Provoke one another to love and good deeds

Hebrews 10:11-25

Context
The author has been arguing throughout Hebrews that Christ is superior to angels, to Moses, to the Jewish sacrificial system. The Temple and sacrifices are seen as inferior images of the real Temple in the skies*, with Christ offering the ideal sacrifice in the ideal temple (alá Plato, for the philosophers reading along). Today's reading in some ways serves as the summation of this argument, moving into a section on our response of faith.

Listening to the writer
Note that the author freely quotes passages from the Psalms as referring to Christ (vv 12 and 13 refer to Psalm 110:1, which has been used throughout Hebrews), and equates the words of the prophets with those of the Holy Spirit (vv 16 & 17 are from Jeremiah 31). His summation: Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was sufficient and final, unlike the Temple sacrifices which were insufficient and repeated.

The curtain on the temple is often interpreted as something that separated us from God; when Christ died, it was torn in two (Mark 15:38), signifying the end of this separation. Hebrews instead sees it as the entryway to God (v 20), now replaced by Christ's body (communion?) - in this case its tearing could be seen as the tearing of the body of Christ at his death.

What, then, are we to do as a people who live after Christ's sacrifice?

• Approach God as a clean (forgiven & baptized) people
• Hold fast to this new understanding of God
• "Provoke one another to love and good deeds" as we meet together

Note that Hebrews assumes that Christ's return is imminent (v 25).

Listening to God
It is very easy to place conditions on forgiveness. "They haven't really repented." "I did such a terrible thing." "How could God ever forgive that?" Jesus had a habit of simply forgiving people - before they even asked, sometimes before they even acknowledged that they were aware of their sin. Have you allowed God to forgive you? to forgive others?

What tempts you to let go of "the confession of our hope" (v 23) and return to views of a god who requires constant sacrifice, of whatever type, in order to forgive?

How might you "provoke" someone to love and good deeds today?

Christianity is not meant to be exercised in private. Are you meeting regularly with other Christians? Is God calling you to find new ways (or additional ways) to meet with the Church?

Miscellaneous Meanderings
*In the Bible, the Greek word translated "Heavens" (and the Hebrew word translated "Heavens") means "Skies". Although "Heaven" was a separate category from "Sky" for a few thinkers, there's little doubt that the two ideas were identical in the popular culture. I sometimes find it helpful to "demodernize" the Bible to try and better understand what the authors were hearing from God.

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