Hebrews 13:1-25
The author of Hebrews mentions our Christian leaders three times in today’s reading: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. … Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls … Greet all your leaders and all the saints. (vv. 7, 17a, 24a) Remember them, obey them, greet them. In writing about “leaders” the author surely had himself in mind as one of those Christian leaders. So I wonder if the author (possibly Paul) was thinking of his own mistreatment at the hands of those for whom he had charge in the past or those whose conversions had been as a result of his ministry. It would be hard for a preacher to say “obey your leaders” without his/her listeners thinking that s/he was speaking of his/her own situation among them.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have… (v. 16a) No doubt most readers of this passage will think of donations of money or food or clothing or the like, especially given the conditions of that early Christian community in Jerusalem. Recall Paul’s own “collection for the saints” that he organized in Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia. But my thoughts in this verse went to our time and our talents. The writer begins this verse by encouraging his audience to “do good”, clearly a reference to their daily activities. So I read on that those in the body, the Church, need to be “plugged in”, to be active in their church body. And yes, it’s good for any Church to have more people involved in their many activities and ministries, but it’s also good for any individual to be more plugged in. Please note that I am not speaking to any of us on this RTNT list; we are plugged in. But there are others among us who could benefit the body and themselves with greater involvement. So if any of you have anyone in mind who could be more plugged in, think hard on how you could encourage that person to be more involved. I daresay, every ministry at St. Andrew’s could use more help!
See also: December 13/ Hebrews 13:1-8; December 14/ Hebrews 13:9-17; December 15/ Hebrews 13:18-25