Last weekend Michelle, Elijah, and I were in New Ulm, MN visiting Jacob and Aidan. It was homecoming weekend at Martin Luther College and Oktoberfest in the city of New Ulm. It was a good trip, and we all had a really good time. As soon as she could Michelle uploaded pictures from our trip to her Facebook pages so that all our family and friends would see everything we did while in New Ulm, MN. (For you younger people, Facebook is the social media platform your parents and grandparents use to communicate with each other. Think of it like snapchat and Instagram for old people.) If you want to know all about our trip to New Ulm, MN all you need to do is visit Michelle’s Facebook page.
One of the first pictures Michelle uploaded is of all five of us hanging out in our hotel room the first night. The picture shows five smiling faces giving you the sense that we are a happy family that misses each other and are grateful for the chance to be reunited. What the picture does not capture is the overpowering smell of mold and mildew that hung in the air of that hotel room. The smell saturated our clothing, and likely gave us all black lung.
The next set of pictures Michelle posted to her Facebook page are of the boys playing football. There is a pregame shot of two proud parents, there are some exciting midgame action shots, and there are some postgame pictures with all the family surrounding our sweaty, stinky, muddy football players. The pictures lead you to believe that we enjoyed a fun and exciting afternoon of football. However, what we didn’t post was a picture of the scoreboard. If we had, it would have showed us losing the football game in overtime.
One of the last pictures from our trip that Michelle posted on her Facebook page was of me golfing with six future called workers. In the picture the sun is shining, the grass is green, and the trees are just beginning to show their fall colors. I took the picture because I wanted people to see how happy I was to be out golfing young men that I have played a small part of encouraging them for the public ministry. What I did not post were pictures of me topping the ball and slicing it off into the woods.
If I am going to be honest, the pictures we posted on Facebook will not tell you all about our trip to New Ulm, MN. Rather, those pictures are a carefully curated collection of what we want you to see. The pictures we posted from our trip to New Ulm, MN and really all the picture we post on Facebook are meant to give our Facebook friends the impression that we are the perfect family whose days are filled with nothing but joy and happiness. I know you are not going to judge us too harshly for this deception because I know y’all do the same thing. No one ever posts a selfie on Facebook with blackheads, bedhead, and eye boogers. No one posts a picture of a college rejection letter, or a dried-out pot-roast, or an eviction notice. No one ever posts pictures chronicling their divorce, drug abuse, or depression. We are very selective of the things we post on Facebook because we want our Facebook friends to think our lives are perfect (even when they are not).
We use social media like Facebook to project the very best version of ourselves out into the world and while that may fool our Facebook friends into thinking our lives are perfect it will not fool Jesus. Today the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us Jesus isn’t our Facebook friend.
The letter to the Hebrews was written to urge people not to abandon their faith in Christ Jesus. This was the time of the Roman Emperor Nero. As you have no doubt heard, it was neither fashionable nor safe to be a Christian while Nero sat on the throne. With the threat of persecution ever looming, many early Christians were tempted to turn away from the faith and blend in with the pagan culture that surrounded them. The author of the letter to the Hebrews urged them not to seek a shallow popularity among the pagans at the expense of a deeper relationship with Jesus. If they would have had social media in the first century the author could have reminded his readers Jesus isn’t your Facebook friend.
To explain what he means the author writes, “12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Most commonly the “Word” is understood as a reference to the collections of divinely inspired books we call the Bible. But the “Word” can also be a reference to Jesus. In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I am not sure it is all that important for us to make a distinction here between the “Word” that was bound in a book and the “Word” that became flesh, today I am going to lean toward the latter, but of greater interest to us here is what the “Word” can do.
