The Second Chance for God's People

Messages from Hebrews

Seid

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9781498275071
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

For centuries the New Testament book of Hebrews has been interpreted as though it had been written for Jewish Christians in danger of lapsing back into legalism and religious ceremony. This view is now being challenged by current scholarship. Rather than attacking the Old Testament and Judaism, the author of Hebrews praises the person and work of Jesus through a series of comparisons on which he bases exhortations and warnings to the present people of God. Hebrews urges God's people to learn from past mistakes and failures, and to take up the challenge in difficult times to live faithfully in the new relationship to God through Jesus, God's Son.In The Second Chance for God's People: Messages from Hebrews, Quaker pastor and professor Timothy W. Seid encourages today's church to respond to the challenge of Hebrews: first individually by progressing in spiritual and moral maturity, and second collectively by being God's faithful people in the world. In the light of ancient Greek language and rhetoric after having extensively researched Hebrews, Seid interprets the text of Hebrews section by section in an accessible and nontechnical way while also illustrating and applying the meaning of the text for the contemporary church.

Jesus Helps His Siblings (2:10–18)

There are ways in which life is easier when you have an older sibling. Older siblings are good to have, because they experience life a few years before you do. Older siblings learn how to do things, and they can teach you, or you can learn from watching them. When you get in a predicament or someone is trying to hurt you, an older sibling might be able to stand up for you, help you, or protect you. You might be less fearful than you would have been otherwise. Sometimes older siblings even take the blame for you.

In chapter one of Hebrews, Jesus is described as one who is appointed to be God’s Son. These verses in Hebrews build on that theme in order to relate Jesus’ role as Son with his function as High Priest. We might think of this as Jesus being our big brother, for Hebrews shows how Jesus has led the way for his siblings. He is intimately acquainted with all the experiences that his siblings have. It’s because of this that Jesus can be the High Priest par excellence. Jesus, our big brother, is willing to have us for his siblings (2:10–13), he handles the biggest problems we face (2:14–16), and he is able to help us by putting everything right (2:17–18).

Our Big Brother Has Us for His Siblings (2:10–13)

According to Hebrews, God, the one who is in charge of this entire universe, wants to lead his children home to heaven. To do that, God chose Jesus to be the pioneer—the point person, the big brother—in this work of saving God’s children (2:10). Jesus had to grow up like anyone else, experience the temptations of life, suffer the same kind of pain we have to experience. God made Jesus into the perfect big brother, for he and we have the same Father. Jesus claims us as his brothers and sisters (2:11). The Old Testament quotations (Ps 22:22; Isa 8:17, 18) confirm for the author of Hebrews that Jesus chose us and willingly became our big brother (2:12–13).

The difference is, kids don’t usually have a choice who their siblings are. At the beginning of every school year, I hear my younger kids tell stories about a teacher who says, “Are you Emily’s sister,” or “Are you Lauren’s sister?” The way siblings feel about each other, they usually want to say, “No, we’re not related.” The teacher might not believe that there are two families with the last name of Seid in the same school and they are unrelated!

When God looked at us and saw what a problem we were, Jesus said, “That’s my kid brother; that’s my little sister.” Jesus acted the part of big brother to lead the way. He claimed you and me and went through life and death ahead of us, so that he could bring us home.

Our Big Brother Handles Our Biggest Problems (2:14–16)

The biggest problem we face in life is death. These bodies of flesh and blood are prone to disease and injury, they need constant care and nourishment, and they seem to demand all sorts of things that aren’t good for us. In order for Jesus to be our big brother, he had to share in the same human experience. If he had intended to be the leader of the angels, he wouldn’t have needed a body. But as an embodied and incarnate person, he was here to help humans. Jesus does battle with the biggest bully of the universe, the devil. The devil is depicted as having the power of death and humans are held captive to the fear of death. Jesus is to destroy the devil and set us free from the fear of death.

