Today's Meditation
Read Hebrews 2:5-10
5Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? 7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
This is a loaded passage, as is most of Hebrews. It is full of theological reflection, dissection, and substance. This passage alone requires multiple and careful reading. But several passages struck me this morning. The first one, "but someone has testified somewhere." Sounds like the beginning of a bad rumor being spread. However, I feel slightly encouraged when I'm trying to remember the chapter and verse of a particular Bible passage but can't, when the author of Hebrews can't remember that this verse he is about to quote, comes from the Psalms - specifically, Psalm 8:4-6.
The following sentence is key to our everyday existence. "Now, in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control." We have the ability, the knowledge, and the wisdom to use the resources God has given us for good or for ill. For too long in our history we have sacrificed the health of our planet for our own personal gain. We've done a very poor job at nurturing, monitoring and caring for the creation. Will we learn to better manage it what we've been given? Will we learn to better care for the earth? At what point will it be too late?
My last "take home" from this passage is the final verse. "It was fitting that God...should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Have you ever worked clay to make a pot? The wet clay ball is slapped upon the wheel. It is pushed and pulled, stretched and spun. It suffers much at the hand of the potter to become a perfectly formed vessel. What's even more fascinating is that this clay jar, made from the dust of the earth (what else has been referred as being made from dust of the earth?), formed (suffered) at the hands of the potter can outlast millenia. The oldest pot shard found has been dated back 20,000 years!
It is indeed fitting that God made the pioneer of our salvation, Jesus Christ, perfect through sufferings.
Blessings my friends!
I think I've posted this song before, but it is one of my favorites and encompasses EVERYTHING about this passage.
You Say by Lauren Daigle
No comments:
Post a Comment