Take what is offered, seize it!
Lily Cathcart
December 07, 2024
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Hebrews 6: 17-20 (NRSVA)
17 In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.
This is the time of year when we remember Jesus’s birth and beginnings. They were uncertain and at their darkest times may have seemed hopeless to those adults around him. And yet his birth and childhood were only the beginning of a life in which he was to become a Rabbi to so many, and a prince of peace; not royalty on earth but divine royalty in heaven.
He is in a way like King Melchizedek who we spoke of yesterday; the mediator both royal and priestly, who embodies the purple of royalty and priesthood, who offered a safe welcome and a blessing.
Jesus offers this welcome and this blessing not just to those he met while he was on earth but to everyone now. Every person can find refuge in the love of God through Jesus and, as the passage in Hebrews says, ‘we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.’
So this Christmas, seize the hope that Jesus brings. Despite whatever hardship our stories hold, seize it with determination, with grit, and with each other.
Prayer:
Dear God of hope
Thank you that you sent Jesus to show us the way
Help us to find ways to offer that hope and love this season
Point us to people who need us to seize hope for them,
until they have the strength to seize it alongside us
Amen
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