body. And they should respect and value themselves, for God has chosen and gifted them, “for the common good.” We each have an important role to play, even if nobody seems to notice or care that we carefully do our part in any way that we can.
And what we can sometimes fail to realize is that the Spirit is continually at work within us, growing us up in Christ. What this means is that, as we offer our gifts and service to God and his Church, we may discover new gifts and abilities we did not realize we had. We may begin to reflect Jesus in new ways, and feel a call to contribute in new ways to what God is doing in and through his Church in this world. The Lord is always up to something new, and wants us to be a part of it. And fundamentally, as we look ahead to 1 Corinthians 13, his main objective is always self-giving, sacrificial love. This is what should be the central focus of our life and ministry.
Dear Father, thank you for all the wonderful people you have gifted and joined together into the body of Christ. Thank you for the blessed gifts you have given and continue to give. Open our eyes, our minds and hearts, to see and receive all you offer us, and to generously and faithfully serve you and those around us, as you have gifted and called us to, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.” 1 Corinthians 12:12–31a NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/oliteach-is-necessary.pdf ]
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Such Great Love
by Linda Rex
December 22, 2024, 4th Sunday in Advent | Love—On this fourth Sunday in Advent when we celebrate the theme of God’s love, we reach the end of the season. We have been anticipating the coming-and-presence of Jesus Christ, which involves looking forward to his coming in his incarnation, his coming and presence now by his Spirit, and his future coming in glory when he ushers in the new heaven and earth when our Triune God will be present with us forever.
Our reading in Micah is a messianic prophecy written by one of the minor prophets during the reign of King Hezekiah. Micah, along with his contemporary, Isaiah the prophet, ministered to the people of ancient Judah, reminding them to be faithful to their covenant with God, and warning them of the coming consequences due to their injustice, immorality, and idolatry.
What Micah’s nation did not seem to realize was that God’s passionate love for his people would not allow him to let them wander away into sin and idolatry without him doing something about it. God told his people that he would allow them to go their own way for a time, to experience the consequences of their sin and idolatry, however horrible those consequences might end up being. But God also gave a promise that he would send the ultimate solution.
In Micah 5:2–5a, the Lord speaks about the role the small town of Bethlehem would play in the future of the nation. This town, which wasn’t even mentioned as one of the cities of Judah, the tribe from whom the kings came, would be the place from which the Messiah would come. Remarkably, this one Micah predicted would be a ruler in Israel, who would shepherd his people, would have his origins from the far distant past, as from eternity, with no beginning. Because of him, his people would return from where they had been taken or wandered as a result of their turning from God.
What is interesting is the way this passage was interpreted by the Jews at the time of Jesus’ birth. When the wise men from the east came looking for the newborn king so they could worship him and give him gifts, King Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was going to be born. According to Matthew, the chief priests and scribes told Herod that he would be born in Bethlehem, quoting Micah in this way: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel” (Matt. 2:6 NASB).
Herod’s response to this news was to send the wise men to Bethlehem to search out the child, telling them to return to him with the news of where the child was located, ostensibly so he could worship the newborn king too. Later in chapter two of Matthew, we see the wise men were warned by God to not go back to Jerusalem after visiting the child, but to leave by another way. And they did. And when King Herod found out, he sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill every young infant up to two years old. Because Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt before this happened and they left before the soldiers came, the newborn king Jesus was kept safe by God from King Herod’s plans to execute him.
King Herod, who had been installed in his position by the Romans, took this prophetic word from Micah very seriously. He wasn’t about to allow any other person to take away his position of authority in the Jewish nation. What he did not realize was the kind of king Jesus was and would be. Jesus is our Shepherd and reigns in God’s name. As the newborn child laying in a manger, he may not have looked like much, but he had come from time past, from eternity, and would be great, reigning over all the earth, as God in human flesh.
We will soon celebrate Christmas, when we remember how the Son of God entered our human sphere, taking on our human existence, to live, die, and rise again in our place, on our behalf. This infant that would be born in a small town in Bethlehem in Judea, the newborn king Jesus, is our peace. This is the One who reigns on high, while submitting himself to life in a human body, even that of a tiny infant whose life was threatened by an ambitious, heartless ruler. What a beautiful expression of God’s love!
Father, Son, Spirit, thank you for the faith, hope, and love we have been given. Thank you for being our hope, our peace, our joy, and our love. We look forward in anticipation to what you will do next, through Jesus our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.
