What do you think when you hear the name “Jesus?” What thoughts, images, metaphors come to your mind when you hear that name? We know a lot about Jesus’ life; we have stories about what happened before he was born, when he was born, one in Luke’s gospel about Jesus at age twelve, when he was a man, starting with his baptism and ending with how he died. We even have four stories about what happened after his death. Scripture gives us a lot of information and a lot of details about his life. The hymns we sing, (some of you have been singing them for more than ninety years!) give us ways to imagine Jesus…”Gentle Jesus;” “Savior;” “Like a shepherd;” “Beneath the Cross of Jesus;” “Ah, Holy Jesus;” “When Jesus Wept;” “Jesus Loves Me!” “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine;” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus;” …I could go on and on, just from our hymnal. Each of these hymns could trigger memories for some of you and give you mental pictures of Jesus.
I’m convinced though, that in our own life, in our personal prayer times, in moments of private devotion, when we raise spontaneous prayers, most of us are pretty lazy - or at least uncreative in how we address God and how we picture Jesus. Think about the words we use to begin prayers. I know someone who begins by saying, “Dear God…” which is good. It makes her prayers feel like letters to God, or it makes them sound like personal conversations with someone who is very close. (Whom do you call “dear?”) But those two words can quickly become a formula and lose their meaning. I’m convinced that we need to think more broadly about God, in fact, we need to think about God in Christ as broadly as we possibly can.
Augustine said, “If you can imagine it, then it’s not God.” (St. Augustine Quotes, St. Augustine R.C. Church, staugny.org/quotes) Knowing that words will always fall short of describing the reality of God should spur us to be more creative and more imaginative. I try to begin prayers spoken in worship in a variety of ways. Sometimes I get stuck on “master of the universe” which is a name for God favored by many Jews. Sometimes “mighty” or “holy” God works. When Jesus taught his disciples the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer he began in a startling way, he said, “Abba,” which really means something like “Daddy.”
The words we use shape the way we think. In fact, the words we use define the way we think about things and define ways we cannot think about things. If you doubt that words have power, remember God created the whole universe in six days and the only thing God did was speak.
This morning’s lesson from Hebrews challenges us to see who Jesus is in ways that we are not accustomed to. I counted twelve different images or metaphors for Jesus in the twelve verses we read from Hebrews. That’s too many for us to hold in our minds at one time as we ponder Christ and pray in Christ’s name. But it’s good for us to encounter images that are difficult or foreign to us because it will help us grow in faith.
Image #1 “Son.” Hebrews 1:2 (NRSV). — We know that Jesus is God’s son, born of the Virgin Mary, that Jesus is God’s only begotten son. Our oldest creed tells us that. We know God’s son was born to a fairly poor family in a small town, not in a family of wealth or power.
Image #2 “Heir.” Hebrews 1:2 (NRSV). — God’s son was the heir; that is, the one who would inherit the Father’s estate. The one who had been entrusted to look after the Father’s interests. The one who was trusted and chosen to continue what the Father had begun. The word “heir” has the same root as “inherit” and “heredity.”
Image #3 — “The one through whom God created the world.” Hebrews 1:2 (NRSV). Long-standing Christian theology says that all three persons in the Trinity have always existed. Rather than God the Father making Jesus, as described in the genealogy at the start of Matthew’s gospel, and God making the Holy Spirit, as we might conclude from reading the second chapter of Acts, all three Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always existed and have always been together. Here, Hebrews tells us that Jesus was present with God at creation.
Images #4 and #5 “The reflection of God’s glory” and “the exact imprint of God’s very being.” Hebrews 1:3 (NRSV). These are two strong images which, though different, lead us to the same conclusion. Jesus is God. God and Jesus are the same. There isn’t a shade of difference between the identities of Jesus and God.
Image #6 “Sustainer.” Hebrews 1:3 (NRSV). — It says “[Jesus] Hebrews 1:3 (NRSV) sustains all things by his powerful words.” This is more in keeping with the role we usually assign to the Holy Spirit. But remember, Christians believe that Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit have always existed, so it’s appropriate, even orthodox, to say that Jesus sustains all things. One of the ways people talk about the Trinity in modern times is as Creator, redeemer, and sustainer, in place of the more familiar Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Spirit. In this text we understand that Jesus also is our sustainer.
Image #7 — “Purifier for sins.” Hebrews 1:3 (NRSV). There is a distinction between being clean and being pure. We’re clean when we wash our hands. Clean means we’re free from dirt, but to be pure requires a ritual cleansing, a special kind of washing. Ritual purity is more than just being clean, it is the removal of what keeps a person from participating fully in the life of a community. Jesus, this image tells us, removes all the impurity that keeps us from being with other believers— and keeps us from fellowship with God. Our sin, our impurity, is a barrier that keeps us isolated from other people and from God. But Jesus makes a way for us. Our sin, though serious, is less powerful than the power of Jesus’ sacrifice, which atones for our sin and makes us whole again.
