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Overview
Hebrews invites each reader to listen to God. More specifically, everyone should listen to God’s ultimate messenger, Jesus. Immersion: Hebrews invites readers to do just that and prepares them to hear with an open heart. Easy to follow, step-by-step suggestions for leading a group are provided as well as questions to facilitate group discussion.
Immersion, inspired by a fresh translation--the Common English Bible--stands firmly on Scripture and helps readers explore the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs of their personal faith. More importantly, they’ll be able to discover God’s revelation through readings and reflections.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426748981 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 96 |
| File size: | 988 KB |
About the Author
John P. "Jack" Gilbert is a graduate of the Boston University School of Theology, with graduate work in religious education at Boston University and several other universities and seminaries. Retired from the United Methodist Publishing House, Gilbert currently pastors one small-membership church in rural Tennessee.
Read an Excerpt
Hebrews
Immersion Bible Studies
By Chris Ewing-Weisz, Stan Purdum
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2011 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-4898-1
CHAPTER 1
God's Ultimate Messenger
Hebrews 1–2
Claim Your Story
One of my favorite pictures of my dog shows her with her grizzled muzzle lifted toward my face, her sweet brown eyes fixed on mine, paying intent attention. She's not the brightest bulb in the box, but she listens to me.
Dogs listen to their owners. Teenagers listen to their friends. Parents listen to their children. Who do you listen to and how? Do you read your spouse's mind? watch your boss's expression? check your gut to see what you think?
Most of us live with a cacophony of voices demanding our attention–– from work and family to telemarketers and movie myths––voices inside us and voices outside us all saying, "Do this!" Sometimes we feel like a dog at a whistlers' convention.
Enter the Bible Story
Introduction
Hebrews invites us to listen to God. More specifically, Hebrews says we should listen to God's ultimate messenger, Jesus.
This may sound obvious, but there are two reasons Hebrews needs to say it. The first is that, well, we don't. Even when we know and believe we should, we take off in our own direction. (Even my sweet and obedient dog who's so eager to please suddenly becomes unable to hear me if there's another dog across the street!)
The other reason the Book of Hebrews needs to talk about listening to Jesus is because at the time the book was written, listening to Jesus wasn't an obvious thing to do at all. Even some Christians were getting wobbly on that point. Most people were not Christians; in fact, they were rather suspicious of Christians, just as we today are suspicious of cults and new religions. Then and now, most people prefer the tried and true: official religions with a long track record adhered to by responsible people in places of power. Some long-haired preacher comes around preaching pipe dreams or revolution, and he's suspect. So the writer of Hebrews not only had to convince his readers, he had to be more convincing than his readers' neighbors, who sometimes used vandalism as a means of persuasion.
We don't actually know a lot about who wrote the Book of Hebrews, to whom, or exactly when. However, we can deduce that it was written late in the first century (probably circa the 60's–90's A.D.) to Jewish Christians who, never having met the earthly Jesus, had learned of him from earlier believers.
These Christians were discouraged and drifting away from the church, perhaps because they were tired of being picked on. Unlike Judaism, Christianity in its first two centuries enjoyed no official status as an approved religion in the Roman Empire. Sometimes there was active government persecution. More commonly, Christians put up with the lowgrade hostility of their neighbors and unconverted family members.
This kind of hostility (as any unpopular schoolchild knows) becomes discouraging over time. So it is not surprising that some of these Jewish Christians might have considered giving up on Christianity, especially during flare-ups or threatened flare-ups of persecution, in favor of an officially sanctioned faith that worshiped the same God and featured similar hopes.
Seeing his fellow Christians in danger of jumping ship, one inspired teacher put together a powerful sermon that pulled out all the stops to show why this was not a good idea. That sermon, later passed around as a letter that we now call the Book of Hebrews, has as its central theme the complete superiority of Christianity over Judaism. (We'll talk more about this theme and the problems it raises in Chapter 3, "A New Covenant.")
