23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 28
Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25
"The High Priest"
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
19 ¶ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful;
24 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Our sermon for this week is based on the second lesson from Hebrews.
A little introduction to the book of Hebrews first. We are not sure who wrote the book, maybe Paul, but we do know why the book was written.
The writer was addressing a Jewish Christian community who had begun to loose faith, or were not as "fired up" about their new faith as they had been at the beginning. So, the writer addresses them, trying to revive their faith and passion for Christ.
He reminds them what Christ did for them, dying on the cross, rising on the third day, and then ascending into heaven many days later. He reminds them that Jesus is the great high priest, the one who offered not just a sacrifice of lambs, or dove, but offered his own body as a sacrifice for sin. And he id not do this over and over again as the priest in the temple did, but he sacrificed himself just once for the sins of all generations.
Then he goes on to remind them what their response to this mighty act of Jesus should be, it should be loving, forgiving, and being kind to your neighbor. And he says they should meet regularly as a community of faith to uphold each other’s in faith.
So that brings us to look closely at the verses in our lesson today with the background as a basis for our thoughts.
The beginning verses today remind us of the mighty work of Christ as the great high priest. The priest that offered not doves, or lambs for a sacrifice to God, but his own body and blood.
Jesus sacrificed himself because almighty God needed a sacrifice for our sins, the sins of human kind. God is a just God and a forgiving God, but at the same time a righteous God who wants a holy sacrifice for sin. So the writer of Hebrews is reminding us that Jesus sacrificed himself for all sinner, sinners in the past as well as sinner now and in the future.
George Buttrick wrote a book called Jesus Came Preaching. In it he describes a picture he once saw in an Italian church. It is a picture of the crucifixion of Christ. As you look at it closely you notice a large and shadowy figure behind the figure of Jesus. The shadowy figure is God, so that the nail that pierces the hand of Christ also pierces the hand of God, and the spear that pierces the side of Christ also pierces the side of God.
The picture makes the point that God was in Christ reconciling himself to the world. The crucifixion does not represent God against Jesus the human, but God incarnate taking upon himself the sin of the world.1
As the great high priest, Jesus made the sacrifice upon the altar of righteousness for our sins. For your sins and for my sins.
And when he did, our sins were forgiven and they are forgotten. God through Jesus does not hold grudges. Our sins have been wiped clean by the blood of Jesus when we seek forgiveness.
It is like the father in the following story:
A young man borrowed the family car without permission, knowing he could have it home and safely in the garage before his father found out. He hadn’t reckoned on getting rear-ended at the second intersection he came to. No way to conceal the damage, he parked the car and closed the garage door, then spent an evening agonizing over how to deal with his father when he arrived home.
When his dad walked in, the young man flashed a look of terror. He told his father everything, complete with profuse apology. His father walked with the son to the garage and looked long and hard and silently at the damage.
Then he said, "Insurance will cover it. It wouldn’t have covered the broken trust between you and me, however. Fortunately your apology took care of that."
"Can you ever forgive me, Dad?"
"I have already. You have learned your lesson. Forget about it."
A week later the son, still guilt-driven, came to his father and said, "Dad, in case they raise our insurance rates because of the accident, I’m willing to earn the money to pay the difference in the premiums."
His father didn’t even look up from his newspaper as he said, simply, "What accident !
And the Lord said, "I will remember their sin no more."
Jesus paid the price for our sins and made us clean before the almighty Father. Because God and Jesus are one, our sins have been cleansed forever.
It is like the little girl in the following. This is a story of pure grace.
Listen:
"In the west during the torrential spring rains, the rivers frequently rise and flood the lowlands. There was a little girl who lived in the valley of one of these mighty rivers and one weekend she was going with her parents to visit friends. As she was packing, she placed her dearest possession in her suitcase---a little rag doll. She had made it with her own hands and cared for it with a mother’s love. But her mother told her she could not bring it with her because it was too dirty, threadbare and falling apart. Reluctantly she left it home.
Over the weekend, a sudden storm hit the valley and the river reached over it banks and flooded all the homes. The little girl stood on the hillside looking down into the flooded valley; all she could think of was her little rag doll. When she could return home she rushed into her room, and her worst hear was realized---the flood had washed away her little rag doll.
One day while she was in town, she happened to pass a salvage store where objects found in the muddy debris were sold to raise money for the flood victims. To her surprise and over-whelming joy, there was her little rag doll with a price tag on it---25 cent. She had not money of her own, she went back home and helped her mother clean up. she earned a few pennies, she also helped the neighbors and earned a few more pennies. Finally, she had her 25 cents. She rushed to the store and placed her little sacrifice on the counter and claimed her doll.
As she walked from the store clutching her treasure in her arms, she was heard to say, "I made you, I lost you, I bought you back and now your are really mine!!!!"
Those could have been the words of God to us, "I made you, I lost you. I bought you back through the blood of Christ, and now you are really mine! Such grace!!
Jesus as the high priest has forgiven our sins, forgotten our sins so that we might live in His grace and peace. And that brings us to the second set of verses in our second lesson.
Here the author is telling his readers to love one another, stir up good works in the community because we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. Just as Jesus has forgiven us and washed away our sins, then we need to reach out to those around us with that same kind of love.
A closing story tells us about how to love one another.
A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert.
During some point of the journey they had an argument,and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.
They kept on walking until they found an oasis,where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"
The other friend replied,"When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale November 10, 2003
1Source: Reported in John Stott, The Cross of Christ p158. Stott notes that Buttrick does not indicate in which church the picture hangs.
from http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/
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