“ ‘But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.’ Therefore He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace.” Micah 5:2–5a NASB
“Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,‘Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in whole burnt offerings and’ sacrifices ‘for sin you have taken to pleasure then I said, “Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do Your will, O God.” ’ After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and’ sacrifices ‘for sin You have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure’ in them’ (which are offered according to the Law),then He said, ‘Behold, I have to come to do Your will.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:5–10 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/olitsuch-great-love.pdf ]
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The God Who Will
By Linda Rex
December 1, 2024, 1st Sunday in Advent | Hope—As we move into Year C in the Revised Common Lectionary, we are once again in the season of Advent. This year, as we go through Advent, I thought I would consider the Old Testament passages in the RCL and how they apply to the themes of the season.
I remember a season in my life when I felt like there was no hope. I felt like my significant relationships had failed me, my life was full of very difficult challenges, and it seemed like I had no options left. I could have turned to many things or people to try to solve this dilemma, but they would all have left me worst off than when I began. I knew that my only solution was to turn to God.
The problem was that the only God I knew was the God of my youth—a very condemning, critical being who was quick to punish when you messed up and only blessed you if you were being good and doing what was right. As I walked through this season of darkness, and sought the Lord as I only knew how, God led me down a new path, opening himself to me in a new way. I had to learn that the source of my hope in life was in him alone.
God revealed himself to me as the God of hope, who had given himself to me—to all of us—in Jesus Christ, and who pours that gift of hope into us by the power of his Holy Spirit. I had to come to know God in a new way, as the Triune God of love, who ever lives in self-giving, self-sacrificial love, and offers himself to us in the gift of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we consider the theme of Hope. A verse on hope which I recently memorized is Romans 15:13. It goes like this: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (NIV). What the apostle Paul shares with us is an overwhelmingly beautiful vision of who God is—our God of hope. As we trust in him, he fills us to overflowing with his Holy Spirit, who pours into us God’s very own hope, given to us in Jesus Christ.
This God of hope is also a faithful God. In our Old Testament reading for this Sunday, Jeremiah 33:14–16, the prophet interrupts his prophetic warning to his people, the covenant people of God, to give them a vision of hope—telling them what God was going to do in spite of what they deserved. They had broken their covenant of love relationship with God, and were suffering acutely because of it. Their land was being overrun by invaders, their capital was being destroyed and their temple torn down. This was the consequence of their rebellion and disobedience. But there would come a time when God would restore them, giving them a leader who would be both a righteous king and a holy priest. God would make a new covenant with them and enable them to obey and live in right relationship with him. God would keep his promise to have a ruler from the tribe of Judah who would reign forever—his promise to King David; and he would keep his promise to have a priest who would intercede for the people forever—his promise to Aaron, who was from the tribe of Levi.
But God’s faithfulness to his promises looked a lot different than what was expected by his covenant people. God fulfilled both promises in the same person—a person who was both from the ruling tribe of Judah and a priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek. This person was born in a manger—the child of a teenage unwed mother from a small, insignificant town in Galilee, who was impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit. This tiny baby, who grew up as a craftsman’s adopted son, was both fully God and fully man. Because of who he was as the Son of God, he lived a truly righteous life here on earth, in right relationship with his heavenly Father in the Spirit. Because of who he was as the Son of Man, he experienced a truly human life and he interceded on behalf of all who have ever lived, living our life, dying our death, and rising again, ascending to his Father’s throne, to intercede forever on our behalf. This person is Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of God’s will which had been set since before time began—to have adopted children with whom to share his divine life and love.
God set his will to do all of this long before anything was even created—and he finished what he began when the time came for his promise to be fulfilled in Jesus. We have a God who will—and who did—and who does. And this gives us great hope. We can trust our God to finish what he has begun in us and in our world, for he is our God of hope. Jesus will one day return in glory and establish his new heaven and earth, where God will dwell with man forever. We look forward to that day with great hope, as we live today in hope given to us through Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Father, thank you for giving us great hope through your Son Jesus and in your gift of your Holy Spirit. Grant us the grace to trust in you, to depend on you in every moment. Please fill us with hope, especially when our world seems so bleak. In your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
“ ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.’ ” Jeremiah 33:14–16 NASB
“For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you;and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13 NASB
“Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your lovingkindness remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.” Psalm 25: (1–5) 6–10 NASB
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Offered Once For All
By Linda Rex
October 27, 2024, Proper 25—As we have been touching down here and there in the book of Hebrews, we have been learning about Jesus Christ serving as our high priest now that that he has risen from the grave and ascended into heaven. We’ve looked at Jesus and his intercessory role in our lives, and how he ever offers our worship and praise to our Father, and offers the Father’s gifts, his Word, and his love and grace to us in the Spirit.
