understanding
Because He’s Been There
by Linda Rex
October 20, 2024, Proper 24 | After Pentecost—In my last blog I looked at what our passage in Hebrews said about who Jesus is, and how that impacts our understanding of who we are as the beloved children of God. In this week’s lectionary passage from the New Testament, Hebrews 5:1–10, the author begins to make a case for how Jesus Christ, as the Son of God who came to take on human flesh, steps in and takes on the role of high priest for us. The role of high priest was originally filled by someone from the tribe of Levi, the branch of the ancient nation of Israel which had been given the responsibility of the priesthood.
The responsibility of the high priest was to represent the people of ancient Israel in their covenant relationship with God, offering gifts and sacrifices at the alter as commanded by God, and offering the Word of God and God’s grace to the people. This ministry of intercession via the priesthood was a gift of grace from God, providing a way in which a sinful, broken people could be reconciled with their Redeemer—the One who had rescued their nation from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians and made them his very own people.
The author of Hebrews brings up an important point—that the priest was selected from among the people—a brother of those who came to worship at the tabernacle or temple. Because this priest was one of them, he was just as broken and weak and disobedient as they were. And this enabled him to minister to them with compassion and understanding. This is a reminder to those of us who are called into pastoral ministry, or any other type of ministry in this world, to be well-acquainted with our own shortcomings, to face and deal with them honestly and humbly, and to allow this truth to temper our care of others with compassion, understanding, and mercy.
In Jesus’ case, he understood our frame as human beings because he, as the Son of God, took on a truly human existence. But he did so without ever allowing the many temptations he experienced to draw him into sin. Unlike us, he did not sin, though his genuine human experience covered a wide range of our human existence.
Jesus hammered out, so to speak, a truly human life lived out in obedience to his heavenly Father in the face of temptation and suffering and death, and he conquered evil, sin, and death in the process. As Jesus lives now in face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit, he intercedes on our behalf, knowing full well all that we go through and struggle with on a daily basis. And he intercedes on our behalf with great compassion and understanding.
The obedience Jesus perfected was that of bringing our human flesh, in all its rebellion and disobedience back to God, back into humble obedience and dependency upon his Father in the Spirit. Jesus forged within us the capacity for us to receive the indwelling Spirit who writes on our hearts and minds all that God commanded his people to obey. Jesus lived a perfect human life of obedience to his Father in the Spirit, bore our human flesh through death into resurrection, ascending into glory, bearing our glorified humanness into his Father’s presence to remain there forever in right relationship with God in the Spirit. In the gift of the Spirit, each of us individually can begin to participate in what Jesus made possible in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
And as our ascended Lord, Jesus reigns as the King of Righteousness (the meaning of Melchizedek), the High Priest appointed by his Father to offer the ultimate sacrifice—himself. As the One who judges, Jesus was judged on the cross, allowing himself to be crucified on our behalf. We have no reason to be afraid in coming to God with our sins, faults, weaknesses, and failures. We have Jesus Christ to intercede for us, to stand in our place, to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice in our place on our behalf. He pleads our case, and does so with great mercy and compassion, because he’s been there—he knows what it’s like to be us in the midst of this broken, messed up world. He prays our prayers to his Father, perfected and acceptable in God’s sight. And he offers the things of God to us in the Spirit, so we can share in his own right relationship with his Father in the Spirit. And Jesus loves us—so much so, that he laid down his life for us. Jesus has forged for us a life in right relationship with his Father and offers this to us in the gift of his Spirit, so we can live in God’s life and love, now and for eternity. What could be more wonderful than that?
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for giving your Son to us for our salvation and redemption. Thank you for giving us your Spirit so we can begin to participate in your own divine fellowship as Father, Son, and Spirit. We are so grateful, Jesus, that you understand us, care about us, and are always interceding for us on our behalf. Grant us the grace to ever live in grateful obedience. Amen.
“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as aa high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:1–10 NASB
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:4–12
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The One Who Understands
By Linda Rex
October 13, 2024, Proper 23 | After Pentecost—In the message last week, we were reminded of who God is and who we are as his beloved children. We approach our relationship with God from the vantage point of beloved children, who are dependent upon our loving parent, the one who directs us, provides for us, cares for us, and seeks our best.
As we continue our journey through the book of Hebrews, we come to this Sunday’s passage in which we see Jesus at God’s right hand, interceding for us as our high priest. In Hebrews 4:12–16, the author shows us how Jesus, as the One who took on our human form and fully experienced our human existence, is able to intercede on our behalf with deep compassion and understanding. He did not yield to sin, even though he experienced the same temptations we do.
