Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

I would like to paint for you a little of what life might have been like for people in New Testament times. Two thousand years ago, the whole known world lay under the long arm of the Roman Empire led by the emperor Caesar. From the western most coasts of Spain to the desert shores of Israel, Rome’s laws reigned supreme around the Mediterranean. Rome was the most powerful, the most prosperous, the most advanced civilization the world had ever known.

Rome’s armies kept the peace. Roman Soldiers, called centurions, moved with lightening speed and brutal efficiency to bring towns and villages under Caesar’s name, which meant under Caesar’s control.  Rome’s traders opened new markets and brought new products. They traded teas and perfumes and spices and brought them into village markets and Roman homes. They did so using coins stamped with Caesar’s image. Rome’s engineers built roads, and public water systems called aqueducts, and enormous temples in the name of gods like Artemis and Diana and a Colosseum for public entertainment, which is still standing today. And, at every public dedication of these engineering marvels, local officials thanks and praised Caesar for his wisdom and generosity.

Everywhere Rome’s long arms reached, Rome’s citizens were safe. They were prosperous. They had comforts and privileges few others could imagine. But, Rome’s long arms also reached deep into the pockets of ordinary citizens. Rome’s treasuries taxed ordinary people to pay for Caesar’s massive armies and building programs. Rome’s laws were merciless. Prisons were full and public executions were as common as public parades. To support Rome’s appetite for goods and services, a system of haves and have nots developed – the have’s to enjoy the privileges and comforts of life. The have-nots to work and serve the haves, often in slavery and bondage.

While Rome’s citizens enjoyed the privileges of Roman citizenship, there was discontent and unhappiness simmering beneath the surface. This was no where more so than in the poor and Roman occupied region of Judea. The Judeans, known to us as the Jews, refused to bow down to Rome. They insisted, with great peril to their lives, on worshipping the one true God of Israel and not fawning over Caesar. They looked not to Caesar for their help, but to God. They worshipped not in the temples to the Greek and Roman gods, but prayed in the temple in Jerusalem. While their Roman brethren watched and roared at the brutal gladiator games at the Coleseum, the Jews refused and insisted on faithful service to God.

Among them a man named Jesus of Nazareth arose. He came to his own people and proclaimed that the kingdom of God had drawn near. During his first sermon, he said the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to bring good news for the poor, release for the captives, and freedom for the prisoners. He taught that a person’s chief aim in life was to love God and love their neighbor. He healed the sick. He ate with sinners and tax collectors, and befriended people who everyone else in polite society considered unfriendable.

He came to his own people, but many of them did not accept him. He said that true worship and service of God is to be done in spirit and in truth, not with a system of rules and ritual sacrifices. It is better for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by religious traditions. His message offended and threatened the religious officials and elite of his day. They in turn colluded with the Romans, led in Judea by the Governor, Pontius Pilate, and had him arrested, tortured, and crucified on the cross.

Crucifixion was the Romans preferred way to punish those within its borders who were a threat to stability. The Roman’s goal when crucifying someone was as much punishment as it was a warning to others: Beware. Stop what you are doing and saying, or this may happen to you too.

But, the message of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection three days later spread throughout the Roman world. Within 30 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection, apostle’s like Paul and Peter and women like Prisca and Aquilla started Christian communities in Roman cities such as Philippi, Corinth, and Rome itself. Some of these communities started in homes, others started in local synagogues. They were devoted to learning the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, to breaking bread and sharing communion, to fellowship and service to the poor and downtrodden, and to corporate prayer. Many of them faced intense persecution from the Roman authorities. Tradition has it that most of the original twelve disciples were martyred, killed by the Romans for their beliefs; with tradition holding that Peter himself was crucified by Emperor Nero; upside down at Peter’s own request because he did not think he was worthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus had been.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus, and his message, and the Church which formed around his death and resurrection was such a threat to Rome? How could mighty Caesar be so afraid of a message of love and equality before God? It is a sign that the power of love, and the inherent dignity and freedom of human-beings, and our common equality before God changes the world. And, it is passages like what we read in Hebrews that shook the moral foundations of the Roman Empire and makes the powers that be throughout the ages shudder.

