Canter Bridge

The New Testament ‘book of Hebrews’ places one layer of allusion and quotation upon another, creating a dense matrix of historical echos and interpretative nuance as it contemplates the Jesus Thing. At the animating core of this document lies the conviction that God’s actions in history and especially in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus display a remarkable continuity over the course of time. Events recorded in the New Testament are astonishing but not entirely surprising. That is, they might never have been predicted; yet, once realized in space and time, they should be understood as compatible with what has gone before.

The author of this work would have little patience for theories of a divine Plan B, foisted upon a world in which Plan A had failed, sputtered, or disappointed.

Within this dense matrix, Jesus appears as the closest of kin with the rest of us:

For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

The great paean to humanity’s dignity that is the eighth psalm is here brought in as a reflection upon Jesus’ own vocation. So does he become the firstborn of a new humanity, a kind of admirable leader whose concern for those who follow is not abated by the glorious prerogatives that accrue to him.

In keeping with the aforementioned psalm’s elevation of humanity with respect to ‘the angels’, the second chapter of ‘Hebrews’ finds Jesus’ attention fixed upon human beings. The service he provides them is shaped as priestly, cultic, and reconciling:

For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

One discovers, in the context of the ‘so great salvation’ of which this chapter speaks, a priestly leader who listens, understands, represents, and forgives.