Today, many of us may not even know what someone is talking about when they talk about a high priest. But this is an important biblical concept, especially in regards to God’s covenant of love which he forged with his people, the ancient nation of Israel. The role of the high priest was that of a representative who ministered the word of God to the people, and offered the sacrifices and prayers of the people to God. This was all done according to God’s instructions, and was a way in which the nation could live in right relationship with God even though they were a flawed and faulty people. This relationship with God was a gift, made possible by God’s mercy and grace, simply because of God’s way of being, which is self-giving, other-centered love.
We as human beings do not live our lives in a vacuum, nor do we live our lives unseen by God. No, he knows us down to the core of our being, with all our flaws, all our glories, and all our weaknesses. What is interesting about this passage is that when the author says, “all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do,” it is using an expression commonly used to describe the neck of a creature being exposed so that it can be cut with a blade for sacrifice. In Jesus’ sacrifice, we as human beings are laid open, completely exposed, but in such a way that he stands in our place, interceding on our behalf. As the living Word of God in human flesh, who allowed himself to be crucified for our sake, Jesus Christ wrote the word of God on our minds and hearts. He turned us back to his Father in the Spirit, bringing us into his own face-to-face relationship.
And in that complete openness to the gaze of God, we are held within Jesus’ own life of faith in relationship with his Father in the Spirit. Jesus’ presence with his Father in the Spirit means that we can approach God with confidence and courage, trusting in Jesus’ complete sympathetic understanding of our weaknesses and temptations. In the humble recognition of our need for grace and mercy, we find ourselves welcomed and accepted, since Jesus is interceding on our behalf.
For many of us, this has not always been our experience of God. Do we feel as though we have to get all ourselves all cleaned up and dusted off before we can venture to have any conversation with God whatsoever? If this is the case, we need to reconsider our understanding of who Jesus Christ is, and who he is for us as the One who knows us so completely that he can judge the thoughts and intents of our hearts, while at the same time intercede for us with compassionate mercy and grace.
Do we understand that God created us to live a certain way—the way of other-centered, self-giving love—yet understands our frailty and weakness that seems to always betray us and keep us from walking in that way? We need to have both the humility to allow God to determine how we live our lives, but also the humility to trust in his mercy and grace when we don’t live that way. This is the position of rest God calls us to in Jesus Christ. This rest, which is ours in Jesus, is experienced as we trust in him and all he has done in our place and on our behalf. Apart from his gracious work, we cannot live in the truth of who we are as God’s children, in right relationship with God and each other. So, we put our faith in Jesus alone, allowing him to be who he is—our Lord and our Savior, and our High Priest.
Dear Father, thank you for sending your Son for our salvation and for giving us your Spirit. We acknowledge our sin and our need for Christ’s gracious intercession on our behalf. Thank you, Jesus, for always interceding for us, for enabling us to receive mercy and grace. Enable us to rest fully in you. Amen.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:12–16 NASB
“They were even more astonished and said to Him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Looking at them, Jesus said, ‘With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.’” Mark 10:17–31 NASB
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The Subtlety of Unbelief
By Linda Rex
On Wednesday evenings at our discussion group we have been addressing the topic of hell. One of the concerns which was raised this week was how we determine whether or not we are getting off track in our reading and studying. This is a really good question.
Sometimes we can be so afraid of being deceived or getting off track we become afraid of reading anything other than the Bible. We can take this fear even to the place where we restrict our reading of the Bible to only one translation, or we only use a Bible put out by our particular denomination, rejecting all others as heretical.
At other times we may believe only one particular Bible teacher has the truth about God’s Word. We read everything this person writes, listen only to this person speaking, and we believe they are the only ones who really know the truth about God’s Word. We refuse to listen to what anyone else may have to say about the Bible or what to believe because we do not trust them to be telling the truth.
Unfortunately, our approach to learning about God and about the Bible may end up being governed by fear and mistrust rather than by the faith, hope, and love God gives to us in Christ by the Spirit. Instead of resting in Jesus Christ and trusting he will keep us in the center of his will, we anxiously work to make sure we don’t accidentally wander off the path of holiness.
The Scriptures say God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth as we trust in Christ and allow him to lead us. Yes, it is important to ground ourselves in the Word of God, but only as we allow the living Word of God to take precedence in all things, and allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of where we may be getting off track.
