Forgive me the sinner.
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Apostle writes at the beginning of this third chapter from which we have heard today, saying to us, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, . . . .” He calls us “holy brethren,” sinners though we be, who have been made “partakers of the heavenly calling” through “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,” Who was “made like unto His brethren,” sinners though we be, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation [propitiation] for the sins of the people” (Hb. 2:14-3:1). We owe everything to the High Priestly ministry of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ without Whom we all would be lost! But, then, we know that.
In his Epistle, St. Peter uses a similar phrase as St. Paul in reference to believers, telling us that we have been made through Jesus Christ, the great Fulfiller of God’s precious promises, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pe. 1:4). In Christ and through His High Priestly and eternal ministry in the heavens, we “partake,” most especially in His Body and Blood which is the apex of the Church’s experience of Her Lord; we partake of the divine nature of God, thus partaking of the “heavenly calling.” “[W]e are made partakers of Christ,” says St. Paul. We are united with God through His Son and our Brother, Jesus Christ. We are reconciled through the flesh of our great High Priest and restored to communion with God. This is the whole point of salvation, the whole reason why God could not simply snap His fingers and make it happen. It was both necessary and essential that our God would in like manner partake of our human nature so that we might partake of His own divine nature. God unites Himself with us so that we might be – and can be! – united to Him. We should be absolutely stunned, if not, speechless, at so great a wonder as this: that we should have a part in God Himself and His Kingdom, sinners that we are!
But, herein lies the danger to which the Apostle points today. He warns us; he exhorts us: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Here is a good and faithful priest who is jealous for the souls of his people that they might be found faithful and obedient servants of the true and living God at the end of their lives. He loves his people enough to admonish, exhort, and even chastise them at times, to make sure unbelief and faithlessness does not poison their souls, thus rendering them outside of the Kingdom to which we all have been called and granted access to so long as we remain “steadfast to the end.” Living in this world where instability reigns, we can become doubtful and double-minded (Jm. 1:6-8), which eventually can lead us to laxity and fickleness, which can become despair and despondency and, finally, unbelief.
None of this is outside the realm of possibility for any of us here simply because we are fallen human beings. This is what happened to our ancient brethren in the wilderness who were just as human as us, who had experienced firsthand the mighty saving arm of God in their salvation from Egypt’s dark tyranny through the Red Sea waters – a type of Baptism. And still they transgressed. And still they hardened their hearts “as in the rebellion.” For, like us, they were not immune from “the deceitfulness of sin” despite their standing with God and their election by Him! We, beloved, have been baptized! Indeed! But, we have not yet finished the course set before us (2 Tm. 4:7). We have been saved! Yes. But, we still must be saved. For the present, we are being saved and it does not yet appear that we have crossed the finish line, that we have crossed from this earthly veil to Heaven. There is still abundant time for the hellish powers to orchestrate our fall from the grace of God, something the Apostle in later chapters will underscore in no uncertain terms (Hb. 6:4-8; 10:26-31).
In the meantime, St. Paul counsels us to “exhort [encourage] one another daily.” Not merely once in a great while, but every day! There must be good reason for us to do so. By urging us to “spur one another on to good works and to love” and to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” as he says later on in this Epistle (Hb. 10:19-25), he answers Cain’s arrogant retort to God when asked about his brother, Abel, “’Am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Gn. 4:9). Why, yes, Cain, you are. We all are accountable to each other for all the baptized have been united to Jesus Christ in those holy waters of the Mystery of Baptism and set squarely within the Church – the Body of Christ God, our communion with God and His Bride. “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being,” says the Apostle, not seeking our own profit, “but the profit of many, that they may be saved” (1 Cr. 10:24, 33). And, again, from St. Paul, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Pp. 2:4-5). No longer do we nor can we live only for ourselves, says the Apostle, “but for Him Who died and rose again” (2 Cr. 5:15). This is our transformation in Jesus Christ so that we are His new creations; “old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Cr. 5:17).
If left to ourselves, we become targets of the devil who, like a roaring lion, prowls about looking for souls to devour (1 Pe. 5:8). We can become stragglers of the flock who are lackadaisical about our salvation and our attitudes toward God can sour. We can become self-righteous, comfortable with our sins as no big deal, arrogant, over-confident about our salvation, and prideful, full of ourselves – our notions, our interpretations of Sacred Scripture, our opinions – with which we flatter ourselves. God, in His mercy and infinite wisdom, has set us within a community of fellow believers and travelers on the Way, so that we have each other for encouragement and to keep us honest when we begin to stray. In fact, St. Paul admonishes us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as [has become] the manner of some,” he warns, “but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day [of your death or the Second Coming of our Lord] approaching” (Hb. 10:25).
“[W]e are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,” the Apostle assures us (Hb. 12:1). These “witnesses” are both the living and the departed – that “communion of saints” espoused by the Apostles’ Creed – which is the true and living Church of Heaven and of earth. Death does not separate us from them nor they from us. These witnesses aren’t merely cheering us on, spectators as it were, but they are praying for us, especially the departed saints who stand before the throne of God, interceding on our behalf just as we pray for one another, imploring the mercies of God for the world, beseeching for our salvation, and exhorting us across the millennia with their wisdom, if we take the time to read their lives that have been preserved for our edification. It is for this reason, then, St. Paul exhorts us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, . . . .” (Hb. 12:1-2). It is here, in the Church of every time and every place, the Church of Heaven and of earth, that we are being molded into God’s image and likeness, being made authentically human beings once more, to the glory of God (Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons) through the communion of the saints and the Mysteries, especially the Holy Eucharist which is the Food of Eternal Life and Confession which sets us free.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the confidence we had in the beginning steadfast unto the end, . . . .
For we are dust and to dust we shall return (Gn. 3:19).
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God,
have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
PROPERS:
Hb. 3:12-16
Mk. 1:35-44