Hebrews
12:18-29 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
You
have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and
darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a
voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be
spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given,
“If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to
death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I
tremble with fear.”)
But
you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and
to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made
perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the
sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See
that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not
escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much
less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At
that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet
once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.”
This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is
shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may
remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable
worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming
fire. (the word of God for the people of God...)
I
have always enjoyed watching thunderstorms. From my early years I
liked to sit at the window and see the lightning, counting until the
thunder sounded so I could tell how far away the lightning strike
was. The only problem is, I could never keep straight whether it was
one second per mile or one second per quarter mile...so the best I
could usually tell you was that the storm was about 4 or 12 miles
from us. I was clearly not born to be a meteorologist! But there was
something incredibly wild and powerful that drew me to enjoy watching
thunder and lightning.
I
recall one trip to the beach with some of the ladies of Centenary –
this has been about 20 years ago. The house we had rented had a large
screen porch and late one night, a storm blew in and I took my pillow
and blanket to the screen porch and spent a glorious hour enjoying
God's spectacular show. With a light mist blowing in from the steady
rain – I finally decided to go inside to sleep. When I started
downstairs to my air mattress on the floor – I discovered four or
five of the ladies sitting on the stairs clutching their purses. They
were horrified to hear that I had been “out in that terrible storm”
and I was shocked that they were horrified. I tried to explain the
thrill of the wind and the beauty of the lightning. They tried to
explain how I nearly died. We had to agree to disagree. Although I
have a great deal of respect for the power of nature...I find it
incredibly exciting and inspiring.
But
I know that such storms can also bring devastation and destruction. I
have seen images in this past week of the situation in Louisiana. I
had friends affected by the storms in West Virginia. I recall the
wild chaos a few years back when a derecho hit Lynchburg.
It's complicated. Our God,
the God we worship and adore, who made the heavens and the earth, and
who placed the sun and the moon in the sky and set the stars in their
courses, and who separated the water from the dry land, and who
filled creation with all manner of living things, including giant
trees and cats and people I love, and who came to this earth in Jesus
Christ to teach us how to love one another — this same God, the
Bible tells us, also relates to creation in ways that are nothing
short of terrifying.
Remember
the passage in 1 Kings 19 when Elijah met God at Mt. Horeb? He
said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the
Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong
that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before
the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an
earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;and after the
earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the
fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his
face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the
cave.
Recall
how Jacob was attacked by the angels of the Lord in the night and
wrestled with them until dawn and prevailed because he was such a
powerful man, but bore the marks of that terrible victory the rest of
his life, walking with a limp and having a hollow place on his thigh.
Such an intense encounter that he named the place Peniel (which means
the face of God) saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet
my life is preserved.”
Recall
the still, small voice that spoke to Moses spoke out of a bush that
burned and burned, and was never consumed, and what the voice said:
"Take your shoes off! You are standing on holy ground!"
Recall
when God gave the original commandments to Moses on the mountain that
there was a fire and smoke and darkness, and when Moses finally came
down, bearing the commandments on stone tablets, his face was all lit
up from being in the presence of God, and the people could not bear
to look at him.
Many
of us prefer not to think of God as powerful, demanding, and
vindictive. Maybe we would rather imagine God mostly as an
over-indulgent grandparent figure with only good intentions for us.
We’d rather remember that “(t)he Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” I confess that I
prefer the God I see in Jesus Christ over the God who demands
righteousness from God’s people and who dispenses sometimes painful
justice with the wave of a mighty hand.
But
we must recognize that the God we see in Hebrews is the very same God
whose grace we have come to know in Jesus Christ. Because God has had
mercy on us, he sent Jesus Christ to save us. We would be wise to
remember that we should not expect God to be merciful to us over and
over again, without any accountability on our part. We would be wise
not to take God’s mercy for granted. Gratitude for the gift of
grace is a critical point of living as a Christian. When Jesus was
hung up on the cross to die, God did not intervene to stop his death.
Because
I am a Christian, I have never had to stand directly in the presence
of God. I have always had Jesus to stand between myself and the
wholly otherness of my creator. This brings us to the comparison that
the writer of Hebrews makes in today's scripture lesson.
I'll
highlight the comparisons between the Mount Sinai experience of God
(the old covenant) and the Mount Zion experience of God (the new
covenant) by reading verses from Eugene Peterson's The Message
(18-23): you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic
blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting
words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to
stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the
Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even
Moses was terrified.
No,
that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the
city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is
populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is
the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just.
In
the book of Hebrews, the old covenant is not the whole Old Testament
– the whole history before Christ. It is, specifically, the Mosaic
covenant or the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai. This is clear
because whenever the author of Hebrews describes the old covenant,
it’s always with reference to the institutions and stipulations of
the Mosaic covenant or “the law.” The writer isn’t contrasting
the whole Old Testament history with New Testament, but, rather, the
situation of Old Testament Israel, under the Law of Moses, with the
situation of New Testament believers under the new covenant. That old
covenant emphasized the law of God and the holiness and justice of
God. It was under this covenant that the law of God was written as
the Ten Commandments. Sin was more clearly defined as a transgression
of God’s law. Taken by itself, the law of God is terrifying and
condemning. It proclaimed the standard of God’s holiness and
pronounced judgment and wrath on those who would violate that
standard, but provided no place for help or forgiveness. Hence, it’s
fitting that Israel’s experience at Mt. Sinai was one of fear and
trembling, as God thundered forth His moral commands.
Because
of the fearsome display of God’s power and holiness, the Israelites
shrank back in fear from the presence of God. When the people heard
the voice of God, the last thing they wanted to do was go up the
mountain. They wanted to go the other direction. They wanted to
escape from the presence of God back into their camp and into the
tents. All of this emphasizes the distance between God and man. When
God appears in His holiness as Law-giver and judge, no sinner can
come near, and no sinner would even want to. So, the old covenant
emphasized this law and this distance between man and God. The law,
in the old covenant, reminded people of their sinfulness and God
holiness and of the need for a sacrifice to make one fit to stand
before God.
