31 March 2022 | St Albans, UK [David Neal]
In his February 27 Sunday Times article, “Will the Permacrisis Ever End?”, Washington Bureau Chief John Glancy describes our current collective reality as, “An age of permanent crisis; stumbling blindly from one calamity to the next, scrolling anxiously through phone alerts and Twitter threads, trying to make sense of the latest Very Bad News.” Glancy continues, “It feels as though the armbands have come off and we’ve been cast once more into the whirlpool of history, with events swirling rapidly in a way that none of us can predict or make sense of.” Reflecting on these words, I can’t help but be driven back to Hebrews, the focus of our Sabbath School Bible studies for the last three months.
I love Hebrews! I love the enthusiasm of its author for Jesus. I love his conviction about who Jesus is, how He is supreme – the One who provides the gift of unlimited access into the presence of God! I note and take seriously the warning not to “fall back,” but to keep my eyes fixed on Him! I am reassured to keep going when life chucks its unpredictable rubbish my way. But does Hebrews speak to the ‘Permacrisis’ we’re in?
Hebrews was written to group of first-century Christians who were in danger of giving up. Former Jews were walking targets – persecuted, publicly ridiculed, physically assaulted, homes burgled, and thrown into prison, all because of their absolute trust in Christ. “Safer to stick with Abraham and Moses,” many Jews who’d joined the church may have said. And Gentile converts were struggling too. “This Kingdom stuff – ‘can’t do it anymore. With all that is going on around us, it’s just to challenging. So, we’ll chill and go with the flow.”
As I read the letter again, I try to imagine how the AD 60 listener reacts. “Is it true?” someone asks. “Is Jesus worth it?” another wonders. “Jesus – superior to Moses? Really? And you’re telling us that we no longer need the priest to offer the sacrifices for to God?”
“That’s right,” says the author. Because of Jesus, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16 NIV).
Does Hebrews speak to the ‘Permacrisis’? You bet it does! As Raymond Brown points out in his commentary on Hebrews, “First as a matter of the utmost importance, he has turned their eyes, not to themselves, hoping for sufficient inward strength, nor to the agonizing troubles, nor to their persecuting contemporaries, but to Christ. No believer can cope with adversity unless Christ fills his horizons, sharpens his priorities, and dominates his experience.”¹
But how do we do that? By developing an ever-growing, ever-deepening appreciation of the Gift.
It was soon to be Mary’s fourth birthday. Knowing every birthday to be very special for their young Mary, her parents carefully chose a present that would bring most joy – a doll.
When the day arrived, the excited girl jumped up and down the house while asking, “Can I have my present yet?” At last, the moment arrives when Mary sees her present. Wrapped in the brightest rainbow coloured paper and with the words ‘happy birthday’ scrawled all over it.
Dad is excited too, taking photo after photo of Mary, from every angle, as she unwraps the present. As the doll is removed from the box, Mary’s face beams with joy. She gives mum and dad big hugs and repeats, “thank you” many times. Yet, after a few minutes of playing with the doll, something strange happens. Placing the doll on a chair, Mary turns to the wrapping paper and plays with it for a very long time, screwing it up into a ball, and throwing it across the room. “Let’s play catch mummy. Let’s play catch daddy,” she shouts. “Don’t you like your doll, Mary?”, ask the confused parents. “Oh yes mummy,” she says, but continues to play with the wrapping.
For the last three months, Seventh-day Adventists around the world have been studying Hebrews. In our Sabbath School classes, we dig, discuss, debate, and wrestle in trying to understand the meaning of these ancient words. However, I wonder if in the process we play more with the wrapping paper than the gift. If Jesus really is supreme above everything else – and I mean everything, doesn’t this mean we mature as we grow in Christ? With Jesus supreme in our lives, business as usual is over – both personally and collectively. Church life can never be the same again because Jesus means much more than before. We call it ‘revival’.
If this doesn’t happen, could it be that we’re continuing to play with the wrapping paper?
Sobering! Hebrews calls us to stop playing around with the wrapping paper and receive the Gift!
We need Jesus.
End-time people need Jesus.
Because He is the ‘permasolution’!
“Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus,” who is past, present, and future (Hebrews 12:1).
¹ Brown, R. (1982). The message of Hebrews (p. 12). Emphasis added.