My brother was too much older than me to have been any help on the school playground. If you had a sibling only a few years older, you might have been able to tell bullies that your big brother or sister would stand up for you. My brother did help me out once, unknowingly. It was spring time and for some crazy reason I went out for cross country. We hit the road after school and ran out into the country. We were joking around and trying to make the best out of running miles in the cold and wet. We saw a car driving down a rode parallel to us. I thought I would be a tough guy for my friends, so I made an obscene gesture to the car. Everyone laughed and I got a little rep’ for being so bold. A few minutes later the car drove up to us, stopped, and several big guys got out. I was immediately identified as the one who—let’s be honest—flipped them off. Under that pressure, I became the world’s greatest actor and liar. I made up a story about how I thought it was my brother, that he drove a car exactly like that. I convinced them that I wouldn’t make that gesture to people I didn’t know. I was so calm and acted so surprised that it wasn’t my brother, that they had no choice but to give me a warning and leave. The fact is, I did have a brother, he was living at home in those days, and if I had seen him driving in a car down the road while I had to run in the cold and the melting snow, I probably would’ve given him a gesture. The difference is, he would have beaten me up for it.

When we face the inevitable conclusion of our lives, we should remember that our big brother faced the same experience. When pain racks our body and we feel there’s no way we can face the end, we know that Jesus experienced the worst that life has to offer. The greatest foe we have in life is a beaten bully; there’s no reason to fear death, because Jesus went first and defeated that foe for us.

Our Big Brother Helps Us by Putting Everything Right (2:17–18)

Jesus became like us in every way: he cried, he hungered, he thirsted, he became weary and slept, he became angry, he felt sorrow, he bled, he felt pain, he felt abandoned, he gave up his life and died. What more could you ask of someone who is to be your representative, who is to intercede for you in heaven, who is to make your pardon for sin? Like no one else, Jesus is the one who is able to help us.

Pastors and priests are individuals who are meant to help us in life. But many Protestants think that pastors are a different sort of person. People will change how they talk or say something like, “Pardon my French.” My father tells of walking up to someone who quickly hid his cigarette behind him. My Dad just kept talking to the guy until finally the cigarette burnt down to his fingers and he had to let go. For Catholics, they have even more reason to feel like their priests might not understand what the regular person goes through. Some might say that a priest can’t understand marriage and parenthood. Some may think that a priest couldn’t understand the day-to-day struggles of working in a factory or a business, the responsibilities of one’s own household, the worry about job security and advancement in order to meet the needs of a growing family. It was undoubtedly the same way with the Israelites. The High Priest of Israel could also be viewed as disconnected to the everyday life of the people. What is most impressive about people called to this ministry is when they are the sort who know how to help people and can get the job done.

Jesus is that sort of High Priest. The Gospels report that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and people (Luke 2:52). Hebrews says Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered (5:8). According to Hebrews, Jesus achieved the ultimate completeness of life—God perfected him through the things he experienced (2:10). That’s why Jesus is able to help us (2:18).

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Jesus, our divine big brother, is willing to have us for his siblings. He handles the biggest problems we face, and he is able to help us by putting everything right. Many of us might not be able to remember how our older siblings helped us, because what we remember from childhood tends to be the shocking kinds of things. For instance, I can remember when we were little kids, when my brother was going to examine my throat, pretending to be a doctor. For some strange reason he stuck a Cocoa Puff on the end of a pencil. He touched the back of my throat and made me throw up. Again, I can remember when we were playing softball. I was the catcher, and my brother was up to bat. I must have been too close to the plate, because he swung at a pitch and clobbered me in the head. I’ve never forgotten that, though I can’t quite remember what happened afterwards.

Maybe if we think hard enough we can remember the times when we felt accepted by our older sibling. We felt a sense of confidence about life, because we were following in someone else’s footsteps: They had faced challenges and had succeeded, so we knew that we could too. We might even remember that an older sibling was there to help fix things, to smooth things over, to be there for support.

