Hebrews 13: 1-8; 15-16; Chain of Command(s)

"1 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4 Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ 6 So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever....15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

Introduction

This passage gives to the readers a series of apparently disconnected ethical exhortations. As is always the case in the New Testament, ethics flow from theology and eschatology; that is, exhortations to just and merciful conduct flow from what God has done for us in Christ and the expectation that some day there will be an accounting or reckoning for how we have lived. Often these ethical or moral statements are connected with "household duties," such as the relationship of parents to children and vice versa (see, for example, Col. 3-4; I Tim. 5), but here the list is broader than that.

Well, how do we study and make sense of these words? On the one hand we can look at them as rather disconnected pieces of advice, pick out one or two of them for special mention and then have our message. But I choose to see these imperatives in Heb. 13 as commands that relate to each other. Or, to use a cinematographic metaphor, I see them as consecutive "scenes" in a movie, where the director has given the "fade out" and "fade in" orders to his camera people. Thus, these commands don't so much build on each other as "fade into" each other. With that in mind, let's try to construct a plausible narrative that connects all these exhortations. There are about seven of them, so I will spend only a few sentences on each.

1. Brotherly Love

All the "theology" of Hebrews over. We have gone through the wilderness anew with the people of Israel; we have entered into the Holy of Holies with Christ, the great high priest. We have listened to the stories of the heroes of faith (ch. 11). We are running the race with perseverance (ch. 12). Now we are ready to listen to the author's final words to us. The first is simple. "Let brotherly love continue." The word translated "brotherly love" is philadelphos. It is a wonderful "combination word," which we have memorialized in the name of a city. The word for "continue" is the simple Greek word meno, which means "to remain." It is the same word translated as "abid" in John 15--emphasizing the importance of "remaining" or "abiding" in Christ. Let that kind of love for each other persist.

2. Hospitality

A manifestation of philadelphos is hospitality. The author draws on the Biblical story of Abraham by the oaks of Mamre (Gen. 18). It is such a powerful story because Abraham greets the three strangers with signs of welcome and hospitality before he even knows who they are. He doesn't calculate; he doesn't check the larder to see if there is enough to entertain the guests. He simply bows down to them and says:

"My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought...Let me bring a little bread...." (Gen. 18:3-5).

Just as we have the example of Jesus' words from John 15 on how to "abide" or "remain" in Christ, so we have the picture of Abraham from Genesis 18 on how to be hospitable. Exhortations make a lot more sense when there are pictures behind them.

3. Remembering Those Imprisoned

The idea of hospitality "fades into" a concern for prisoners. This is just hospitality practiced outside of the home. The language is difficult to translate, especially the last phrase, but the gist is quite clear. You just don't call to mind people in prison; you call to mind those who are suffering in prison. Though the author doesn't exhort the hearers to visit those in prison (unlike Matt. 25), it doesn't seem possible to remember those suffering unless one knows their condition. True hospitality will extend itself even to those with no or few rights.

4. The Moral Life

The connection between v. 3 and v. 4 isn't clear. One suggestion may be that thinking about prisoners, those who have even the most intimate human relationships removed from them, leads the author to think about an intimate relationship from human life--marriage. But he just doesn't exhort us to think about marriage or to respect it. He warns us the penalties that flow to those who despise or treat it lightly. Here the author mentions sexual matters. In his day, as in ours, sexual "wandering" is probably one of the biggest causes of strain on marriage.

5. Money

Dante wasn't the first person in Western culture to connect lust and money or lust and greed. The author of this letter now moves to the topic of money. His exhortation is one that is consistent with the message from many other places in the Bible (especially Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount). Don't put your trust in money or be overly worried about it. Then, the author drops this bomb: "Be content with what you have." What is so controversial about that? Why, he is being almost Unamerican in suggesting this. Our society lives on the notion of discontent with what we have. Discontent is the oil that greases our economic machine.

Maybe aware of the seductive allure of money, the author gives two verses to it, referring also to an OT passage on the Lord's sufficiency in our lives. If we are convinced of this, then the worries diminish. I don't expect that they will ever cease; but this verse is another reason not to make worry about money a major concern.

6. Leaders and Jesus Christ

Mention of the Lord's protection in v. 6 no doubt triggers in the author's mind the reality of the rulers and the need to "remember" them. Then, he moves to the "great" ruler, Jesus Christ. The assumption of the first five or so exhortations is that life doesn't "sit still." Some are in prison whom we remember. Marriage is ongoing. Economic pressures are always changing. But Jesus is the one who doesn't change. The assurance of protection in v. 6 is a constant promise. The reality of presence is unwavering. It is almost hard to understand something that doesn't change, so caught up are we in the world of change. But the constancy and eternality of Jesus Christ, the one who is the author and finisher of our faith, ought to anchor us in the midst of the exhortations of life.

Conclusion--Thanksgiving

So, what do we do? We not only conform our lives to the exhortations of 13:1-7, but we bring our voices in praise and thanksgiving to God. Sometimes, and believe me I know, the offering of praise and thanksgiving is impossible for us. Other things just chase away all our breathing space, all our ability to be grateful for life. But this is our ambition, our hope, our longing--to praise God and do good to those with whom we come in contact.

If we do these things, life won't be half bad. Or, in the language of Scripture, those who do these things "will never be moved."

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