A Reflection for Monday, December 16, 2024 by Rev. Ellie VerGowe Highlands
Lectionary reading for 12/16/2024: Isaiah 11:1-9, Numbers 16:1-19, Hebrews 13:7-17
Selected Passage for Reflection: Hebrews 13:7-17
Read
Hebrews 13:7-17
“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of
lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”
Reflect
Few leaders can be found that are worth our confidence and submission. In our political climate and even in our work and worship spaces, a text like this one can feel grating at best and abusive at worst. What can this text possibly mean when we are led by powers that encourage and fund violence of entire people groups, uproot beloved people from their homes, deny rights to those who love someone of the same gender, and degrade the bodies and choices of women? Does our sacred text really ask that we submit to all leaders anywhere and everywhere?
In my work as a hospital chaplain, I meet with people for only a small moment on their journey. I like to imagine I get to hop on the train of someone’s life until the next stop when they leave the hospital. And sometimes, my job is to connect people with resources for the next leg of their journey. I share a grief organization I used to work for to the new widow, and share the number of a rabbi friend with a man seeking to go deeper in his Jewish faith practice. I would never send a vulnerable person into the arms of a leader that I did not already trust.
I have to imagine the author of Hebrews had a similar practice. While the authorship of Hebrews is unknown, it was most certainly written to a group of people known to the author, and the author knew the leaders of the community. These were specific people this writer was talking about and who were worthy of imitation. They could be trusted.
This text invites us to re-examine who we follow. Do our leaders do anything to get to the top including stepping on other human beings? Or do our leaders value the ones pushed to the bottom and advocate for their thriving? Have our leaders earned our trust?
The author of this text also invites us to follow the leadership of Jesus. Throughout Hebrews,
Jesus is held up as the high priest of the faith and the one to be emulated. But he is pushed outside into the wilderness in disgrace, and he was killed there in the wilderness outside of the city gates because he hung out with the “wrong people,” worked for liberation and did not submit to leaders anywhere and everywhere. Readers of this Hebrew text are invited to follow his leadership, work for the thriving of neighbors, and go into the wilderness outside of the city gates too.
As a backpacker, I know that the wilderness is not safe. I have to pack my own food, warm
clothes and be prepared for bad weather. But I also know that being in the wilderness is where I feel the most home and it shows me more beauty than I ever thought possible.
Respond
What wilderness might God be inviting you into? What does it look like for you to welcome disgrace if it means the thriving of others? May we gather our courage and heed the invitation to set aside our holy spaces, rituals and what we have always done, to threaten our own standing in the community, to welcome disgrace and go beyond the city gates to the unknown of the wilderness. May we look around and see Jesus in the beloved and beautiful faces around us.
What wilderness do you already find yourself pushed to by the powers that be? If we find ourselves already pushed into the wilderness (whether by our own choice or not), may our spirits be soothed. May we be struck with wonder and awe, even here. There is nothing like beauty, wonder and awe to soothe the soul. May we remember that we are in good company as Jesus is here with us too.
Rest
Take a moment to close your eyes and breathe. Bring to mind a place in nature that is soothing for your spirit. Imagine Jesus with you there and pray with him beside you. Read the following prayer and take a moment in between each line to just listen to the sounds of the wilderness and to the voice of Jesus.
Oh Jesus you are the same, yesterday, today and forever.
Soothe my spirit whether I find myself inside the city gates or out in the wilderness.
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear the beauty all around me.
Show me the path to follow you into the wilderness and out of the city gates.
Give me courage to follow your example of liberation and love.
Remind me as I am in the wilderness, that this is where I find you.
Oh Jesus, soothe and restore my soul.
Amen.
About the Author
Ellie VerGowe Highlands is a hospital chaplain in Seattle. She primarily serves two ICU units and a bone marrow transplant cancer unit, as well as provides care for hospital staff. She feels honored to get to know, learn from and offer support to people who are in tough situations. To find joy and peace, Ellie gets outside, notices beauty and experiences awe/wonder, makes art (painting, poetry, singing) and spends time with loved ones. She is married to Aaron and they have a beloved dog named Fiona.
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