Great Glory, Greater Glory
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
This letter was written to people that were fully believing in and following Jesus. They had grown up or otherwise previously been Jewish. That’s all fine and good, since Jesus Himself was Jewish and spent the majority of His life reaching out to the Jewish people.
But now the writer of Hebrews is kind of pushing some buttons and shaking things up. If you had been raised Jewish and loved the Torah, you had heroes. David, Solomon, several contemporary rockstar rabbis, and of course Moses would all be important names in your house and your history.
So to call Moses the house and Jesus the builder of the house is a big deal! Moses was never disrespected or put down, and now you’re saying that someone better has come along!? That would be pushing people to the edge of scandal.
But it’s true.
All of the awesome stuff that Moses was able to do didn’t free us from the Law. Everything that Moses brought was a shadow of the real heavenly things. On some late summer night outside, maybe around the 4th of July, you’ve probably played shadow tag as your shadow grows to 20 or 30 feet. Maybe you’ve played the game where your kid makes their shadow punch yours, and then you moan in pain and fall over.
Shadows.
Jesus is as much greater than Moses as a full-on-hug is better than shadows punching shadows.
If you lived in a household, there would be all kinds of people working and living in that house. But when the patriarch of the house showed up, he would be the top dog in the house. Kind of like when the owner shows up and the manager gets really tense.
Or if you admire the architecture of St. Ben’s Cathedral or the Alhambra Theater on Haynie’s corner, you might be impressed. But if you could talk to Frank J. Schlotter and discuss his architectural style and motives, I bet you’d be more impressed.
So of all the things we’re impressed with – rock stars, creation, technological advances, my wife’s sugar cookies, or Moses – Jesus is more glorious. He’s like the spotlight vs. the shadows. He’s like the face-to-face experience of having coffee with Gareth Gilkeson vs. listening to Rend Collective through a lint-filled iPhone speaker. In a coffee shop. Where you don’t want to be too loud.
Jesus is glorious! He’s a big deal. The more we think of Him in such a way, the more He proves it to be true.
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