(Based on Hebrews 6:13-20)
I have this friend who asked me for a ride one night after an A.A. meeting. He was kind of vague about where we were going, but I trust him enough. He said he needed a ride "down the street" but didn't give me any details. As we left the parking lot, he started giving me snippets of what we were doing. I was taking him to his girlfriend's house, but this wasn't just a normal hello. He was going to find out how she was doing.
My friend had been dating this girl for a while, and had gotten her pregnant. The problem was, as soon as she got pregnant she got scared. She didn't know what to do and pulled back from the relationship. So, I was actually driving him to her house so that he could possibly just get a glimpse of her through the front door. He knew that she probably wouldn't answer, and that he would have to go through her mom.
When we arrived, I sat in the car in front of the house. I gave him a pep talk, encouraging him and telling him not to do anything dramatic. I don't know if I would have had the courage he showed this night. He missed his lover, and he wanted to help her throughout her pregnancy. He walked up to the front door. No answer. A couple minutes later, the mother pulled up into the driveway. She got out of her car and walked to the front, seeing him standing there. They started talking. From where I was, I could hear him pleading to see his girlfriend. Can I just see her? Please? Can I just hear that she's alright?
I felt horrible for my friend. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be in his position. He pleaded with the mother for an hour, trying to get a glimpse or a sound from his girlfriend. Maybe a phone number or an email address - anything to let him know she was okay. He couldn't get past the mother though. He tried everything he could, but could get no access to the one he loved. As we pulled away, his voice was trembling as he had run out of options. He knew he would have to surrender. He knew that he had no control anymore. He had done everything in his power to make things right.
This story came to mind as I was reading today's passage in Hebrews. The author tells us that just as God had promised Abraham that he would make many nations out of his offspring, and would bless him abundantly, he promises us direct access to himself through Jesus. The problem with my friends' story is, he didn't have unlimited and direct access to his lover. He was blocked by the mother, and couldn't get where he wanted to go.
During the time of Abraham and the plight of the Israelites, there was only one way to access Jehovah, or what we would call God. There was a temple with an inner room. Supposedly, in the inner room was the presence of God. Anyone who entered into this presence besides a high priest would not survive. So, high priests were appointed to mediate for the Israelites. The law of the land was based around sacrifice. If you broke the law, you would have to offer a prescribed sacrifice to atone for that trespass. One would travel to the temple, give the offering to the priest, and the priest would follow strict guidelines for offering the sacrifice to the God behind the "veil." The veil was a thick curtain that separated the inner recesses - the most sacred spot - from the secular world outside. Only the priest had access to this area, and even he or she was risking their lives going into this area, because if they broke any of the rules regarding offerings, they would die as well. They would have a rope tied around their waste just in case they did anything wrong, so that in the worst case scenario, they could be dragged out by the rope.
There was no direct access to God, so God was feared as this punishing deity that demanded strict adherence to rules and guidelines. If the rules were broken, death was sure to follow. The whole system of accessibility between God and man was based on fear and sacrifice and atonement.
The promise that the author of Hebrews says that God gave us was the hope of direct communication. The author says that Jesus became the high priest, the mediator, the offering for us. Through a perfect life requiring no offerings or sacrifices for his own wrongdoings, he scandalously carried out a plan devised by Jehovah to become the eternal sacrifice for the people. He became the high priest, the only one with access inside the curtain. But, he took it further and laid himself on the altar as the sacrifice for the people. What used to be the blood of cattle, oxen, doves, and lambs, was now the blood of a human being in God's image.
According to the author, Jesus became the atonement for all of mankind for all time. No longer would humankind have to jump through loops to access this God. No longer would human beings have to offer up their sacrifices and subscribe to the hundreds of different rituals to make themselves right. It was finished. The need for humans to atone for their sins was finished. The blood running over the altar covered the ground of the most sacred area of the temple, and the curtain to the inside was torn in half. It was no longer a barrier between man and God. Mankind was saved from any further ritualistic cleansing and sacrifice for its sins.
I don't blame you if this sounds Lord of the Rings-ish. I don't blame you if this is too hard to swallow. It all can get pretty overwhelming and whimsical. I can't prove this, but can only translate in a messy way what has been written. I cannot prove any of this. I can only believe it or not believe it. Even though I believe it, I still can't prove it to anyone else but myself. The principle behind this narrative is this: We have direct access to a God who loves us more than we could ever imagine. We don't even have to make ourselves look good. We've already been made the way God wants us to be. God sees us as perfect, unblemished, and beautiful. Our sins and wrongdoings have been cast as far as the east is from the west, and we no longer have any work to do to atone for that.
What we do have is the ability to test out this direct access. While I can't prove it, I can test it myself. I challenge anyone reading this to test it as well. See for yourself that the curtain is torn. See for yourself that no matter how messy, dirty, or messed up we humans are, we have direct access to a God who wants the best for us, and who sees us a million times better than we see ourselves. See for yourself that the God we can't see, touch, hear, taste, or smell may be more accessible than we think.
Today's Action: Think of one thing in our lives that we are struggling with or writing off as impossible. In whatever way that seems right, pray about it. See if this God is really accessible. See if the promise is true that the author of Hebrews talks about.
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