Perhaps you’ve heard that old phrase, “There’s nothing so certain as death and taxes.” In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, Hebrews 7:23–28, this book’s author notes that in the original tabernacle which we read about in the book of Exodus and Leviticus, the high priest was appointed according to the law. This high priest would eventually die, and another would be appointed in his place. This meant that as time went by, the role of high priest was continually being filled by different people. Death limited the ministry of those who offered this service of high priesthood to God and the people of ancient Israel.
Jesus Christ, on the other hand, while in his human flesh did die, but then he, being the Son of God, rose from the grave. Because he remains both God and human, Jesus lives forever and will never die. Jesus has been appointed our high priest according to the Father’s promise, which will never be broken. We can take comfort that nothing, not even death, can separate us from Jesus and his love for us (Rom. 8:38–39). There is continuity in Jesus’ ministry to us in the Spirit, and we can rest assured that he will always be there for us, offering us grace in our time of need, as we draw near to him.
As our high priest, Jesus offered up the perfect sacrifice—himself. He does not need to continually offer up new animal sacrifices like the ancient high priests were required to. No, he simply offered himself, in our place on our behalf, just once, and offers himself continually on our behalf, in every moment, on into eternity. Jesus has no sin in himself that needs to be dealt with through sacrifice as the ancient high priests constantly had to concern themselves with. Rather, Jesus is without sin, holy in character, and flawless and undefiled. So what he offers—himself—is the perfect sacrifice. Not only did his self-offering only have to be done once, it also was an offering that includes all people, and all that God has made in and through Jesus, and it lasts forever.
Because of who Jesus is as the Creator and Redeemer of all things, his sacrifice has tremendous power to redeem, restore, and renew. We celebrate the wonderful gift of new life that Jesus gives us, and we rest in his faithful intercession in our place on our behalf before his Father in the Spirit. Jesus is constantly at work making all things new—this is his word to us through the apostle John (Rev. 21:5; 2 Cor. 5:17). And we look forward to when Jesus will return in glory and renew all things as he ushers in the new heaven and earth. What a glorious hope we have in Jesus!
Now, if you thought that is good news, just consider how wonderful it is that we do not have to try and work things out with a distant, uninvolved, uncaring God. This Jesus Christ who we trust in is the Son of our heavenly Father, with whom he lives in close relationship in the heavenly Spirit. There is an eternal relationship of love and grace that Jesus brought humanity right up into. And within that relationship of love and grace, we get to share by the Spirit in Jesus’ own sonship, in face-to-face oneness with his Father. We are not left trying to figure out some way to make ourselves right with God, or trying to make ourselves good enough or acceptable enough to be worthy of God’s love, attention, or grace. Instead, we are simply able to rest in and revel in the joy of participating in Jesus’ own oneness with his Father in the Spirit, as we trust in Jesus’ finished work. This motivates us to live a life of gratitude and obedient service to the Lord who both created us and redeems us. Praise God!
Dear Jesus, thank you for the amazing gift you have given, in giving yourself so generously and freely in our place on our behalf. Thank you for ever interceding for us and for bringing us home to our Father to be with him forever in the Spirit. We praise you for your glorious work! Amen.
“The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also 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 to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.” Hebrews 7:23–28 NASB
“The fact that there were so many priests shows how frequently they died and had to be replaced. But there will be no successor to the Priesthood of Jesus because he remains forever. Through him mankind’s approach to God is forever secured; he continues to communicate the full accomplishment of their salvation. As our High Priest he towers far above every other priestly system in conspicuous prominence and in holy character. His guileless, flawless life on earth was never compromised by sin, and he himself was exalted above the heavens where he occupies the highest rank of authority in the eternal realm. Unlike the previous high priests whose system of daily sacrifices was a constant reminder of their own failures, he had no need to sacrifice on his own behalf. The sacrifice he offered was himself for all; a sacrifice never to be repeated. Under the law, men were appointed as high priests regardless of their weaknesses. The word of the oath, which succeeded the law, appointed the son in perpetual perfection.” Hebrews 7:23–28 Mirror Bible
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