A Graceful Goodbye--November 12, 2021

A Graceful Goodbye--November 12, 2021

"I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he comes in time, he will be with me when I see you. Greet all your leaders and all the saints.  Those from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you." [Hebrews 13:22-25]

Grace gets the last word.  That seems right.

Seven months ago--to the day, actually--we began this journey through the book we call "The Letter to the Hebrews."  And now, coming to the final few parting notes our anonymous author is making as he closes his "brief" (thirteen chapters!) message, the last of the last things to be said is to speak grace to them.  And, perhaps just as appropriately, grace is also the most certain of all the things spoken in these last moments.

It's funny to me in a way how we've gotten to know something of this author, the unnamed writer of this book, and to learn how his mind works, what is important to him in his understanding of the faith, and what he wants us to carry with us--and yet we don't even know his name.  That's pretty unusual for the New Testament.  With most of our books in the New Testament, we have at least some hint of a tradition of who wrote them, or who was a source, or who was remembered in connection with them.  Tradition connects the gospels with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Paul signs his letters and has a distinctive style to his writing. Even the fever dream we call the Book of Revelation gives us the name of the dreamer, whom we know as John the Seer.  But this book just got right to a running start without even so much as a "Hi, I'm Apollos (or James or Bartholomew or Priscilla), and I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you."  We don't know who wrote this book which which we've been engaged in reflection for more than half a year!

And for that matter, we don't know much more about the details he references in these closing sentences.  We can guess from the allusion that "Timothy has been set free" that this could be the same Timothy who shows up from time to time in other New Testament letters, although that would be another educated guess rather than solid fact. We can guess that "set free" implies he had been imprisoned for his faith, especially since this book spent so much time talking about being willing to suffer for our faith.  But beyond that?  We're just speculating who the recipients are, and who their "leaders" might be, as well as who the folks in Italy are who are sending their greetings.  We call this book the letter "to the Hebrews," but that's not because we have the original mailing address on the envelope--it's just a guess that the readers of this book would have been thoroughly immersed in the ritual and scriptural traditions of Israel, because the anonymous author assumes they know what he is talking about.  But we don't even know where those readers were--Jerusalem? Galilee?  Damascus?  Some synagogue in a small town now lost to memory?  We just don't know.

So... we don't know who wrote the book, or to whom he or she wrote specifically.  We don't know where either sender or receiver were located, or the exact group of people around them as they wrote and read what we now have in our hands.  But we do know this--grace gets the last word.  The end of the book, the very last sentence, speaks God's grace--God's freely given goodness--into the lives of "all" the people the book was sent to.  That is solid.  That is certain.  That is more than a speculation.

I think there's something fitting about letting that be our ending point in this series, too.  There's very little you and I might know about each other, from where I am writing to where you are reading, or what other troubles and joys are going on in your life right now.  Even when we see one another face to face, we often have only the smallest glimpse of what others around us are going through but don't share below the surface.  

But what we do have for certain is grace.  What you can depend on, even when you don't know much about me, is the gift of grace that doesn't come from me, but from God.  And God's way of being extravagantly generous to us apart from our earning or deserving is something you and I can depend on.  Grace is a good place for us to leave things for now, because it's the one thing we can count on, in a world full of uncertainties.

So, at least as far as this devotional series in Hebrews goes, we are at the end of one journey, with another new one to start again in a new week.  But for this moment's good-bye, let's part ways as our unnamed friend in this book has done, as well.  Grace be with you all.  Always.

Lord God, give us your grace, wherever we are, and whatever our needs.  And let that be enough.