Despite the powerhouse texts read this week from the Old Testament and from the Gospel, we are concentrating on the less dramatic text from Hebrews, a book of the Bible few would call their favorite. In fact, poet and literary critic Robert B. Shaw recalls a line from one of the novels of E. F. Benson. "Two ladies are exploring an English village where their presence is recognized as unusual: 'They wandered down the main street, exciting as much commentary as the Epistle to the Hebrews."' (p. 265 in Incarnation [New York: Viking, 1990]).

Hebrews focuses on an issue which, in comparison to those other weighty texts, may appear to be somewhat marginal and oddly old-fashioned. Indeed, given today's 24-hour-a-day-seven-day-a-week economy and "workaholic buzz," the Hebrews author's admonition …