We are told the “Word” is “living and active”. The “Word” is not some dusty tome from a bygone era. Rather, it is filled with the vitality of God Himself and is very much relevant to our modern age. Indeed, it is, at this very moment, actively working in you. The author compares the living and active “Word” to a sharp knife, like the fillet knife I showed to the children moments ago. But instead of cutting out the guts and bones of a fish, the “Word” dissects your soul from your spirit. I must confess that my mind is not sharp enough to understand the difference between the two. To me my soul and my spirit are one and the same, but the “Word” is sharp enough to separate the two. The “Word” cuts to the very core of your inmost being and exposes the sin concealed within. Further, the “Word” makes a distinction between your movements and your motivations and reveals that even your righteous acts are like filthy rags.[1] Finally, the “Word” judges the inclinations of your heart and discovers, though your intentions may appear to be pure, they are polluted with evil.[2]
The “Word” is not one of your Facebook friends that is fooled by the fake persona you project out into the world. The “Word” sees you for who you really are. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” In both our Old Testament and Gospel lessons for today the “Word” looked into the hearts of two seemingly good men and saw envy in one and greed in the other. Maybe the love of money is also one of your secret sins. I wouldn’t be surprised. It has been said that there are over 2000 verses about wealth in the bible. It seems the love of money is hidden in the hearts of many a good man and woman. But maybe it isn’t the love of money that you keep hidden in the secret recesses of your soul. Maybe you have some other secret sin that you keep buried beneath a false façade of piety and purity. Now, I don’t know what that sin is and to be honest I don’t want to know. Oh, I will listen to you confess it when you are ready to confess it, I will tell you how God’s law condemns it and how God’s grace forgives it, but I am not going to going looking for the secret sins you keep hidden away in the dark recesses of your soul. But I should tell you, the “Word” sees it. Whatever it is that you are too embarrassed to post on your Facebook page, whatever it is you keep hidden from your friends, whatever it is you are too ashamed to share with your family, the “Word” sees it.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “13… Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” The “Word” sees it. Therefore, you might as well confess it. Whether you like it or not, you are going to give an account of your secret sins either in this life or the next. Far better for you to confess it now while you worship beneath the cross of God’s grace than later when you will stand before the throne of God’s judgment. You may be able to keep your sins hidden from your Facebook friends, but Jesus isn’t your Facebook friend. The “Word” sees your sin and the “Word” demands that you give an account.
By now you have probably noticed there isn’t a great deal of gospel in our epistle lesson for today, at least not at first glance. However, when you put these two verses into the context of scripture as a whole you start to realize there is a great deal of gospel that shines from these two verses. The “Word” sees you; He sees all the sins you keep hidden away in the secret recesses of your soul. The “Word” see you, yet the “Word” became flesh and made His dwelling among us; He allowed Himself to be conceived inside of the virgin Mary, He became fully human so that He could be our perfect substitute. The “Word” sees you, yet the “Word” was nailed to a cross; He allowed Himself to be pierced for your transgression and crushed for your iniquities, He allowed Himself to be punished so that you would have peace. The “Word” see you, yet the “Word” ascended into heaven and is at this very moment interceding for you before the judgement seat of God while simultaneously preparing a place for you in paradise. The “Word” sees you; He sees you for who you really are and yet the “Word” chooses to love you.
You might have hundreds of followers on Facebook, but none of those people are really following you. Rather, they are following the version of you that you want them to see. But you have something better than a carefully curated collection of pictures to share with the world. You have the “Word”. You have the “Word” that sees you, all of you, even the sinful parts of you that you try to keep hidden away in the secret recesses of your soul. You have the “Word” that sees you and still chooses to love you. Because you have the “Word” you don’t have to pretend to be the perfect person with the perfect life, rather, because of the “Word” you are a perfected person who has been given eternal life. You might have hundreds of followers on Facebook, but none of them sees you like Jesus sees you, therefore none of them can love quite like Jesus loves you. Jesus sees you and yet Jesus still chooses to love you. I know! It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. My advice, don’t try to make sense of it, just accept it as a mystery of God’s grace and be grateful that Jesus isn’t your Facebook friend. Amen
[1] Isaiah 64:6
[2] Genesis 6:5