Cliff Loesch August 26, 2007 Hebrews 12:18-29 Can You See? I found a story about an eagle that I want to share with you this week: "There is a tale told about a certain man that went through the forest seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home and put it among the fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chicken food to eat even though it was an eagle, the king of birds. Five years later, a naturalist came to see him and, after passing through the garden, said 'That bird is an eagle, not a chicken.' 'Yes' said the owner, 'but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle, it is a chicken, even though it measures fifteen feet from tip to tip of its wings.' 'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle still; it has the heart of an eagle, and I will help it soar high up in to the heavens.' 'No,' said the owner, 'it is a chicken and will never fly.' They agreed to test it. The naturalist picked up the eagle, held it up and said with great intensity. 'Eagle thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' The eagle turned this way and that, and then looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down he jumped. The owner said; 'I told you it was a chicken.' 'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow.' So the next day he took it to the top of the house and said: 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' But again the eagle, seeing the chickens feeding, jumped down and fed with them. Then the owner said: 'I told you it was a chicken.' 'No,' asserted the naturalist, 'it is an eagle, and it has the heart of an eagle; only give it one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow.' The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city and away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top of the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of the beautiful morning. He picked up the eagle and said to it: 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it. But it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher and never returned. Though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken, it was an eagle." http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-or21su.php A moment ago, Karl read a passage of the Bible from Hebrews chapter 12 that is filled with beautiful language and with striking imagery. But as you read it or hear it for the first time, you also might wonder what it's talking about. Though it is interesting to listen to, the meaning does not jump out at first. Basically, this passage is a contrast between the old and the new-a contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Mount Sinai was the mountain that Moses climbed to meet God. It is the place where the Ten Commandments were given. The people of Israel camped at the base of the mountain, but only Moses climbed up to meet God. It was that physical place that could be touched (that the book of Hebrews refers to). It was a place that was shrouded in mystery, described by the writer of Hebrews as a blazing fire, a darkness, gloom, and a tempest-a place that struck both awe and terror in the people camped below it. But in contrast to that physical place where God was believed to reside, Hebrews calls our attention to Mount Zion. Mount Zion is not a physical place, but a spiritual one. It refers to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. It is a place that is filled with light and the passage mentions innumerable angels there in a festal gathering. To me the contrast is striking. Mt. Sinai evoked darkness, gloom, and fear; Mt. Zion, on the other hand, festal gatherings, joy, heaven, perfection, and Jesus-the mediator of this new covenant. And the basic question that comes through in Hebrews 12 is can you see the majesty of God? This spiritual mountain is not as tangible as the old. Not as visible to the human eye. It cannot be touched. You cannot walk up it. But this spiritual realm is real. We are asked by the writer of Hebrews: Can you see? Can you see the majesty of God with spiritual eyes? Earlier this week the BBC interviewed an astronomer, Lawrence Rudnick. You know that our universe has lots of empty space in it. There are trillions of stars and billions of galaxies full of stars. Between the galaxies is, presumably, empty space. So there's lots of empty space out there and astronomers can identify many sections of the universe that appear to be empty. But they have just recently found an empty spot-a giant void-that is larger than anything they've ever found before. This empty space measures nearly a billion light-years across. http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6960000/newsid_6962900/6962932.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm&news=1&ms3=4&nol_storyid=6962932 Now think about that. If you could travel at the speed of light, it would take a little over eight minutes to get to our sun. Eight minutes. But to get from one side of this empty void to the other, traveling at the speed of light, it would take almost one billion years. It is an amazingly large empty spot out there in space. And it makes you think about how huge our universe is. We can't even see all of it. And then we recall our God who created the whole universe. Indeed there are many ways to recognize and to stand in awe of God's majesty. Can you see the majesty of God? Think back for a moment to the story of the eagle that I told earlier. Richard Fairchild makes the point that society has a way of dehumanizing us-of causing us to fail to see our worth before God, or even of making us into little more than objects to whom advertisers make their pitch, and about whom governments create statistics and form policies. Fairchild goes on to say that religion without vision also has this effect-reducing us to the status of law-keepers-or law-breakers, classifying us according to what we believe or don't believe, and categorizing us according to the way in which we conform or do not conform. http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-or21su.php I think he makes some good observations. And I ask the question again: can you see? Can you see the majesty of God? And can you see who you were created to be? Can you see that potential within? Can you see what God sees when he looks at you? As you look over this passage you might be tempted to say that it's not about us at all-it is completely about God, and God's great majesty. But look more closely. Verse 22 says, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…." You have come. And you are here in this spiritual city right alongside those innumerable others who are already here. And you belong here…is what it is saying to you. Harry Cotton, commenting on this verse, says, "You, the humble, the poor, the persecuted, the afflicted, you belong to that noble assembly. Be not downcast or disheartened. The noblest heroes of old are your comrades." [The Interpreter's Bible, Volume XI, New York: Abingdon Press, 1955, p.747] It's interesting to me that the eagle seemed to give up at first. In fact the first two or three times-the eagle simply refused to try to fly. The bird believed all it had been told, all it had been conditioned to believe about itself. Flying seemed out of the question. Impossible. But I think it is probably very significant in this story that it was when the eagle looked directly into the sun that it finally stretched out its wings and began to fly. The great bird remembered who it was, and flew. Likewise, it is when we gaze at the Son of God that we truly begin to see the majesty of God-and that we begin to see who we are-or who we can become-in Christ. |