Hebrews 13: Jesus is

Jesus Is: A study in the book of Hebrews / Hebrews 13

For something to be wild, it has to be left up for it’s own agency and work. It is something that you cannot control (or feel like you can’t control). It is the areas of our lives and our world that are unmanageable.

And we are in constant negotiation with these parts of our lives. We can take four basic forms to relate to the world.

contemplation to the world,

adaptation to the world or

withdrawal from the world.

Domination of the world,

We work toward a certain aim based on our approach (Rosa 2019, 130).

Avoiding or Dominating the Unmanageable Parts:

in that “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” It is because that is true that we can live different lives. That we can act differently in the world. It is because of the activity and action of God through Christ that this is possible.

Hebrews 13:8–9 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

Christ Comes to the Wilds:

Hebrews 13:11–16 ESV

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The most significant act in the history of human civilization did not happen in the manageable parts of human functioning. It did not happen at the height of civilization, it did not happen at the center of the city square. It did not happen at the height of political power, or any power.

The City Crushes Us, Christ is Crushed for Us:

We have unmanageable problems in our lives. A solution comes forth to solve it. And it solves a part of it. But it ends up demanding that we call it master. We see this with technology. We are mastered by the technology we created in order to solve human problems. We see this with the state. A governed people can be problematic and a solution rises to deal with the problem: look at the third reich, or Pinochet in Chile or Maduro in Venezuala or Mussolini in Italy. Mussolini took from the playbook of Machiavelli’s the Prince, a treatise on totalitarian leadership.

That is the difference that going outside the camp makes. The city tries to solve the unmanageable parts of our lives but eventually must decide that all things and all people and all the parts of people are unmanageable. And so, the way that it fixes the issue is by crushing us.

The city always crushes us.

But Christ leaves the ways and means of the city, and He goes outside the camp. to the unmanageable parts, and doesn’t crush us.

Christ is crushed for us.

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Run to the Wilds in Following Christ:

Hebrews 13:6 ESV

So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:1–5 ESV

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

There are wild areas in your life you face every day, every week. Ones deep in your soul, ones right across the street.

It is everything for the Christian to follow Christ where He goes. And Christ goes outside the camp. He is in the wilds. He comes for the unmanageable areas in our lives. We cannot ignore our own wilds and we cannot ignore the wilds of the stranger.