Image #8 — “Much superior to angels.” Hebrews 1:4 (NRSV). Angels are very popular now, people have always talked about guardian angels. Recently I heard about an organization that was planning “Angel Con,” similar to “Comic Con,” the nirvana for comic book geeks’ annual event. People who go to Angel Con would be surrounded by other people who are experts in angelology and passionate about angels. In this image we have Jesus described as superior to angels. That implies some kind of hierarchy — as if God is at the top, then angels, then people, then animals and plants. The author of Hebrews cites this morning’s psalm that describes angels squarely in the middle between God and humanity. This image puts Jesus up there with God, above the angels and well above humanity.
A word about angels. Angels are messengers. Every place they appear in scripture they bring news, sometimes tidings of good news of great joy for all people. Sometimes not. In Luke’s gospel, the first thing the angel says to the shepherds when it announced Jesus’ birth is “Do not be afraid.” Then that angel was joined by an army of angels. That’s what “heavenly host” means, an army of angels.
The word “evangelism” has “angel” right in the middle, because evangelists carry good news. I hope that we are all both angels and evangelists.
Image #9 — “For a little while, lower than the angels.” Hebrews 2:7 (NRSV). When Jesus was on earth and lived as a man, Jesus was down on the level of humanity, but now he’s up above again. This image is of central importance to Christians because it tells us that God understands what we feel and think. God understands the pain of abandonment and the horrible physical pain of crucifixion because God in Christ felt it. God’s not remote and untouched by our longings, pain, and suffering. (The lyrics from “Christ is Alive!,” an Easter hymn, states “Not throned afar, remotely high/ Untouched, unmoved by human pains/But daily, in the midst of life/Our Savior, in the God-head reigns.”) God has been there with us. God has been there as one of us, and it is my firm belief that what God endured as Christ on the cross changed God, making God see humanity as both more precious and more vulnerable than before.
Image #10 — Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor.” Hebrews 2:7 (NRSV). These are words we mostly hear in church. Once in a while someone received an “honor” or is “honored” with an award, but “glory” is just about the sole domain of the church. Both have to do with importance and respect. For Jesus to be crowned with honor and glory is to be the most respected, most important being in heaven. Certainly that is the case because it goes on to say that Jesus, because of the suffering of death on the cross, has risen to the highest position.
Image #11 — “The pioneer of salvation.” Hebrews 2:10 (NRSV). This is is the one that really jumped out at me when I first looked at this text. I love the image of Jesus as an American pioneer, riding across the Great Plains in a Conestoga wagon, wearing a flannel shirt. I mean, that’s what pioneers did, wasn’t it? Yes, in our national history that’s what pioneers did, but in general, pioneers are the ones who go first and find a way for others to follow. Pioneers are the ones who blaze the trails for those who come after them. Louis Pasteur was a pioneer because he realized that things too small to see made people sick. Jackie Robinson was a pioneer. Alan Shepherd and Chuck Yeager were pioneers. They went first; it’s dangerous to go first. The first ones are the ones who are misunderstood. The first ones don’t have anyone to ask for directions. They’re the ones who are brave beyond courage. And they are strong from within. Think of how that applies to Jesus. He blazed a trail for us. He went first by rising from the grave. He has gone before us to prepare a place for us. He’s the one who makes us safe — eternally safe and secure.
We’re almost done, Image #12 — the last way the text helps us imagine Jesus is as “the one who sanctifies.” Hebrews 2:11 (NRSV). Sanctify is another church word, no one ever uses that word anywhere else. Jesus, our sanctifier, removes sin from us, and makes us holy. That’s what it means to be sanctified — we are set apart as holy, set apart for God’s use and we’re free of sin.
Twelve images are a lot. Too many to absorb and put to use at once. But as I say after a big meal, “the message of the gospel is abundance.” There should be more than we can hope to comprehend - more than we can hope to use. There should be too many images for us to see anything clearly. Hold onto one and you’ll miss the others. Son… heir… Creator… reflection of God’s glory… exact imprint of God’s very being… sustainer… purifier… superior to angels… below angels for a time… crowned with honor and glory… pioneer of salvation… sanctifier….
Hold onto as many of them as help you understand how good God is to us, in sending part of Godself to turn us around, wash us and make us new. Celebrate God’s love for you. It is a love that is beyond our ability to understand.
Amen.