TODAY'S REFLECTION FOLLOWS THIS POST
Yesterday we initiated a series of first readings for the daily liturgies from the Letter to the Hebrews. Perhaps a little teaching on this letter will help in understanding the underlying purpose of the letter and a small amount of its history.
Some call this "letter" a treatise. It is, for sure, an admonition to its audience to remain faithful on their faith journey. Clearly the author sees that journey with maps provided not by AAA but by the leadership of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Apparently the author (disputed over the centuries) saw among the faithful of his times (1-2 centuries) the possibility of genuine apostasy (abandonment of one's faith). As has happened through the centuries, believers had grown tired of the demands of their faith. The writer of the "letter"perceived among some of the Jewish Christians a lackadaisical respect for the faith they had accepted in the Christian faith.
The author tuns his attention, and hopefully the attention of its readers and hearers to the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ as a cure, as a help, to over come the weakness. His goal was to offer assistance to the faithful in restoring their weakened fervor and in giving a renewed impetus to their belief. In chapter 13 (the final chapter of the "letter"), verse 22, he designates his writing as "the message of encouragement." Again he used "the everlasting priesthood" of Jesus as the principal subject underlying the "letter's" intent to help those who would come to know this "letter" through prayer and discussion. That "everlasting priesthood," as we know it today, is a reminder of Jesus' personal sacrifice which he offered for the sins of humankind (chapter 10).
The "letter" stresses the challenges human life puts before the believer. He writes about these challenges: "for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines" (chapter 12, verse 16). But it is those disciplines that give the faithful follower the assurances that they will ultimately gain for themselves life in God's kingdom.
Because a writing ofd Clement of Rome in 96 AD contains words assumed by some biblical scholar to be from the "letter," they accept that it was crafted no later than that year. Some historians, however, find phrases suggesting its composition as no later than 49 AD, the year when the Jewish Christians were driven from Rome.
I assure you that this information was not stored on the flesh tablets of my memory. My information was taken from the introduction to the "letter" contained in The New American Bible. No doubt the Bible you have on your desk or coffee table, will have the same information.
AGAIN, MONDAY'S REFLECTION IS IN THE POSTING THAT FOLLOWS THIS BRIEF CLASS IN BIBLICAL STUDIES 101!!!
