Notes on Hebrews: Chapter 3
Be faithful to his calling is the exhortation made by Luke to his Hebrew Christian audience. Our apostle and high priest Jesus is worthy of more glory than even Moses the lawgiver, and architect, of the house of Israel.
As stated in the notes for chapter 2, 1st century Jerusalem was under Roman control. The Jewish faith was being tested not only by the polytheistic Romans and their pagan practices but also by the young Christian church and its martyred leader Jesus Christ. Both their national autonomy and their faith were under attack so what Luke the gentile (non Jew) Christian was asking of his Messianic Jewish brothers was nothing short of a paradigm shift! Be faithful to Jesus and the Kingdom of God over and above your allegiance to father Moses and the national faith!
It is my belief that contemporary Christians throughout the free world face a similar set of circumstances. In place of the Roman armies we fight terrorist armies that are insistent about our demise and stir in us a mixture of fear and hate. Our national faith is not Judaism but a form of Christianity that is just as nationalistic. When we read the book of Hebrews we are reading a dissertation by an inspired messenger of God on how Jesus is higher than our religion and our national loyalties. Jesus the Messiah is higher than Evangelicalism, Reformed theology, Catholicism, Mormonism and every other denomination in Christendom. Jesus is higher than America, Canada, Mexico, and the rest of the kingdoms of men. I may sound radical to you when I say these things but I am only repeating what Luke was saying to the Hebrew Christians.
Luke understood (as I do) that this is a proposition not easily accepted for one’s church and love of country is the very marrow of our national identity. Am I wrong when I say that America is the greatest of the kingdoms of men but pales in comparison to the Kingdom of God? Christians, I tell you that Jesus said, “He who loves his life will lose it. Be careful what you cling to in this life for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” On to chapter 4
