Bridging the Gap Between the Ancient Church and Us
Our second lesson for this Sunday is Hebrews 10:11-25. It starts with some theological points about who Christ is and the significance of that ultimate sacrifice. Then it moves on to how we can have a great deal of confidence in God’s work. We can fully enter into the community as those redeemed by God. We can pray and worship with confidence. It ends with some specific notes of encouragement, but these make me wonder why the author needed to say them in the first place.
I see four specific things that the readers of this epistle are encouraged to do here. I will admit that others may find more or fewer things, but I think four stand out. We should hold fast to the confession of hope without wavering. We should provoke one another to love and good deeds. We should not neglect to meet together. And we should encourage one another. These all seem good, until you notice how that third encouragement has passive aggressiveness embedded in it.
“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.”
Interesting. I wonder who those people were. I wonder what the “some” the author refers to were doing instead of meeting? Did they just not think it was important enough? Were they too busy? Did church politics keep them from enjoying worship? Whatever the case, the author clearly condemns the behavior. Whatever the reason may be, we should prioritize meeting together. Gathering for worship is important for the life and health of the community.
This is a sentiment that pastors can sympathize with today. Churches all over the country are having trouble with attendance. Everyone is busy. People have other things to do. Some people just don’t like going to church because they don’t like the people there, they don’t like the pastor, they don’t like how the liturgy has changed, they don’t like the music choices, etc. There are many reasons people find for not going to church, but my point here is not to condemn or judge those who don’t attend. I’m wondering what these encouragements say about the original audience of this letter. If we can easily recognize this encouragement as a partial rebuke, or even condemnation, because of our familiarity with this problem in our own context, could it be true that the other encouragements work the same way?
“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.”
Does this mean that some people were wavering? If not, why give this encouragement. This point seems pretty clear actually. The author of Hebrews spends a lot of time focusing on the importance of faith. We cannot know this for sure, but it certainly appears that the intended audience was experiencing a crisis of faith. They were genuinely worried that the sacrifice of Jesus may not have been enough. They were worried that their own sins may be too great and that they would need to work for their salvation. They lived in fear that they were not good enough for salvation. They doubted that they worked hard enough for God’s love. Into this fear, the author speaks a message of hope. Hebrews is a sermon, encouraging people to be confident in the hope that Jesus is enough. That the work of Christ is sufficient for salvation.
“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.”
The word “provoke” here is interesting. It can be used when referring to inciting people to good things or agitating them into an angry discussion or other bad behavior. I think the word choice was deliberate, and therein we find the hidden condemnation. I don’t think the author would use such a provocative word if it weren’t a signal to replace a bad behavior with a good one. This may be a stretch, but it seems that people in the community were provoking each other into conflicts. Whether that be theological, social, political, or personal, people were getting into fights because they were being incited. The author is responding to a restlessness here. In encouraging them to provoke each other to good things, this epistle not only condemns the bad practice, but also replaces it with something better. Rather than tricking each other into fights, trick each other into good deeds. Rather than inciting conflict, incite love.
Finally, the author tells the audience to encourage one another. By itself, this could simply be a good way to close a section of this letter with a call to action. However, given the context, I can’t help but wonder whether or not this is a response to a problem. Were there people in the community who were discouraging each other? If so, this helps to tie the narrative together. We can get a clearer image of what this community looked like.
It sounds like a group of people had taken up a position that was theologically discouraging. They taught that the sacrifice of Christ was the first step in salvation, but we needed to purify ourselves as well. They condemned some as being unworthy to fully participate in the community because of their sins, undermining what confidence and faith they had. As a response to this disturbance, the faith of some wavered, while others stopped meeting together, not feeling welcome to participate. More than sharing in love and fellowship, people provoked each other to arguments due to underlying unresolved tensions. The community was in a crisis of faith and fellowship, and this is the context for the author to write this letter of encouragement in faith.
Obviously, I can’t say for certain that this is the case. However, it wouldn’t be unbelievable. There were a lot of conflicts within the church in the early days as they tried to figure out what it all meant. But even if this isn’t the case, it is encouraging to recognize that the problems we face today are responded to in the Bible. The same challenges to community that afflicted the early church, undermine the mission of churches today. We too face people who would say that we aren’t worthy of full participation. Christians today struggle with going to churches where toxic leadership has made them feel unwelcome. People who get anxious when faced with conflict become frustrated or even fearful when church members are provoking each other into hostile debate.
As we see these problems in our world, and perhaps in the community this letter was written to, we can be encouraged even more deeply. This speaks to us. This is written for us, for our problems, for our fears. Whatever problems poison the life of the church, we can hold fast to the promise of the Gospel. Christ is enough, and we are all welcome.