This whole process of studying the written Word of God and seeking to know the truth which will set us free is a relational effort—a participation with Christ by the Spirit in listening to, hearing, and acting upon what the Father is saying to us in the Scriptures. The question is, do we trust God to keep us on the right track, and if we wander off somewhere, to bring us back to the Truth who is Jesus Christ?
How do we gauge if a teaching or a translation is off track? How do we know if what someone is teaching doesn’t agree with the truth presented to us in Christ? And this is the key: Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our living relationship with our Abba, and he gives his Spirit to us to lead us into all truth. He is the center.
When we begin to look at difficult topics such as hell, we begin with the appropriate lens. That lens is the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is as God in human flesh, and what he teaches us about the Father, himself, and the Spirit, and what he teaches us about ourselves. This grounds us and enables us to see more clearly the difference between truth and error. Looking through this lens also involves comprehending, believing, and receiving the reality of God’s love expressed to us in the giving of his Son and his Spirit for salvation and redemption.
We need to stay centered in the incomprehensible reality God willed not to be God without us: he chose before time began to include us in his life and love, and so he ordained before time began to send his Son in human flesh to draw us up into life in himself. Understanding and believing in the truth of this reality enables us to begin to read the Scriptures with greater clarity and less confusion. We are less likely to be swept aside by false concepts of God and eschatology (any system of doctrines concerning last, or final, matters, as death, the Judgment, the future state, etc.).
What God did for us in Jesus wasn’t an afterthought or a reaction to what humanity did, but rather what he intended all along. It was not an outflow of his anger against humanity or the rejection of his Son, but rather an embracing of all of us as lost, broken, rebellious children in need of redemption. That God, in his freedom to be the God he is, would do something new—not only creating creatures to share life with, but also joining them to himself forever—is an amazing and wonderful thing.
It is equally amazing that he who lived ever and always in love, joy, and peace, was willing to reconcile suffering, sorrow, and evil with himself in such a way it would be forever nullified and transformed into the very thing which binds us to himself in love.
Jesus is God’s judgment on sin, evil, and death. This judgment (or krisis) each of us encounters is not something or Someone which we should fear, but the Person which we should embrace in faith, trusting Christ is for us all we need in the face of our sin, brokenness, and depravity. Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh, is the perfect answer or response to God for each one of us, no matter our situation or history or failure.
For this reason, we have nothing to fear when it comes to seeking to know God more fully and completely. Christ has gone ahead of us and has sent his Spirit so we might know which direction to go.
Yes, we have the responsibility to choose our teachers wisely. They need to coincide in their teaching and life with what we know about who Jesus Christ is as the God/man, and who he reveals God to be in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the sending of the Spirit. Our teachers need to be willing to submit to being taught and to sit humbly under the mentorship of those with greater spiritual depth, maturity, and knowledge. The Spirit in them will resonate with the Spirit in us, and we will begin to see with greater clarity the magnitude and depth of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ in their teaching.
One of the healthiest things we can do to keep ourselves on the right track is to find other believers who are well-grounded in Christ and to study the Word of God with them. As we pray together, listen to the written Word of God together, and wrestle with our questions and thoughts about what we are learning, the Holy Spirit brings us into a deeper knowledge and understanding of the truth. As we are open to it, we have brothers and sisters who can point out when we are drifting away from our center in Christ. And at the same time, we by the Spirit are growing into a deeper fellowship with God and one another.
Are there times when we may wander off the path? No doubt. But this is why it is essential to walk by faith, not by sight. We trust in the perfect work of Christ and in the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We hold all we read, hear, and see up against the mirror of the living Word of God as revealed in the written Word of God, and we ask ourselves, does this agree with the truth revealed to us in Jesus Christ? Does this diminish Christ or magnify him? And we go from there—it’s a walk of faith.
Thank you, Abba, for the gift of your Son the living Word, and for the gift of your precious Spirit. Keep us on the narrow path of faith, and free us from fear and anxiety about missing the mark. When we wander here and there, please bring us back to our center in Christ. We thank you that you are faithful and dependable, and that you will not leave us as orphans, lost or without direction. Open your written Word to our understanding, and transform our hearts by faith, we pray, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:1-6 NASB
Growing in Neighborliness
by Linda Rex
I grew up in the suburbs of metropolitan Los Angeles and know what it’s like to live in a big city. Today I live and work in and near metropolitan Nashville.
I find living in a large city such as Nashville or L.A. has its strong points, and I can see why people would want to live and work in these hubs of humanity. There are many opportunities to be found in close proximity, especially with regards to cultural and recreational attractions, employment opportunities, and educational institutions.
Living in a big city is not what I would prefer, but I can appreciate the benefits of this lifestyle. I personally prefer small town living, but have learned to adapt to the higher stress, less privacy and less relaxed environment of this area. This is because I have learned over the years that whether urban or rural, the people who live in this world are at their heart, the same as you and me—we all are made in God’s image to live together in loving community.
Between these two adventures in big city living, I also lived in rural southeast Iowa, where the closest city of any real size was at least forty-five minutes from home. In that part of the United States of America, it was not uncommon for people to leave their homes and cars unlocked, and for neighbors to enter by the back door.
When I was eight months pregnant and going to town on a hot summer day, my car ran out of gas two miles from the closest town. I was a lot less nervous then about having someone help me than I am today because that’s what people did there when someone was in trouble. Neighbors were neighbors and looked out for one another.
As I’ve gotten to know more of the people who live next door to Good News Fellowship in Nashville, I’ve come to see that same heart of true neighborliness also exists here and there in the community around our church. Many of our neighbors are kind, helpful people who want their neighborhood to be a safe, upbeat, and warm community where old and young people alike can live free from abuse or neglect.
Our neighbors want to be able to walk or run down their streets during the day and the night, and not fear they will get mugged, or simply shot because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would like to be able to trust that someone will not steal their belongings, or damage their cars, or invade their homes. They would like to live without fear, and to be able to trust others with their lives, their homes and their belongings.
Our neighbors simply want to be good neighbors who live in loving community. They want to help people who need to be watched out for, such as elderly or sick neighbors who can’t get out or who are easily taken advantage of. They want to get together to share a meal or to clean the trash off the streets. Whether or not they realize it, in doing these things in community, they are sharing in the unmistakeable heart of love and compassion which exists within the inner relationship of the Father and the Son in the Spirit.
In our common humanity, whether urban or rural dwellers, we were created to live with one another in this kind of loving community. We were not created to prey on one another or to take advantage of one another. We were created to love one another and to look out for one another. When we don’t live together with love and respect and understanding, all kinds of misery is the result. This is because we are not being who we really are—who we were created by God to be.
True neighborliness which is loving and respectful cannot be legislated. It is not really possible to tell people to be good to one another and expect them to do it just because there are laws which say they should and penalties for when they don’t. External efforts to create loving community are no guarantee such community will come into existence and then stay.
The heart of love and compassion which is at the root of true neighborliness has its source in our God of love—the One who pours his love into us by his Holy Spirit. We find God at work in many places and in many people who we, because of our prejudices and presuppositions, believe are not good people. We need to open our hearts and minds to the reality God is at work in each person’s life and heart—we are all made in God’s image and redeemed by his Son and given the gift of the Spirit who is at work in this world.
Our participation in the work the Spirit is doing in this world to bring the love of the Father and the Son to full fruition is to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to pray for, love and respect each person God places in front of us. Those who are so broken as to prey upon us, violate us and steal from us need this love just as much as we need it. So we follow Jesus’ instruction to pray for them, to love and bless them, while guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Sometimes in order to do God’s work of loving others, we need to have and use healthy boundaries.
As members of the body of Christ, we as members of Christian churches have a responsibility to lead others in loving the unlovely, and caring for the broken and downtrodden. We are called to demonstrate through loving actions the real caring and compassion which exists within the Trinity and should exist within the body of Christ. We should all work together, no matter our creed, in the unity of the Spirit and the oneness of Christ, to show the neighborly love of God to others in our church neighborhood.
When we do this, we are entering into a battle for our community. The kingdom of darkness does not appreciate any light we may bring into our neighborhood, and so there is a struggle. But we walk in the assurance that Christ has done what was needed to defeat the darkness. We walk by faith, not by sight. In other words, we keep loving, praying for and showing compassion to those Christ places in front of us, and bear up, by God’s grace, under whatever opposition may come our way. We walk the difficult road of building up community when efforts are being made to tear it down.
Holy Father, by your Son and in the Spirit, empower us to love one another as you created us to. Give us hearts of compassion and respect. Make us “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” as we interact with our neighbors, whoever they may be. God, by your great love, create loving community within our neighborhood so we can experience the same love which exists in your very Being as Father, Son and Spirit. In your Name, we pray. Amen.
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 NASB
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