But,
in verse 22, we see the other mountain, Mt. Zion. In the Old
Testament Scriptures, Mt. Zion is the place of God’s throne, for
God rules on earth over His people through King David and his sons.
This rule is destined to be extended over all the earth. Now,
the writer to the Hebrews says that we have come to Mt. Zion, we have
come to the heavenly Jerusalem. The place where God rules over His
people from David’s royal throne and where He dwells among His
people permanently and blesses them, is no longer a hill in the
Middle East. It is now a heavenly Jerusalem. We have come to Jesus,
who presents a new covenant – a fresh charter from God.
It
is a whole new ball game. We now have the opportunity to move from a
position of fear and trembling to seizing the gift of reconciliation
to God through Jesus. We can be a part of the unshakeable kingdom.
Think
back to today's Gospel lesson from Luke. To help you connect to the
lesson, I want everyone to stand up. Stand nice and straight. Now,
bend at your waist until you are looking straight down at the floor.
That isn't extremely uncomfortable, is it? You could easily stay bent
over like that for a few minutes, but what if you had to stay bent
over like that all the time? What if you had to stay bent over like
that day after day and year after year for eighteen years? That would
be quite a different story, wouldn't it? What if you went to the
store and you needed something from the top shelf? You could not even
see the top shelf, much less reach the items on that shelf! You would
have to depend on someone to find and get the items you needed.
(you can be seated)
Jesus
was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath when he saw a woman who
was crippled. She had been bent over double for eighteen years and
was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her
over to him, touched her and said, "Woman, you are healed!"
Instantly she could stand up straight. She was so happy that she
began to praise God!
You
would think that everyone in the synagogue that day would be happy
and join the woman in praising God. Not so! The leader in charge of
the synagogue was very angry that Jesus had healed the woman on the
Sabbath day. He told the crowd, "There are six days of the week
for working. Come on those days and be healed, but not on the
Sabbath."
Jesus
answered the leader of the synagogue, "You hypocrite! All of you
work on the Sabbath! Don't you untie your ox or your donkey and lead
it out for water? Doesn't this dear woman deserve to be healed, even
on the Sabbath?" The leader was shamed, but the other people
were happy and rejoiced at all of the wonderful things that Jesus
did.
Rules
are important, but the needs of people are more important.
Jesus came and the old covenant was replaced by a new covenant - this
new covenant in Jesus requires not sacrifices of blood, but,
sacrifices of “praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that
confess his name” and to “not neglect to do good and to share
what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Praise
God, do good and share what you have.
In
other words, our sacrifice is to give praise to God and to make
disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The
blessings of Mt. Zion are unspeakably better than the terrors of Mt.
Sinai. They give us confidence to draw NEAR to God and to serve the
Lord with gladness instead of fear.
We are
heirs to an unshakeable kingdom. But we will be wise to listen to the
cautious advice from verses 25-29: don’t turn a deaf ear to
these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t
get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on
heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its
foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll
also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem
to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough
housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk
so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered. Do you
see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how
thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship,
deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander.
He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and
he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!
Can
we embrace this new covenant? We have the wondrous gift of being in
direct relationship with God – but the awesome responsibility of
being followers of Jesus. We are called to be imitators of Christ.
Following his example of unconditional love is a tall order. But this
last shaking is going to toss out historical and religious
junk...like determining who is worthy to be in the presence of God or
deciding when healing can and can't take place. If we're going to
avoid the shaking we are going to have to get to those unshakable
essentials – love and gratitude.
In
Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment.
His response is that the whole law and prophets hang on two
commandments – Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and
mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. After the Last Supper
he simplified it once more – according to John 13:34 - I give
you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you also should love one another.
The
key is seeing every other human as being one of God's children. I'll
close with this story from Father Greg Boyle's book Tattoos
on the Heart.
Father Greg, who began Homeboy Industries – a tremendous gang
intervention, prison ministry and job training program – in the
poorest parish in Los Angeles, takes two former rival gang members as
part of a three state set of speaking gigs. They visit Atlanta, DC
and are wrapping up the trip in Mobile, Alabama. A man named John
invited Pastor G, Memo and Miguel to go with him to visit his
ministry to a community in Pritchard, Alabama. I quote, “We
take two hours to drive and walk around in what I think is about the
poorest place I've ever seen in the US. Hovels and burned-out shacks
and lots of people living in what people ought not to live in. Memo
and Miguel are positively bug-eyed as they walk around, meet people,
and see a kind of poverty quite different than the one they know.
We
return to the house where we're staying and have half an hour to
pack...I look up, and Memo is standing in my doorway, crying. He is a
very big man, had been a shot caller for his barrio and has done
things in and out of prison for which he feels great shame – harm
as harm. The depth of his core wound is quite something to behold.
Torture, unrivaled betrayal, chilling abandonment – there is little
terror of which Memo would be unfamiliar.
He's
weeping as he stands in my doorway and I ask him what's happening.
“That visit, to Pritchard – I don't know; it got to me. It got
inside of me. I mean, how do we let people live like this?” He
pauses, then, “G, I don't know what's happening to me, but it's
big. It's like, for the first time in my life, I feel, I don't know,
what's the word...I feel compassion for what other people suffer.”
Seeing
the shape of God in every person we encounter. We don't
serve God out of fear and trembling (although a healthy dose of
respect is not a bad thing!) - we go into the world to show God's
love out of gratitude for his gift of mercy and grace. When we focus
on those core essentials then we will truly be unshakable.
