22d Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept. 1, 2013
Heb 12: 18-19, 22-24
Christian Brothers, Iona College, N.R.
[at least 3/4 of the congregation on Saturday evenings in fact are laity]
“You
have not approached that which could not be touched and a blazing fire and
gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such
that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them” (Heb
12: 18-19).
The
author of the Letter to the Hebrews, continuing his allusions to the Old Testament and his
showing how the Hebrew Scriptures are either fulfilled or surpassed by Christ,
now recalls the experience of the Jews at Mt. Sinai. It was a fearsome experience, the power and
majesty of God on awesome display, backed by a dire warning that no one, not
even a stray goat, was to go near the mountain except Moses and his aide
Joshua. That prohibition is recalled in
the one of the verses skipped over in our reading this evening (12:20), and
even Moses was “terrified and trembling,” according to the 2d omitted verse
(12:21).
 |
| Worship of the Golden Calf, by W.C. Simmonds |
When
God spoke, the people were struck with fear.
Indeed, when their infidelity provoked his anger—e.g., with the golden
calf—he struck them hard and threatened to exterminate them until Moses
interceded for them.
Our
sacred author contrasts all that with our experience of God thru the life and
ministry of Jesus, and more especially thru his resurrection and his role as
our intercessor at the heavenly court—our supreme diplomat, as it were. He contrasts the ferocious presence of God at
Sinai with the splendor of “the heavenly Jerusalem,” opened up by “Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant,” to his followers (12:22-24).
This
heavenly Jerusalem is the dwelling place of “countless angels” (12:22) and of
“the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven” (12:23). It’s the home of “God the judge of all” and
of “the spirits of the just made perfect” (12:23).
In
Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (1:18) and in the Book of Revelation (1:5),
Jesus is called “the firstborn of the dead,” the 1st to be raised to new,
eternal life. St. Paul also calls him
“the firstborn of many brothers” (Rom 8:29).
In our passage from Hebrews, all those “many brothers” and sisters are
now counted as “the firstborn,” as Jesus’ coheirs (a word we now use in our 2d
Eucharistic Prayer, to the consternation of some who haven’t grasped its import). The firstborn, you know, is the privileged
one: the one who inherits the kingdom or
the estate, the blessings, the honors, rank, and titles, most of the wealth.
Thanks
to Jesus, all who belong to the “assembly”—the Greek word here is εκκλησία—enjoy
the privileges of being God’s firstborn, not thru a natural birth of course,
but as God’s children by adoption, as Paul writes to the Romans (8:15-19). With that adoption come all the privileges of
a full inheritance!
The
sacred writer refers to some of the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem as
“the spirits of the just made perfect” (12:23).
The just are those in a good relationship with God, “the judge of all”
(12:23). They are those who please him
thru their attitudes, intentions, words, and actions, who conform their lives
to God’s will in all things, like St. Joseph, the just man (Matt 1:19). Another translation of the word for “just” is
“righteous,” which was in fact the last word of today’s gospel: “You will be repaid at the resurrection of
the righteous” (Luke 14:14).
But
note the passive voice in the description:
“the just made perfect,” not “the just who attain perfection” or “who
make themselves perfect.” No, the agent
is God. (That’s good news for us, isn’t
it? An ordinary day’s experience is enuf
to convince most of us of the impossibility of our living entirely according to
God’s will, sinners that we are.) St.
Paul says, “It is God who justifies” us (Rom 8:33), who makes us just and
upright and clean and holy. Our part is
to allow him to do that, to be open to what he wants to do in us.
And
how does God do his work in us? Thru
Christ. When the rich man came to Jesus
seeking perfection (Luke 18:18-23), Jesus advised him, “If you would be
perfect, sell your possessions, give to the poor, and come, follow me.” Divest yourself of all that is your own,
empty yourself—and follow me. To follow
Jesus, to be his disciple, to listen to his teachings, to imitate his actions,
to embrace his cross, to accept his pardon—this is how we open ourselves to
God’s work in our souls; this is how God justifies us; this is the path to
citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem.
 |
| The New Jerusalem, after Dore', by Laura Sotka |
The
letter notes that the firstborn are “enrolled in heaven.” In the cities of the Roman Empire, we’re
told, “citizens were registered shortly after birth to record their status and
thus insure their legal and social privileges.”[1] You may also remember that Joseph and Mary
went to Bethlehem because “Caesar Augustus had decreed that the whole world
should be enrolled…. So all went to be
enrolled, each to his own town” (Luke 2:1,3).
Likewise, the Book of Revelation refers numerous time to those whose
names are written in the book of life—enrolled, in other words, as citizens in
God’s kingdom.
In
the Christian mysteries—in Baptism, the Eucharist, and the other sacraments; in
hearing and taking into our hearts the Word of God—we “have approached Mount
Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” not with fear
and trembling but with the confidence of having embraced Jesus Christ, “the
mediator of a new covenant” (12:24), who leads us to his Father to present us as
his gifts to the Father—a redeemed family of brothers and sisters, an assembly
of holy children of God.
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