Hebrews 13:1-16.  We are very near the end of the letter and the author is getting right to the point.  Remember that we have a group of believers that are both Jews and non-Jews or Gentiles.  The letter is specifically to the Jewish believers.  Many of these people were probably formerly priests in the Old Testament Jewish system of honoring God.  Now they were on the outside, outcasts by their family and friends.  In the Old Testament system priests did not have a territory or land allotment, they earned their living working in the temple and doing other priestly duties.  Being outcast these people would have been out of work so to speak.  It is also quite probable that their wives and children might have deserted some of them.  There may have also been women who had been “put out” by their husbands for giving their lives to Jesus.  It appears that some of these Jewish believers were playing it cool or “laying low” with respect to church (See Hebrews 10:24-25).

In light of that the author tells them in verse 1 to continue to “love the brothers”.  By brothers he means the other Christians in their city.  This isn’t just saying they love them but actually caring for each other, being involved in each other’s lives.  In verse 2 we see this when he instructs them to open their homes to each other.  This isn’t just parties either, this would be providing food and shelter for each other.  In those days there was no “Motel 6” so people relied on the hospitality of others as they were traveling.  You see this idea when Jesus sent out his original followers and told them not to take anything with them.  Jesus expected the people in the towns they came to, to take them in and care for them (Mark 6:7-11).  We see more of this idea in verse 3 when the readers are told to remember the prisoners and others who were being mistreated.  Again he expected the “remembering” to involve action (James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:18).  Notice also in verse 3 how the author uses the idea of a body to describe the group of believers he is writing to.  The idea is that Christians are connected to each other.  According to Paul when one member of the body suffers we all suffer (1 Corinthians 12:26).  We aren’t really sure what was going on between married and unmarried people exactly.  Maybe it was what I described above or some other situation.  In any case the author encouraged them to stick with God’s plan for marriage.  In 1 Peter 3:15-17 Peter encouraged another group of believers to keep living for Jesus (v. 15) and to keep living a good God honoring example among the people around them.  In verses 5-6 the author of Hebrews encourages them about their financial troubles; he lets them know that god will not abandon them.  We do know that through the years believers have suffered and even died while trying to honor God.  There are lots of miracles of provision through the years but when Christians do suffer and die they can be sure God is still there for them and will meet them on the other side in eternity.

Verses 7-9 seem to go off in this more spiritual direction.  The believers are told to remember the people who had faithfully taught them and copy their faith.  That would be a faith like the guys back in Chapter 11 who lived looking forward to eternity and the eternal city and kingdom of God.  All of that “cloud of witnesses” served the same God available to the authors current readers.  In verse 9 the author gets very plain by telling them that it is God gift of love and salvation to them (grace) that should be their real source of strength.

In the end of verse 9 he mentions food that did not benefit those who ate it.  In verse 10 he extends the idea in a way that would have meant a lot to former Jewish priests.  The priests got their food from the offering that people brought to the temple.  These former priests no longer got their share; they were outcasts.  So the author reminds them that the food in the temple isn’t worth trading Jesus for.  In the Old Testament rules there was a particular offering designed to symbolically deal with sin.  This particular offering was killed and the blood was sprinkled around the temple.  Then the rest of the animal was taken outside the city and burned.  This particular animal was not used for food.  The death and complete rejection were a symbol of what Jesus would have to pay for our sins to really deal with them.  The author uses that Old Testament picture to remind these former priests that they were on the right track; they were the ones who were really honoring the God of the Old Testament.  In verses 13-14 he encourages them to return to Jesus in an open way and again uses that idea of a different and new home; the eternal city and kingdom.

Verses 15-16 would have been especially meaningful to former priests when the author uses the language of sacrifice.  But their sacrifice was no longer to be animals but rather word of honor to God (praise) and lives of service to others.  These are the things which really make God happy.

God help me not shrink back.  Help me be bold about my relationship with other believers.  Let me not fear whatever bad the world wants to send my way because of you.  Let me be faithful to my brothers and sisters in you.  Just tonight I heard a character in Friends, Joey, tell Phoebe’s husband to be, “Family is everything.”  Help me remember that about your family, our family.  Let me be a faithful son who pleases you.