The Second Chance for God’s People. Timothy W. Seid
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a closer look. This world still remains the only sign of life in the universe. As violent as our earth seems to be at times, as weak and prone to illness as our bodies are, as evil as some people can act, there’s no escaping the conclusion that this is an immensely complex and ordered world guided by physical laws that the most intelligent people still can’t quite fathom. And this world is not a permanent place: Our lives, even the existence of our world, is a whisper of time, a tick of the universe’s clock. It’s all designed with a beginning and an end, and we have been given the capacity to try to understand its meaning.
Two thousand years ago Jesus changed the course of human history. Real people in a real place said that Jesus really rose from the dead, providing a way to experience the reality of eternity with God. Millions of people have had their lives changed, become much more than they would have been, and have experienced a life filled with love, joy, peace, and hope. It doesn’t get much more real than that.
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We are admonished to persevere, warned about being neglectful, and reminded exactly what this salvation is that we have received. Our school teachers have tried to get us to pay attention. Suann and I were in a class in high school with a substitute teacher. It was geometry, as I remember. I don’t remember any of the geometry, but I remember that teacher. When we would begin to get noisy, she would bark out the same order as if the two words were one, “Quiet please.” Every time, it was the same thing, “Quiet please.” It became fun just to get rowdy so she would say, “Quiet please.” We had another teacher who liked to use the same corny phrase, “Be Alert. America needs more ‘lerts.’” It could have been worse. Funny and corny is better than loud and mean.
Our faith deserves our attention. As nice as we want church to feel and as positive as we want people to feel about their Christian faith, there are real consequences to our failure to take seriously the very real demands of a righteous God. The message of Hebrews contains the promise of a second chance for God’s people, but with it comes the responsibility to live up to the challenge of faithfulness to God.
Who’s in Charge Here? (2:5–9)
In times of crisis, we want to know who’s in charge. That’s what people in New Orleans were wondering after Hurricane Katrina blew threw and left such devastation: “Who’s in charge here?” When the levees collapsed and parts of the city began to flood, people sat on roof-tops or wherever they could find to be out of the water, and they waited for help to come. Their signs and their screams were asking, “Who’s in charge here?” As rescue workers began to gather and try to coordinate their tasks, they were asking, “Who’s in charge here?” A month later and two more hurricanes, Rita and Stan, and a devastating earthquake, people of Earth are wondering, “Who’s in charge here?”
Some scientists blame the increased hurricane activity on human action in the production of carbon gases that are thought to be raising the earth’s temperature. Some Christians want to insist that in spite of the terrible and evil things that happen in our world, God is in control, God is on the throne, and we have to accept what happens—at least those things beyond our control. But the New Testament repeatedly teaches that the world has not yet been brought under complete control.
The audience of the book of Hebrews includes people who have experienced subjection under the Roman empire. Each day brings another crisis, another upheaval in the order of life; another blow to their ability to cope with the rigors of work and the struggle to survive; another moment of exasperation when they ask themselves, “Is God really in control, is Jesus really reigning with God in heaven? Why is the world like this if Jesus is God’s Son, the appointed heir to rule with God, who has been exalted to the heavens beyond the angels.”
Who’s in charge? Scripture says it’s not the angels (2:5–8). In fact it doesn’t look like anyone is in charge right now (2:9), but it does look like Jesus is taking charge (2:9).
Scripture Says It’s Not The Angels Who Are In Charge (2:5–8)
The author of Hebrews has been comparing Jesus to the angels. They have not been appointed and exalted (1:2, 4); they are wisps of wind and fire (1:7, 14); they minister on behalf of God for the benefit of humans (1:14). The angels have had a significant role to play in God’s redemptive work in the world. They even took part in the greatest moment of Israelite history, when God gave them the instructions for civic and religious life of their new nation under God (2:1). Now God has done something even greater by appointing and exalting Jesus as God’s Son (1:2–4). We would be foolish to ignore this great thing God is doing, because with greater reward comes greater responsibility (2:1–3).
In the rest of chapter two, the author is drawing a connection a step at a time between the concept of Jesus as Son, who has a familial relationship with humans as a brother, to Jesus as High Priest, who performs that function well because of his empathy with humans. Although Jesus shares human experience for a time, he is ultimately exalted above them (2:9). Jesus functions as a pioneer of human experience and will bring sisters and brothers along with him in this victory over death (2:10–16). Because of his sharing in human experience, Jesus is able to serve as an effective high priest (2:17–18). In this way the rest of chapter two is a transition to the next comparison.
In verses 6–8a, the author quotes from Psalm 8. But he introduces the quotation as though he doesn’t know who said it or where: “someone has testified somewhere.” Perhaps the quotation was part of a collection of quotations from the Old Testament which describe the coming messiah. In any case, the quotation in Hebrews is nearly word for word what we find in the Greek Bible, except for the omission of the phrase “and you have set him over the works of your hands” (LXX Ps 8:7). In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 8 describes the high status God accorded to humans. We could paraphrase the psalmist’s words in this way: “God, I can’t believe you would care about humans or the children of humans. You caused humans to be a little less than divinity by showing them such honor and giving them dominion over the world.” The Greek translation has allowed for a different way of interpreting the psalm. This messianic reading can be paraphrased in this way: “What is a human being that you are concerned about him, or the messianic “son of man,” that you take notice of him? You diminished him a little bit lower than the angels, you have crowned him as messiah with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
For the author of Hebrews, the idiom “a little lower” does not mean “lower rank” but is understood in a temporal sense, “a little while.” Psalm 8 then indicates that the messiah is temporarily lower than angels but then crowned with glory and honor, enthroned with everything in subjection to him. Put succinctly, Hebrews concludes the angels are not in charge.
New forms of religion and spirituality come along as people continue to try to find who or what’s in charge. Some forms of feminist spirituality say that it’s the mother goddess, Gaia, who is in charge. Elizabeth Clare Prophet talks about Jesus as one of many Ascended Masters who come to guide humanity. Tom Cruise is a follower of Dianetics founded by L. Ron Hubbard. Wherever you go, you are sure to find people who are searching for who’s in charge. And then they will do whatever they can to influence that entity so that life will be well for them.
Christians act the same way sometimes. We treat prayer and religious observance as a talisman. We act with superstition when we say and do—or don’t say and do—particular things because we think unless we say and do—or don’t say and do—those things, God will not give us what we want or even punish us by bringing misfortune to us or our loved ones. The answer to the question, Who’s in charge?, is not answered by angelic beings, spirit guides, pagan deities, or even a God who is controlled by superstitious acts in the guise of Christian living.
Doesn’t Look Like Anyone is in Charge (2:9)
The author of Hebrews proceeds to comment on two aspects of the Psalm 8 quotation. He wants the audience to know that God did not leave out something. The problem of evil and calamity is not due to God forgetting something and allowing the world to be independent or unrestrained. The reality is, it’s too early to see everything being in subjection to Jesus. We just don’t see it yet.
We may complain every four years