The Majesty of Jesus
The superiority of Christianity, says Hebrews, begins with the nature of Jesus. He is not just "Son" of God but "firstborn" (1:6). In ancient Near Eastern cultures, the first son in a family automatically received significant privileges and responsibilities that the other children did not. Although all sons (rarely daughters) received an inheritance, the eldest got a double share and became head of the extended family. In a royal house, he succeeded the throne. To prepare for this, his father would invite him to help govern the country, ruling "at the right hand" of the existing monarch.
So to talk about Jesus as God's Son––indeed, his firstborn––is to use a metaphor saying that he is a true and full representative of the Father. A similar meaning is implied when Hebrews applies ideas about Divine Wisdom to Jesus in verses 2 and 3. To Jesus belongs all that God is and has (1:2-4).
Angels, in contrast, are merely messengers and servants of God. The people to whom Hebrews was written believed that angels were powerful spiritual beings and had delivered the Law to Moses at Sinai (2:2), establishing Judaism. Since the writer of Hebrews wanted to encourage Christians not to give up on Jesus and go back to Judaism, he had to show how Jesus and his new covenant are different from (and superior to) the angels and the original covenant. He used a string of Bible quotations (1:5-13), mostly from the Psalms, to contrast what the Scriptures say about the Son with what they say about angels.
The first Christians did not have the New Testament. The books that comprise it were written over a period of approximately 50 years, beginning several decades after Jesus' earthly life. What people did have were the verbal accounts of others who had known, or come to know of, Jesus. They also had the Jewish Bible we now call the Old Testament. (Recall that Jesus and all his early followers were Jewish. With the missionary work of the apostle Paul around 20 years after Jesus' death, significant numbers of non-Jews were welcomed into the Christian church.)
When those first Jewish followers of Jesus read their Bibles, the familiar words came alive with new meaning for them. They saw how the whole sweep of God's dealings with the Israelite people was summed up in the life of Jesus. In him they saw fulfilled the prophets' promises of an ideal king, a Messiah who would bring God's reign on earth.
When those first Christians began to write down the stories of his life, and when missionaries like Paul wrote letters of advice to Christian congregations, their writings were infused with this reimagining of the Jewish Scriptures. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the Book of Hebrews. Everything that this book says about Jesus is sourced in the Old Testament; and many analogies are drawn between Israelite history, Law, and worship practices and the new life in Christ. Most importantly, Hebrews talks about the original covenant (or agreement) between God and Israel and how Jesus has mediated a new covenant that brings people much closer to God.
A Reliable Message
If Jesus was no mere angel but the very presence of God among us, then we should listen to him. If the covenant with Israel had been valid and binding (2:2), how much more so the new one. The covenant was received from Jesus the divine Son himself (2:3), with all the reliability and authority that implies. Hebrews then traces a chain of authentication from Jesus to the late first-century audience. Since they had not seen Jesus themselves, they relied on the testimony of his original followers, to which God through the Holy Spirit added the experience of signs, wonders, miracles, and spiritual gifts (2:3-4).
Each of us has his or her own chain of authentication. The chain probably begins with people (parents, church leaders, respected friends) who have known Jesus and told us about him. Then we read the Bible and eventually become committed to Jesus ourselves.
Most of us also experience the Holy Spirit's validation. We may not be comfortable with the idea of miracles; but many of us have experienced less dramatic "signs" that, even if we would not trot them out in everyday conversation, have helped us in our spiritual journey. We may have noticed coincidences that underline an important concept or help us make a decision. We may have heard a hymn or been drawn to a Scripture passage that speaks to our need of the moment. We may have felt an inner nudge that helps us find our way through a tangle of conflicting impulses. In these and so many other ways, God continues to speak, confirming the message of Christ and helping us to live as his disciples.
