Hebrews 9:11-14 (NRSV)
Read Hebrews 9:11-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 11But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), Verse 12he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. Verse 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, Verse 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
Devotion
I don’t believe we live in a “secular age,” but rather an immature spiritual age, fraught with naive, chaotic attempts to make sense of God and creation. The Hebrews writer references the old “sacrificial system” used to connect with God, and then makes the case for Jesus, who is “so much more” than that old system.
Whether it is the “old age” sacrificial system or the “new age” attempts to access the Holy; whether the rigid “old” structure or the chaotic “new” stuff, Jesus Christ is “so much more.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the culmination of God’s relationship/reconciliation to creation, including you and me.
Our communities are filled with people searching for meaning; for the Creator. As we meet them, I pray we might say, “You want to know about life? You want to connect with God? Let me tell you about Jesus...”
Prayer
Dear Jesus, you are the way, the truth and the life. Bend our hearts to you. Move our lips in witness to your saving grace; move our hands in service to your people. Amen.