We have that kind of big brother in Jesus. He’s proud to call you and me his sibling. He was willing to face the greatest challenge for our benefit. He knows all about what we face and is present with God to intercede for us. That’s why Jesus is far greater than the angels and will be shown to be the most excellent heavenly high priest.

Jesus Is the One (1:1–4)

A father’s relationship to a son is a special bond. But I wouldn’t know about that—I have five daughters. I wouldn’t trade any of them for a son, but I can’t help feeling I’ve missed something other men have experienced with their sons.

While we were expecting our first child, we picked out boy names and girl names. I was elated to watch our first child being born. After discovering we had an Abby and not a little Timmy, I probably told myself, Maybe the next one will be a boy. In spite of what you may think, I did not keep trying to get my wife pregnant just to try for a boy. Over the next 11 years, we had four more children—all girls. I can honestly say, I was happy with each daughter being born. I do remember, however, watching one of them being born and looking for a tell-tale sign that it was a boy. Would this be the one? Would this one be the son I wanted? It was not to be. We eventually figured out what was causing us to keep having babies and fixed the problem. I still wonder what it would have been like to raise a son, but usually we’re too busy—and proud, and fulfilled—with our five daughters to think of what might have been.

When we read the Old Testament, we understand how important bearing sons was to families. Because of the way society was structured, sons would bring greater prosperity to a family through the work they did. Daughters would tend to be a drain on the family’s wealth, especially when it came to giving a dowry for her marriage. The sons in the family would, of course, bring in the dowries from their wives. As unfair as that system was, it is the cultural context for how people thought about sonship.

There was another connection between a father and a son. Daughters were thought to be more closely connected to their mothers, while sons were considered to have received more “maleness” and, therefore, to be more like their fathers. We still use the expression, “He’s a spittin’ image of his dad.” In that patriarchal culture, being more like Papa gave sons greater respect and more power than daughters.

That connection between fathers and sons came to be symbolized in one of the most important figures in Israelite society. The king was portrayed as God’s son on earth. Psalm 2, the coronation psalm, depicts this relationship. In Ps 2:6 Yahweh states, “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” The king responds in vs. 7, “I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you.’”

Before Israel developed a monarchy, there was another group referred to as “sons of God.” Angels were designated this way in Gen 6:4, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” The Psalms also speak of angels in this way. For instance, Psalm 89:6 asks, “For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings (lit. “sons of God”) is like the LORD?”

For the author of Hebrews, Jesus was the only one who fulfilled this role as God’s son completely. That which was said of others was fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. Everything pointed forward and had its culmination in Jesus, God’s son. In this first section of Hebrews, the author begins to draw a comparison of the son to angels in the way God has communicated to people over the thousands of years. Jesus is God speaking to us (1:1–2), the radiant image of who God is (1:3a), and is the effective agent of God in the world (1:3b–4).

Jesus is God’s Speech from God’s Own Mouth (1:1–2)

In biblical antiquity, God spoke to God’s people through a variety of emissaries. The author of Hebrews will come to focus more on the role of angels, but first he will mention the role of the prophets. The prophets talked about the future time as the last days or latter days. The author of Hebrews considers his own time as those last days. God now has spoken to us—not just to people a long time ago and in a far away place (1:1). In the past God spoke through angels and prophets in mysterious ways, but now God has spoken by God’s ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section One: The Son Compared to Angels (1:1—2:18)
• Section Two: Jesus Compared to Moses (3:1—4:16)
• Section Three: Jesus Compared to the High Priesthood of Aaron (5:1—6:20)
• Section Four: The Melchizedek Priesthood of Jesus Compared to the Levites (7:1—8:13)
• Section Five: The Heavenly Sanctuary Compared to the Earthly (9:1—10:39)
• Section Six: Examples and Exhortations to Faithful Living (11:1—13:25)