A few thoughts on today’s epistle. Since Christmas we’ve been reading the letter to the Hebrews at weekday eucharists full of wise counsel to struggling believers. Today’s reading from Chapter 12 starts with the reminder of who we are as baptised believers. Last month we celebrated how the Son of God became the Son of Man so children of men could become children of God. The clue to Christian life is owning that dignity of being a child of God granted us by the incarnation. Today’s Gospel narrates how Our Lord struggled to establish his credentials in his hometown of Nazareth, a struggle that brought him to Mount Calvary and the revelation of his own Sonship. ‘Truly this man was the Son of God’ said the Centurion in Matthew 27:54.
Today’s epistle centres on our own sonship established by Christ’s dying and rising. ‘Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons? My son, when the Lord corrects you, do not treat it lightly; but do not get discouraged when he reprimands you. For the Lord trains the ones that he loves and he punishes all those that he acknowledges as his sons. Suffering is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? Of course, any punishment is most painful at the time, and far from pleasant; but later, in those on whom it has been used, it bears fruit in peace and goodness’. Being sons and daughters of God brings the responsibility to reinterpret positively the harshest of circumstances because our Father is Lord of all and ‘works all things for good for those who love him’ (Romans 8:28).
After a reminder to take a positive slant on hardship the writer of Hebrews gives this brusque invitation to pull up our socks and press on with life: ‘So hold up your limp arms and steady your trembling knees and smooth out the path you tread; then the injured limb will not be wrenched, it will grow strong again’. This is the beauty of scripture, the way it both encourages and chides us. The last chapter of Hebrews promises God will never fail us or desert us quoting the Psalms to that effect. Meanwhile the conclusion of today’s passage from Chapter 12 has this advice: ‘Always be wanting peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord. Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a whole community’. In other words, as we struggle with things, holiness will be built up in us as we keep cheerful in our trials. Often this requires us to keep grief to ourselves and refrain from blaming others. If we want to see the Lord in heaven that vision will be shared with the communion of saints so ‘wanting peace with all people’ is a vital aspiration to cultivate. In the end we will be invited to lose our lives to others, to God and neighbour, for which invitation earthly struggles like getting over differences with other people, are God sent preparation. As we read in the first letter of St John Chapter 3, picking up the same theme: ‘Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure’. So be it!
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