8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. ² There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

Hebrews 8:1-2

Dear God, I found out this morning (and it’s 6:00am now, so when I say, “morning,” I mean about an hour ago) that the topic I’m supposed to speak on at our community’s Church-to-Church Christmas Walk next week is “longing.” I had thought I was speaking on “celebration,” so now I need to shift gears a bit. Longing… Longing…

When I look at this passage and think about yesterday’s passage, I am reminded once again that the people before Jesus’s death and resurrection just had no idea of what was going on. No frame of reference. As I sit here and think about what I might say, what is coming to mind is this outline. I pray that this is from your Holy Spirit. I want to do my small part well:

• Casablanca ignorance compared with the Jewish ignorance in the years between the Babylonian exile and Jesus.
• They were longing to be freed from Rome. They were longing for Israel to be powerful again. To be a world leader. They were longing for a Messiah who would lead them there.
• Jesus was offered every opportunity to be the Messiah they wanted, starting with the temptations Jesus experience with Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). But every time they tried to fit him into that mold he disappeared.
• What Jesus offered was reconciliation of both the Jewish and Gentile soul to you. Jesus showed us your heart for us. He showed us what it could look like if loved others selflessly. Outside of getting away by himself to pray to you and spend time with you (which was obeying the most important commandment), Jesus did nothing for himself.
• Hope: When I look at the world, what gives me hope? The hope that I have is that all of us, every single one of us, has a piece of our heart that longs for you. We find a lot of idols to try to meet that need. It might be human love, sex, drugs, work, food, accomplishment, accumulation of wealth, power and influence, etc. We have all of these things that we will look to that will make us feel important and our lives are worth living. And that the mistakes–the sins we commit–are okay. We want meaning. We want absolution. What we end up finding is a distraction that gets us to the end of life with no peace. But if we find you, we find peace. If we repent to you, we find absolution. If we worship and serve you we can simultaneously see we are on 1/6-billionth of the earth’s current population, but we are serving the God of all of it, we are loved by Him, and we doing our small part to be who he needs us to be. And when we fail we have a loving, forgiving God who forgives us and redeems our mistakes. When we are wounded, we have a God who heals our hearts.

Going back to this passage, you gave us a high priest in heaven. And here we are, all of us longing but only a few of us having our thirst quenched. And that doesn’t mean that those who find you don’t mourn. In fact, the mourning are blessed because they are comforted. It doesn’t mean they aren’t pour in spirit or in riches. It doesn’t mean they aren’t persecuted. Jesus made that clear. But relationship with you is the answer to our longing. Not power. Not glory. Not money. What will we do to avail ourselves of that relationship that is available to us? Will this Christmas be a chance for me to encourage others to find you and maybe help at least one person use that moment to count the cost, lay down their life, take up your cross, and follow you? As for myself, I pray that you help me to continue to evolve into the man you need me to be.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen