Suggested Readings: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; 2 Samuel 6:12-19; Hebrews 1:5-14
Suggested Readings: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; 2 Samuel 6:12-19; Hebrews 1:5-14
In my house growing up, and in the church my family attended for most of those years, angels did not come up much. I do not remember any sermons or Sunday School lessons about angels. But when it was time for the Christmas pageant there needed to be an angel and her costume was the prettiest. She did not get to say much, maybe “fear not, for I bring you good tidings, tidings of comfort and joy.” (Come to think of it, as speaking parts go, that’s not an insignificant one). And of course, there’s the angel on the top of the Christmas tree. Beyond that, we knew angels could be messengers of God but never having met one (that we knew of) it seemed far away and long ago.
So our passage from Hebrews today can be a bit puzzling. It sounds as if someone has raised a question or even a challenge about who is higher and better, Jesus or angels? Did the audience of this somewhat mysterious book have a strong interest in angels? Was someone saying Jesus was not all that important, just one more messenger sent from God with news for us? The first four verses of Hebrews, read yesterday, give us some clues. The writer of Hebrews is looking back and surveying the ways God has shown up for humans in the past, how God’s word was brought and shown. Now the writer is telling the readers that we have the very best message ever sent from God in Jesus, God’s son. Reading this passage at Christmastime gives us a clear-eyed way to see this baby born in a stable. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ was present with God at creation, weaving stars into the sky. Not only is this baby greater than the angels, the angels themselves have and will continue to worship Christ, the only firstborn son of God. The throne of God’s son has always been and will always be, an eternal reign. Christ will sit at the right hand of God. As Eugene Peterson tells it in The Message, “this son perfectly mirrors the father and is “stamped with God’s image.” Hmm . . . the mirror image of God is Jesus and we too are made in the image of God. We speak of Jesus being the one who shows us how to be human. When we see with the eyes of the soul we also recognize that he is the clearest reflection of God, recognizable to us. How might the world be different if we looked for the glimmer or reflection of God in each other and in ourselves? Perhaps more tidings of comfort and joy?
Judy Skeen
Judy Skeen
