Hebrews 1:1-4 & 2:5-12

Whenever I hear the opening words of this passage:

"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways ... "

I always think of the Advent hymn; 'Long ago prophets knew Christ would come born a Jew ..." a hymn that takes this bit of Scripture as its inspiration and celebrates the 'Word made flesh' in creation. The unknown author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is at pains to show that Christ is the pinnacle of God's marvellous creation as well as being fully divine as well. Christ is the one bit of creation that shows us men and women the human face of our divinity:

"He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being ... "  1:3a

Personally, I find the words 'the exact imprint' very powerful. For in Christ's humanity we can see the very essence of God, our Creator. What a strong image that is for us humans to recognise and it puts us human beings into a very special place within the creation. It also puts up on us a responsibility to live up to that position as well. For if we share in Christ's human imprint do we not also share in his divine imprint as well? For we share the 'imago dei' (image of God) with him and as such I believe it gives us a responsibility to care for God's creation and not to think ourselves above it.

The writer of the epistle also reminds us that as God's creation we should try to be like Christ and not ashamed to call each other brother or sister. The author is at pains here to emphasise our family relationship to each other. To remember that we are family with all the human race is no bad thing for the human race is not just a branch of creation, it is first and foremost the bit of creation that God chose to be born into and in being related to God through each other puts a responsibility upon all our shoulders to ensure that all God's people are all treated with respect, care and compassion. As Christ tells us we are not to ignore the stranger, the hungry, the sick or those in need but to try and provide for their basic needs when possible.