Content related to Hebrews

Home » New Testament » Hebrews » Page 3

Hebrews 4:12-16

Proper 23B

Even adults are, in some ways, masters of hiding. We generally no longer hide in closets or behind furniture as we did when we played “Hide and Seek” as children. Yet we still manage to keep a lot of things hidden from each other – and, sometimes, even ourselves. So those who proclaim Hebrews 4…

Read More

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Proper 22B

Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider At least partly because I struggled to relate it to life in the 20th and 21st centuries, I didn’t preach a series of sermons on the book of Hebrews for the first 20 years of my ministry. Since the book had always seemed to me to be so impractical,…

Read More

Hebrews 5:5-10

Lent 5B

This week’s Epistolary Lesson assumes that for a relationship to exist between God and God’s people, as well as among groups and between individuals, things must be repaired and restored. However, Hebrews 5 insists that the only way that can happen is if God does it. We’re sometimes angered to hear our various leaders reveal…

Read More

Hebrews 2:10-18

Christmas 1A

Near the beginning of measured time, God created the heavens and the earth.  God also created our first parents for fellowship with each other and the Lord, as well as to help care for what God makes. Adam and Eve, however, chose to do the one thing God explicitly asked them not to do.  Then…

Read More

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Proper 17C

Though the lectionary epistle cuts out the middle verses of this section, the ones we are assigned today tell the church what to do in order to stay together through hardship. If you believe that the text of Hebrews is a sermon, then just minutes earlier we heard the preacher remind the congregation about their…

Read More

Hebrews 12:18-29

Proper 16C

My colleague Scott Hoezee, to whom (August, 2016 commentary) with Tom Long (Hebrews, John Knox Press, 1997) I owe a great deal for this commentary’s ideas, compares reading this morning’s text to watching a good tennis match’s extended rally.  After all, spectators must constantly turn their heads to watch a good rally.  They must look…

Read More

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Proper 15C

It sometimes seems like human nature to long for heroes.  Today, however, it’s difficult to find heroes to whom we can steadily look up.  The bright lights of things like 24-hour cable networks, YouTube and social media expose even the most famous people’s moral spots and wrinkles. So it may seem nice to have a…

Read More

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Proper 14C

The word “faith” conjures up a variety of images.  Twenty-first century Western culture often seems to think of faith as belief that has no objective basis.  One of the Merriam Webster Dictionary’s definitions of faith is “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”  From that perspective, one might have faith that, for…

Read More

Hebrews 10:5-10

Advent 4C

What on earth is this whole Christmas business about?  Why is it worth all the effort so many people put into celebrating it?  To answer that, not just the Church but also the world needs to know just why Jesus came to be not only born in Bethlehem, but also to grow up to live,…

Read More

Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25

Proper 28B

Hebrews 10 may please both those who proclaim and those hear the Lectionary texts from Hebrews who feel like saying, “Enough of all that talk about Jesus and blood already.  Just tell us what to do.”  After all, after almost endlessly teaching us about Jesus and his work, this week’s text finally teaches us what…

Read More