Yet our access to this confirmation and guidance depends on our ability to trust the messenger. That is why Hebrews lays so much emphasis on the exalted nature of Christ: He was speaking to people who, for whatever reasons, had lost confidence in Jesus and in the Christian message. The writer needed to show that Jesus is God's ultimate messenger.
Truly Human
Jesus' relationship to God is one of powerful identity. His relationship to us is even more astonishing. When the author of Hebrews finally named the preexistent royal Son who, so far above angels, even created the world, he did not use Paul's usual title of Christ (meaning "Messiah"). No, he used the human name Jesus (2:9). More than that, just as he spent the entire first chapter insisting on Jesus' identity with God, he gave equal time in the second chapter to insisting on Jesus' identity with us––mere mortal humans.
Indeed, the Book of Hebrews contains the clearest references outside the Gospels to Jesus' earthly life. Unlike the Gospels, however, Hebrews is not interested in Jesus' teaching or in the events of his ministry. The book focuses on just two aspects of his life: his sharing of human nature and his sacrificial death. These are emphasized for a single reason: Both make him uniquely effective as our "great high priest" who gives us access to God and who advocates with God on our behalf.
The discussion of Jesus' death will come much later in the Book of Hebrews. For now it is the nature of his earthly life that is important. The one described in such dazzling terms in Chapter 1 calls us not just "children" (2:13, 14) but "sons and daughters" (2:10) and "brothers and sisters" (2:11, 12), coming from the same Source as Jesus himself (2:11). That's hard enough to take in if you feel loved, never mind if you feel rejected by your family and community as the original readers were. Whenyou feel as if you don't belong, how does it help you to know that Jesus calls you a member of his family?
Hebrews says that Jesus can help us because he has lived in our skin. He understands; and in sharing even our death, he broke its power and sprang us from our fears about mortality (2:14-15). Many Christians have in fact died peacefully, trusting that they will soon be with Jesus.
This is why Hebrews says Jesus was made "perfect" through suffering (2:10). It is quite clear that Jesus was never imperfect in the sense of being somehow flawed or incomplete. "Make perfect" (Greek teleio-sai, from telos, "goal") here means "to fit for a purpose." Jesus' willingness to take on the human condition, to share our mortality and our suffering, is what allows him to accomplish the goal of bringing us with him into the presence of God.
The good news is that's where we ultimately belong. In keeping with what we read throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis 1:26-27, Hebrews regards human beings highly, as creatures in the image of God, reflecting the divine in a way that the rest of creation does not.
Human sinfulness has given this vision a shadow side. Too often we regard the rest of creation as something to use and abuse. Still, our God-like consciousness does set us apart for responsibility and destiny. Though we may at times feel small and powerless, yet, as Psalm 8 (quoted in Hebrews 2:6-8) says, we are almost angelic in our nature and powers. It has always been God's intention that we be his vice-regents in creation.
Hurricane Katrina, the African AIDS crisis, and the Gulf oil spill remind us that there is still a lot we can't control. "We do not yet see everything in subjection to [humans]" remains as true today as it was 2,000 years ago; "but we do see Jesus" (2:8-9, New Revised Standard Version). He, though undeserving of any suffering, has pioneered the way through loss and death to new life in God's presence. His whole purpose in doing so (2:17-18) was to help us in our losses and dying, tests, temptations, and suffering.
Live the Story
Like Jesus, the Book of Hebrews is here to help us. Written for disoriented and discouraged Christians who were in danger of losing their way in faith and life, it insists that the remedy for such troubles is a focused effort to deepen faith in Jesus. This may involve grappling with how to understand him in our current culture and circumstances. It certainly will require a choice to turn to him with a trust we may sometimes find hard to feel. We also must learn to listen to him.
Think about how you hear God's voice. Sometimes, something you're reading leaps off the page. A line from a song turns incandescent with meaning. Your thinking shifts during prayer. Maybe you seek God's wisdom in the slow accretion of sevidence, or you keep your heart alert for a feeling of inner peace or disturbance. Wise words from a friend or an image that comes to mind can also speak for God.
