Naked and Laid Bare

Sunday, October 15th, 2006
Proper 23 B
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Hebrews 4:12-16

12Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

14Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Do I really want to dwell on the fact that God knows what I was doing on July 1st, 1988, or February 23rd, 1978, or April 26th, 1983? Some people in my life are aware of what was going on in my life at those times, but in regards to GOD knowing … it’s not something I remind myself of on a regular basis. So reading this morning’s passage in Hebrews just sort of woke me up again to the fact that there is NOTHING I have done, am doing, or will do that is hidden from God’s knowing.

So while the first couple of verses may not be designed specifically to discomfit us – to cause us to be uncomfortable – they do anyway. It’s a sobering thought, when we really sit down and think – God knows my heart. God knows my mind. God knows the intentions of my heart, and those thoughts in the deepest, darkest reaches of my brain, where those thoughts seem to linger … and fester … and swell … you know, the ones that are SERIOUSLY incompatible with who I am trying to become as a Christian.

But we need to be reminded … sometimes repeatedly … of that reality … along with the reality that is brought out in the very next verses.

The passage this morning actually straddles the first divide in the message to the Hebrews. Up to this point, the writer has been talking about God and the word of God – in some ways, a review of the Old Testament concept of God … and the emphasis changes between verses 13 and 14. From that judging, holy, and to some degree distant God, to God incarnate – in Christ Jesus.

The NRSV, which does not, in this version or the ones in the pews, include the headers of sections as you might find in the New International Version or other contemporary versions of the scriptures, actually adds a space between those two verses. It signals the start of a new idea, a new concept, and a new emphasis.

And it is in this new aspect that we move away from the judging, demanding, even COLD concept of God to an image of God that is a fleshing out of what and who Jesus was. The writer begins to unfold for us an image of a God who, in his infinite wisdom, and more, in his infinite love, set himself in the place of the high priest of Israel for the NEW Israel – became both mediator and sacrifice for a people who, just like the tribes in the desert, were unfaithful, turned their backs on God, and ignored God’s calls to righteousness, to holiness, to purity, to obedience and to service.

What is important to remember is that, in providing God’s self as the intermediary between us, there is no change in the original structure of the relationship. God is STILL a demanding God. Not in a childish, spoiled way that the word ‘demanding’ can sometimes be interpreted to mean, but by virtue of who God IS. It is because of the very nature of God that we are expected to present ourselves holy, unblemished, perfect in every way before the throne. And it is with that understanding that we read those first two verses of the passage today. In some ways, it’s a word of advice and warning. The writer is reiterating what Paul says in his letter to the Romans, and the Corinthians, and the Galatians, and so many others – that God expects us to CHANGE as we follow him, as we draw closer to him, as we find ourselves IN him. Entering into a relationship with God is nothing, if not transformational to our very core.

That transformation, that change of heart, that changed mind that we hear of in the Gospels, and in Paul’s letters to other Christians, is the very one that the writer here is speaking about being naked and laid bare before God. I can’t think of any more … vivid description of what it will be like for us to acknowledge who we really, truly are before God.

Can we approach the thought of being naked before God and feel comfortable with the idea, if we really explore our hearts, and our minds, and our souls? Are we really comfortable with the idea that, that which we are too afraid or too embarrassed or too uncomfortable with to speak of even with our spouse or our very best friend will be the subject of open conversation when we are face to face with God?

If you are like me – and I truly don’t think we are that different, any of us, from one another – you’ve got a mixture of emotions running through you right now, thinking about that meeting someday. There’s eager anticipation at the prospect of being face to face with God. So many unanswered questions will be … resolved – not necessarily answered – but possibly – either with answers or with perspective – what is truly important will be revealed as that, and what is not … will go by the wayside.

The prospect of seeing loved ones whom we KNOW are in the divine presence, which have joined the heavenly choirs and have been singing hallelujah is thrilling in itself. As humans, we can anticipate events that have not yet come to pass. By that same token, we can anticipate events that will likewise cause us anxiety, like that part about God knowing our emotions and our attitudes and our thoughts and intentions. The Psalm we read as our responsive reading in some ways highlights that aspect of our relationship with God that would lead us to feel uneasy. In fact, it is the opening words of that Psalm that Christ himself quoted from while hanging on the cross at Golgotha. The words and the Psalm speak to those moments when we feel most distant from God, when we recognize just how broken and unworthy we are, how traitorous, how weak, how frail.

The good news of the Gospel comes out in the opening phrase of verse 14 –

14Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.

The writer is saying, yes, there is God, but here is our high priest – and what is HE like? ‘Let us hold fast to our confession’ – what exactly is our confession? As we recount at any of our baptism services, the earliest confession of faith of the church is comprised of three simple words: “Jesus Is Lord”.

15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.

When Jesus came to us, he could have come as a super hero, untouchable, blazing in all his glory to complete the destruction of the forces of evil, and usher in a glorious reign … but, had it happened that way, it would have been on some level coerced, imposed, a foregone conclusion to a sequence of events for humanity to have followed him. It would have required no faith to see a super-being triumphant over mere mortals. Christ was tempted with that outcome at the beginning of his public ministry, and he rejected it.

He rejected it because that was not the messiah he WAS. He knew that to really get people to follow him, it was going to have to be voluntarily, freely, with openness and willingness, and a love that would persevere through all things – to the point of suffering and death.

The hope of the Gospel is found in the fact that salvation doesn’t depend on us, but on Christ.

16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There’s a recognition of our brokenness, our fallenness, our weakness, and in that recognition there is an understanding that is full of gratitude, since our ability to approach God does not depend on our own merits, but on Christ’s.

It is a word of exhortation, and of encouragement, and comfort, all wrapped up together, to know that it is not US God sees, but Christ.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Think about it. If God sees Christ and not us … why is it that we seem to be distracted by the … outward appearances, by the ‘us’ that we see on the surface? We so easily fall into the trap of categorizing some as ‘good people’ others as ‘no count’, others as ‘ok, but keep them at arm’s length’.

Ask yourself this question: was the early church built on the shoulders of the leading citizens of the day? The folks who were the biggest merchants, the governmental leaders? NO! It was it built in SPITE OF THEM -- on the shoulders of the people who were most readily drawn to the Gospel – the outcasts, widows, slaves, those for whom the meaning of true freedom was not competing against some imagined temporary freedom they enjoyed on a daily basis, but which in fact had little to do with the freedom Christ offered them?

The message of the Gospel is best understood by those who are more familiar with the underside of society – the mold of what is accepted and acceptable is easier to break when we ourselves find ourselves broken, at wit’s end, with nowhere left to turn.

Part of living into this faith that we share is understanding and not forgetting that we are all – however fine a veneer we can put on it – we are all broken. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and on that level we are ONE. And we ONLY rely on the grace of God through Christ Jesus to draw us together.

If we keep reminding ourselves that that is the case, no matter who walks into this building, we will more easily be able to accept, more readily be able to call brother and sister, more comfortably sit beside, more genuinely share.

Let’s pray.