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Before Sunday

November 15, 2009

Proper 28

Psalm 16

Daniel 12:1-13

Hebrews 10:31-19

Mark 13:14-23

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. – Hebrews 10:35-36

The passage from Hebrews could very well have been penned yesterday. It is stunning to see how applicable it is to our situation at Christ Church! Just another example of the living nature of God’s Word and its power to illuminate our situation and guide our lives.

The author of Hebrews has just finished a stern warning to his readers, concluding, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). But then he lunches into a rich pronouncement of encouragement. His readers had suffered many things, and even when the difficulties at hand were not a direct threat to them, they stood with those who were the targets of suffering and persecution.

These early Christians even endured with joy the plundering of their property (verse 34), knowing their citizenship was in heaven. As we at Christ Church endure threats against our own property, it is good to maintain this perspective: This world is not our own. We’re just passing through. Our final destination and the home of our soul is heaven itself, where Christ is, seated at God’s right hand in glory.

Does that mean we simply ignore the justice issues that are presented to us? Of course not. The call upon every Christian is to seek justice at every turn, as this is one way we pursue our Lord’s prayer that God’s will be “done on earth as it is in heaven.” It does mean, however, that the manner in which we pursue such justice is always framed by our heavenly citizenship, not our earthly one. With courage and compassion, we employ the heavenly instruments of faithfulness, love, mercy, and steadfastness, not the worldly weapons of anger, bitterness, slander, and deceit.

What are the threats in your own life? What might tempt you to cling tenaciously to the things of this world, be they material possessions, god-less principles, or self-seeking strategies? When confronted with such challenges, Christians will do well to remember their citizenship: We are children of God, our home is in heaven, which is a “better possession and an abiding one” (Hebrews 10:34). – Marc Robertson

A Prayer

Almighty God, the hope of every heavenly citizen: Grant us the endurance we need, that in our brief time on this earth we may do Your will, and in the world to come, receive the blessed promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen.