DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
The Sunday of St. John of the Ladder,
April 2, 2006 Tone 8 The Fourth of Great Lent
Kellia: Wisdom
1:16-2:22 LXX Epistle: Hebrews 6:13-20 Gospel: St. Mark 9:17-31
He Who Is Our God: Hebrews 6:13-20, especially vs. 17: “Thus God, determining to show more
abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed
it by an oath.” The philosopher and Emperor, Marcus Aurelian, observed that
“The universe is change.” Human
experience generally accords with Marcus Aurelian that change is a mark of this
life. However, Christians, while
sharing the common experience of change, have the blessing of a greater, more
certain, unchanging reality: the Person of God Himself. God not only does not change, but has
indelibly fixed knowledge of Himself, so that all men may “dip into the stream”
of a Living and Holy Tradition at any point in its history and meet the
ever-same, unchanging God.
Throughout recorded history, as new
light from God has “broken in” on mankind’s path, God has added promises to His
earlier pledges. Thus, though our
vision enlarges, it is knowledge of God that increases. God remains unchanged. He Whom we meet, we discern more clearly; He
Who promised unfailingly, keeps His word.
In this passage from Hebrews, the Apostle is absorbed with God’s
immutability. All that the Apostle
presents, he anchors to the unchanging nature of God. Consider, then, what the Apostle teaches us about Him Who is
immutable.
God is the “greatest” One we can
ever imagine or encounter (vs. 13). In
whatever categories we consider Him, whether goodness, power, truth, knowledge,
value, reliability, or stability, God is the greatest above all. Hence, we call Him, “Good One, Almighty,
Truth, All-knowing, Our Treasure, Our Only Hope, Thou Who Changest Nnot,” and
so on.
Being The Greatest, God supremely is
the greatest among all who claim to speak the truth and ask us to take them at
their word (vss. 13,18). Notice,
however, that God carefully gives us reason to believe Him, knowing full well
that we are accustomed to lies and deception.
Hence, He swears an oath of fidelity and truth to us. What guarantee do we
have that yet again we are not confronting perjury in the Word of God? He swears by Himself, and for this reason
the Lord Jesus pointedly asks, “What greater than God do we require?” (Mt.
23:16-22).
God is One Who blesses. Especially, He blesses those who resolutely
trust Him (vs. 14). Look again at the
Genesis account from which verse 14 quotes (Gen 22:1-17). One cannot think of greater trust in the
veracity of God than that which Abraham exhibited. In turn, God has proven true to the word He spoke to Abraham, and
He continues in truth to this very day.
God is Consolation for all who have
been lied to, who have been wounded unfairly, or who have themselves failed and
repented. For this reason St. Paul says
to the Church at Corinth, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in
all our tribulation....For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also abounds through Christ” (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
The Psalmist teaches that “Our God
is refuge and strength, a helper in afflictions which mightily befall us” (Ps.
45:1 LXX). Here is the same message
which the Apostle declares in the present passage (vs. 18). Behold!
We have in God a ground of hope no matter what befalls us. We do well to “...lay hold of the hope set
before us. This hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast....” (vss. 18,19). God is a hope Who enables us to say further
with the Psalmist, “...O Lord, Thou art my hope from my youth” (Ps. 70:4 LXX).
Finally, in this passage the Apostle
teaches us that God is accessible (vss. 19,20). Our hope is sure because Christ our High Priest is in the
Presence of God. A human being, the Savior
of mankind, intercedes for us directly behind the veil that separates God from
mankind.
O
Christ, our unchanging God, our only Hope, intercede for the salvation of our
souls.