Saturday 10 May 2008

Background

The writer of this letter to the Hebrews is unknown. It waswritten to Jews who had been converted to Christianity and werefinding life hard. Some were thinking about going back to Judaism,so they were in need of encouragement to keep going.

The writer outlines one of the hallmarks of the change from Judaismto Christianity. For Jews the only person who could go into themost sacred part of the Temple (which was veiled by a curtain) wasthe priest. He would go there to pray for the people aftersacrifices had been burned on the altar.

But at Jesus' crucifixion, this curtain in the Temple was torn fromthe top to the bottom (Matthew 27:51).Jesus' death had been for the sins of all people for all time. Nomore sacrifices on altars would be needed. Jesus had made theultimate sacrifice. He is the ultimate high priest (Hebrews9:11-14).

Reminding the Hebrews of what Jesus had done on the Cross, thewriter encourages the people to remember their baptism into thefaith. In this time that would have meant a time of training in theChristian faith that culminated in baptism.

To help them keep going they need to remember and practice certainthings - that God is faithful, to love as Jesus commanded (John 15:12) and tokeep meeting together.

With their hearts full of faith, the writer wants the Hebrews toencourage one another, because the day will come when Jesus willreturn (Acts1:11).

To Ponder

Imagine you were one of the first converts toChristianity. How excited would you be that you had access to Godthrough the death and resurrection of Jesus? Maybe you would havefelt other emotions too. What might they be?

Do our words of encouragement outweigh ourcritical thoughts?