Pentecost +21 – On Earth As It Is In Heaven

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Edith Cavell – Imitation of Christ by Brian Whelan

Pentecost +21 2024
Rev. Doug Floyd
Hebrews 3:1-6

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”^[1]

The book of Hebrews opens with God who created the world and speaks to His people. He created the world through Christ Jesus, speaks to His people through Christ Jesus. He reveals His glory through Christ Jesus and has redeemed His people through Christ Jesus. Jesus is the center of this book.

Now let me back up to God as creator. If we jump ahead to verse 10 of chapter 1, we read,

You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; ¹¹ they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, ¹² like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” ^[2]

The writer quotes Psalm 102, which emphasizes the distinction between God and His creation. In Psalm 102, the psalmist is struggling, is discouraged, is taunted by his enemies. He looks to the God who is not bound by His creation but over and above His creation. The writer of Hebrews references this verse but here he is focused on the supremacy of Christ. As we read the letter, we learn that the hearers of this book are also facing some struggles that have caused discouragement.

The writer draws upon this image of God as Creator, but he combines it with the focus on Christ who is fully God and separate from creation and who is fully man and has entered creation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ bears witness to God the Father. Christ has entered our suffering, our discouragement, our struggles. He bears witness that we have not been forsaken, but we have been redeemed. As Hebrews 2:18 says, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”^[3]

Now we finally get to chapter 3. Once again, we return to a creation image. This time the focus is on the Temple or Tabernacle.

“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. ³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.” ^[4]

Moses served the household of Israel. He directed plans for the Tabernacle and the eventual Temple is still based upon the plans he received on the Holy Mountain from God. Moses served the household of God, but the builder of all things is God.

We learn from Hebrews and John 1 that all things have been created in and through Christ. When the Father speaks, He creates in and through the Son and by the power of His Spirit. Jesus is not simply another Moses. He is the builder of the house. He is the redeemer of the house.

The writer has been talking about the creation, about the household of God’s people, and about the Temple because the whole letter is leading us beyond the veil to the Most Holy Place. All this finds consummation in Christ Jesus.

Listen to the end of our passage, “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶ but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”^[5]

We are His house.

First, Christ has incorporated us into the household of God. Consider Ephesians 1:5-6, “In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”^[6]

We’ve been adopted into the house of God to the praise of His glorious grace. We are the family of God, but we have also been formed into the Temple of God. Ephesians casts this glorious vision of us being raised up as a Temple of Praise unto God that shows forth His praise to the powers that be.

Ephesians 2:19-22 reads, “¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”^[7]

This same theme is reiterated in 1 Peter 2:4-5, “⁴ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”^[8]

Even as He has adopted us into His family, He is raising us up into a Temple. Being adopted into the family or God and being raised up as the Temple of God reveals a profound change that has happened in Christ. When Jesus Christ descends into humanity and later into death, the old creation dies in Him. When He is raised again, He raises up a new creation. We are raised together with Christ. We see this kind of emphasis in Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians and other places. 2 Corinthians 5:17 offers this as a snapshot, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”^[9]

In Christ, we are a new creation. In this new creation, some fundamental things have changed. There is no physical Temple. We are the Temple. We are the very place where God has come to dwell. We bear image to God.

In Jesus Christ, Heaven and Earth have come together: he is fully God (heaven) and fully man (earth). God the Father and His holy angels dwell in heaven. It is a purely spiritual realm. That is non-physical. But Jesus has taken a body. He is spirit and He participates in the spiritual realm of the Godhead and heaven, but He has also entered into the physical creation. When He redeems us, we also live as a people who bring together heaven and earth.

We pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” Through us. By His Spirit, the Kingdom is being revealed in and through us. At different times and different places, this can take shape in different ways. In our Gospel today, Jesus calls the rich young ruler to sell all he has and give to the poor. Think about His call. It looks very much like the action of God. Who says in Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”[10] The rich young ruler is being called to embrace the people our Father embraces.

Jesus leads us along a similar path. He leads us to pray, serve, and care for those in need. It may be that someone will come to mind. We may become aware of a need, and in that need God may be calling us to help meet that need. We don’t have to worry that we won’t hear him. He can lead us. He can speak to us in the way that we hear. In our Daily Office, we pray Psalm 95 every day. This Psalm ends with a call to listen for His voice.

Edith Cavell was a nurse in World War 1. The daughter of an English Vicar, Edith began nursing as a way of caring for her father during an extended illness. After his recovery, she received formal training in nursing and eventually went to Brussels in 1907 to train much needed nurses. “By 1912, Edith was providing nurses for three hospitals, 24 communal schools and 13 kindergartens. In 1914 she was giving four lectures a week to doctors and nurses alike.”[11]

She returned on occasion to stay with her widowed mother in Norfolk. When she heard that the Germans had invaded Belgium, Edith felt certain her call was to return to Belgium. She instructed her nurses to care for all wounded irrespective of nationality. An underground was established by some of the Belgium royals, but Edith was a member of the Red Cross and she should have not participated. She couldn’t turn a blind eye. She helped the Underground rescue 200 Allied soldiers. Eventually two soldiers were caught. Edith was interrogated. “Had I not helped”, she said, “they would have been shot”. This sealed her fate. The next day on October 12, 1915, Edith was shot. Her faith led her to care for the wounded, put her life at risk, and even forgive her killers. In Edith, we see firsthand a place where heaven meets earth.

Most of us may never face the threat the Edith did, yet when I look around this room, I see people who pour out their lives for others. St. David of Wales spoke of the little kindnesses of caring for others, befriending others, and loving others in the dailyness of life. I thank God that I see these kindnesses all through our community.

We become the point where heaven meets earth. It may not always seem significant, but I would suggest that Christ is working through us to restore a creation that cries out for the sons of God to be revealed.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 1:1–4.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 1:10–12.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 2:18.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 3:1–3.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 3:5–6.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 1:4–6.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:19–22.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 2:4–5.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Co 5:17.

[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 57:15.

[11] “Edith Cavell’s Life & Legacy”