Hebrews reminds us that the most important ways God speaks to us are through the Scriptures and through Jesus. So bring your attention there. Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Let all the things you've read and thought about Jesus just now swirl around you. Rest with them for a while.
Now turn your attention to God, the God who has spoken and is speaking, has acted and is acting. Is there anything you want to wonder about with God? Is there anything you suspect God may be wanting to say to you? Give thanks for this access you have through Jesus to know God more deeply.
CHAPTER 2Rest and Resistance
Hebrews 3–6
Claim Your Story
The committee chair looked haggard and was pickier than usual about details. She'd been carrying a lot of responsibility for getting the new housing development off the ground, and it showed. Another key resource person's pallor confirmed the time stamp on the e-mail attendees had received: 2:49 A.M.
Our society is starved for rest. Some of it has to do with the demands and temptations of our 24/7-wired world. Think about what rest means for you: a day away from the cell phone? a full night's sleep? a morning to sleep in? time with your beloved? time alone?
Even with enough sleep, what makes you feel unrested? When are you most frazzled?
Biblical scholar George H. Guthrie maintains that rest is a spiritual issue. Although the demands on us are real, our chronic exhaustion can be as much about self-assertion as anything else. The cure is not so much outside us as inside, where we learn to trust and rely on God.
Enter the Bible Story
Enjoying God's Rest
Hebrews 3–4 meditates on the problem of rest through the lens of a piece of Scripture that would have been familiar to the original audience for Hebrews. That is Psalm 95, which, to this day, is one of the psalms recited at the beginning of the Jewish sabbath service in the synagogue. As part of the spiritual preparation for worship, the congregation used the psalm to recall God's saving acts and to examine their hearts for any resistance to God. The original readers of Hebrews had probably come to Christianity from Judaism and would have immediately recognized the special function of this psalm when the author quoted it.
Hebrews not only quotes Psalm 95 repeatedly throughout these chapters, but uses it in a question-and-answer history drill (3:16-18). The questions are drawn from the psalm. The answers come from the Bible story it looks back to: the dramatic moment in Numbers 13 and 14 when, on the threshold of the Promised Land, a reconnaissance party brought back a report of a rich but daunting country. The crops were staggeringly abundant, but the towns were strongly fortified and the inhabitants powerful. Most of the spies advised against attempting the conquest; only Caleb and Joshua advocated for pressing ahead.
We can well imagine how confused and frightened the people must have been. After their daring escape from Egypt and their long wilderness journey, perhaps they had expected that God would bring them to a place they could just walk into with minimal resistance. Clearly, however, the takeover would be difficult and dangerous; and the people were not willing to take the risk. They asked instead to go back to Egypt with all the reprisals and reenslavement that was sure to mean (Numbers14:4).
Moses was appalled. His leadership and God's authority had been rejected. He thought God would wipe the people out right there. They had seen the plagues and the parting of the sea. God had provided food and water for them in the wilderness. Yet they did not trust God enough to take bold action to enter the land, so for 40 years they wandered around in the desert until the last of that generation died. Only then could Moses' successor, Joshua, lead them into their inheritance, into the rest they had been promised.
Centuries later, the psalmist meditated on how easily we get in our own way, hardening our hearts against anything that seems too wonderful or too demanding. The author of Hebrews saw his readers sliding into this error. Pulling away from Christianity in a time of difficulty, they were contemplating going back to their heritage from Moses, thus rejecting the much more trustworthy oversight of Jesus (Hebrews 3:1-6) and risking the loss of a more profound and lasting rest.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Hebrews by Chris Ewing-Weisz, Stan Purdum. Copyright © 2011 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Immersion Bible Studies,1. God's Ultimate Messenger,
2. Rest and Resistance,
3. A New Covenant,
4. Promise and Pain,
5. Seeing the Unseen,
6. Staying the Course With Jesus,
Leader Guide,