Hebrews

Jesus, the Supreme Witness of Faith 

What a cloud of countless witnesses surrounds us! So, let us shed every weight, especially sin, to keep running the race set before us.

Let us focus on Jesus, the author of our faith, who will bring it to completion. For the joy waiting for him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat at the right hand of God’s throne. 

Think of Jesus, who endured many contradictions from evil people, so that you will not be discouraged or grow weary. 

Have you already shed your blood in the fight against sin?

God, the Fatherly Educator

Remember the comforting words that God speaks to you as children: My son, listen when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he disciplines you.

For the Lord corrects those he loves and disciplines everyone he accepts as a son.

What you endure is meant to correct you. God treats you like sons, and what son is not corrected by his father?

If you were without correction, which all receive—as is fitting for sons—you would not be sons, but illegitimate. 

Furthermore, when our earthly parents corrected us, we respected them. How much more should we be subject to the Father of spirits to gain life? 

Our parents corrected us as they saw fit, for this brief life; but God corrects us for our own good, so that we may share in his holiness. 

All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later, it brings the fruit of peace and righteousness, to those who have been trained by it. 

Lift up, then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; 

make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed.

The Grace of God

Strive for peace with everyone and pursue holiness, because without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

Be careful that no one falls short of God’s grace; otherwise, a bitter root may grow and cause trouble, corrupting many. 

Let no one be an immoral or godless person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 

You know that later, when he tried to get the blessing, he was rejected, even though he cried and begged.

What you have experienced is unfamiliar to the senses: not the heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom, storms, 

bursts of trumpets, or such a voice that the people begged for no more words to be spoken. 

They could not endure the order that was given: every human or beast reaching the mountain shall be stoned. 

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’

But you have approached Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its innumerable angels. You have come to the sacred feast, 

the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven. There is God, the judge of all, with the spirits of the just made perfect. 

There is Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, with the sprinkled blood that speaks more powerfully than Abel’s.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. If those who ignored the prophet’s warnings weren’t spared on earth, how much more will we be punished if we don’t heed the one warning us from heaven? 

His voice, then, shook the earth, but now he says: Once more, I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. 

The words “once more” indicate the removal of everything that can be shaken, that is, created things, and only those that cannot be shaken will remain. 

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful and offer to God a worship that pleases him, with reverence and awe; 

for indeed our God is a consuming fire.