Today we see our Lord sending his messengers out into all the world, calling people together to him. God's presence is exemplified in the presence of his high priest, Joshua. Notice that Joshua and Jesus are parallel names, just like, for instance, Roberto and Robert. God's call goes out into all the world. He tells the people what to do. And see how all these things he says to do in chapter seven verses nine and ten are things we would agree are good. Most of us even think we do them pretty well. But our Lord points out that "pretty well" is not good enough. To be acceptable to the perfect God we must be perfect as he is perfect. This we will never do.
What is our response to this giving of the Law? Do we harden our hearts as the people of Israel did? Do we try our best not to hear? Do we try to minimize the force of the Law so it won't kill us? We, like those Israelites, tend to do that very thing. We try not to hear God's Law which condemns us. We try to evade the full impact of his commands. This is what we dare not do.
What then do we do? We look to Joshua, God's high priest, Jesus, the prophet, priest, and king, who has given a sacrifice for us, once and for all, on our behalf, becoming himself both the priest and the sacrifice. We look to the risen Lord in hope. We confess that Jesus in fact died as a substitute for us. He also lives as a substitute for us. When our Lord looks at us, he sees Jesus. When God looks at our behavior, he sees the behavior of Jesus. When God pours out his judgment and wrath on the world, he has already poured it out on Jesus. We simply look in faith.
Do we then live however we want? Do we settle for "pretty good" or decide that even that doesn't matter? No. We do not wish to grieve our Lord who has given himself on our behalf. Do we really want to inflict pain on the one who has borne all our grief? May it never be. Yet as we go around doing the acts of kindness that our society needs, the things we can do to serve and love our neighbors, let us remember that it is not these which save us. It is only Jesus standing in our place, working on our behalf who saves us.
Lord, give us the grace to realize the difference between doing works of kindness to show our neighbors some of your kindness and doing works of kindness to try to earn your favor. May we serve our neighbors and delight in being used as vessels of your grace. May we look to your perfect life, death, and resurrection on our behalf to rejoice in the life you have prepared for us.
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