A Lenten Devotional: Hebrews 1:8-12
Scripture
“But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.’ And, ‘In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end.’”
Devotion
In these passages (quoting from the psalter and Isaiah), the author of the Epistle wants to show us that Jesus Christ is superior to the angels—that he is the Lord. We labor under a misapprehension if we understand the lordship of Jesus Christ as just one among so many doctrinal points to be believed. These verses elaborate on God’s temporality (that is, his time) in Jesus Christ. The eternity of God’s throne is closely tied together with God’s endless righteousness. The righteousness of God is coextensive with the terrain of God’s kingdom, which encompasses and transcends the cosmos. Only Nothingness exists outside of God’s kingdom; Nothingness will not, however, have the last word.
Jesus Christ is the “divine person who acts, suffers and triumphs as man; the Humiliated and Exalted, the Crucified and Resurrected” (Barth, CD III.1, p. 53). Indeed, “[the] whole wisdom and power of the Creator at the beginning of all being were concretely the power and wisdom which appeared and were revealed in the man Jesus: that He was the purpose and ground of the divine creative action at the beginning of all times” (Barth, CD III.2, p. 483). It is not only that the destiny of the cosmos finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, but that time itself, and the diversity of our temporalities, are suffused and saturated by the power and wisdom of God because of what God has done in Jesus Christ.
The love of God for the Son is our surety: the Resurrection of the Son by the power of the Spirit is the vindication of the righteousness of God in the face of the forces of Sin and Death. This Trinitarian love informs the grammar of the cosmos. “The fact that God has regard to His Son—the Son of Man, the Word made flesh—is the true and genuine basis of creation” (Barth, CD III.1, p. 51). Seen in this light, we better understand the human consequences of this love. The Confession of 1967 tells us that “The reconciling work of Jesus was the supreme crisis in the life of humankind. His cross and resurrection become personal crisis and present hope for women and men when the gospel is proclaimed and believed. In this experience, the Spirit brings God’s forgiveness to all, moves people to respond in faith, repentance, and obedience, and initiates the new life in Christ” (Book of Confessions, 9:21). The crisis of judgement has occurred in the death of God on the cross; his death makes visible the absolute alienation and estrangement to which the world was once held captive. Now set free, the world can only mutter silent protest at the bleeding God who indicts, condemns, and will ultimately reconcile the Nothingness. In our freedom, we assume—in gratitude and humility—our role as God’s covenant partners who proclaim the transformative power of the Christ-event over fear, guilt, shame, alienation, estrangement, and even the Nothingness.
Prayer
“Lord, our God, because we now, at your behest, and in the name of your dear Son, call on you and want to hear your Word, grant that this does not happen without you, but in your holy presence, in the power of your Spirit, and to your glory! We know and confess that there is nothing good in us. But we hold to the fact that in you is abundance. We ask that you awaken within us obedience that makes us useful proclaimers and hearers of your Word; that nothing of its strength, depth, and clarity will get lost because of any fault of ours. We ask the same for all congregations that have gathered at this hour and on this day, both here and elsewhere, for the same purpose. We praise you, that we, as your people, know you and may praise you in humility, until all creation shall be revealed before you and will sing the new song in joy in your presence. Amen.”