Whenever there is a great disparity between the rich and the poor, whenever there is indifference and smugness among the affluent, whenever there is a lack of respect for the dignity of human life, or a cheapening of human relationships and marriage, or the abuse of prisoners and refugees there is a conflict between the powers that allow it to happen and the purposes of God. In other parts of Hebrews and the New Testament, this conflict is even more sharp. It is like The Lord of the Rings, if you’ve ever read the books or watched the movies. There is a real fight between good and evil. There is a struggle between what is good and right and true and the purposes of God, and the forces of death and destruction that are bent on cheapening and dulling human life in service to profit and power.

Have you ever considered that Jesus has something to say about those in prison, those in poverty, those who are considered weak and expendable? The Jesus we get to know in the gospels was almost always on the side of the poor and downtrodden. Have you ever considered that when you were baptized, when you were brought into the life of Christ, you were enlisted into this fight between good and evil, between what is right and what is wrong? It is one of the questions we ask during baptism, “do you promise, by the grace of God, to resist oppression and evil and show love and justice?” In your baptism, you are a beachhead for the Almighty. You are an outpost in hostile territory. The Almighty has given you a part to play in this grand struggle between what is good and right and true and what is deadening, cruel, and wrong. Our part might seem small and insignificant, but we each have a part.

The strange thing about this struggle between good and evil is that Christ and his Church do not show up with weapons of war. Instead, our armaments are different. They are faith, hope, and love. The sword has been beaten by God into a plow. Or as the legendary Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn once remarked, “Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.” Jesus was a carpenter and the church follows in the way of Jesus, building things up. Our reading from Hebrews is about how the earliest Christians, following the way of Jesus, built a different kind of world than the cruel and greedy world of Rome where nobody cared about anyone but themselves. 

Consider the first words we read: “Let mutual love continue”. Literally, in the Greek – philadelphia – brotherly love, mutual love. “Let brotherly love continue”. Anytime someone chooses to love, there is no room for hate. It is easy to be indifferent and far more comfortable to be apathetic, but to choose to love someone else, especially when that person is different or an enemy, is an act of courage. And love is infectious, it catches others. Let mutual love continue.

The second thing that Christ and his Church bring to the fight between good and evil are hospitality. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels.”. Hospitality is welcoming someone else into your home as if that person were the Lord himself. Hospitality is caring for someone’s needs, even when you don’t technically have to.

The third thing we bring to the fight is care. “Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them.” According to studies, in the United States we imprison almost 2 million people. We have the highest rate of putting people in prison of any democracy, and our people are no more or less violent or prone to drugs than anyone else. We Christians are called to care about people in prison – before they go to prison, while they are in prison, and when they get out.

The fourth thing we bring to the fight is joyful seriousness. “Let marriage be held in honor by all.” There is a reason to celebrate when someone chooses to get married and it’s not just about the parties. They do so with all joy and seriousness for the lifelong vows of love and commitment they are choosing to make. 

The fifth thing we bring to the fight is contentment. There is so much striving and anxiousness to try to have more and more and more. How many of us really feel good about ourselves after looking on Facebook and comparing our life with the lives we see others living? But, we Christians do our best work when we work hard, are fair and just, and content with what we have.

Is this struggle for the purposes of God easy? No. It has never been all that easy to be a Christian. Like our ancestors in faith experienced, we will run into hostile forces which are content to keep things the way they are. But, the power of love, the power of human dignity and equality before God, the power of God made known in the death and resurrection of Christ propels us onward through our trials and struggles. So, let us say now the words we heard in Hebrews:

      The Lord is my helper;

      I will not be afraid.

      What can anyone do to me?

Thanks be to God!