The writer of Hebrews has tried to make clear early and often that Jesus came to deliver us from religious systems. In chapters 5 – 9, for example, he compares Jesus to Melchizedek and contrasts the Melchizedek priesthood with the Levitical priesthood. The Old Testament priests served in buildings by administering rituals. Melchizedek met Abram outside with no ritual other than serving him “bread and wine,” apparently without fanfare.
It seems that he takes a last run at it in Hebrews 12 beginning with verse 18. He contrasts a physical experience of “thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast” (see Exodus 19) with a spiritual one:
But you have come
- to Mount Zion and
- to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
- to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and
- to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and
- to God, the judge of all, and
- to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and
- to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and
- to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12.22 – 24, ESV, bulleted for clarity)
What is this list? Why is it being contrasted with Exodus 19? It’s spiritual as contrasted with physical. We might be drawn to the spectacular demonstrations of Exodus 19. (The Israelites weren’t drawn; they were terrified!) But God says it’s the spiritual manifestation of God’s Kingdom that counts.
In the middle of this, I’m trying to understand verses 26 – 27. The Message helped me:
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk… (Hebrews 12.26, ESV, and 27, MSG)
What’s God shaking and why? He’s performing a “thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk…” My friend Hanh, a Jesuit, calls it “scaffolding.” One needs scaffolding to build a house, but after it’s built, the scaffolding is removed. In religious circles, we love our scaffolding! In most cases, I like MY scaffolding, but I’m not so sure about YOUR scaffolding!
A friend of mine, a Lutheran, said to me years ago, “Bob, it’s trappings. We all have trappings.” He’s right, Hanh is right, and the author of Hebrews is clear. The trappings and the scaffolding and the historical and religious junk have to go.
And what’s left?
…the unshakable essentials [standing] clear and uncluttered. Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire! (Hebrews 12.27 – 29, MSG)
I don’t know all that that means nor even what this housecleaning might look like, but Hebrews 13 contains the “so what?” After 12 chapters, essentially, of theology – the theology of Jesus is better than angels, than Moses, than the law, than the priesthood – and we need to quit focusing on the trappings and do what? Live life! More about that tomorrow.
Let brotherly love continue. (Hebrews 13.1, ESV)
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2.19 – 22, ESV)