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Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

A new week and a new perspective as we are journeying together towards Easter.  This week will usher us into the final stage of our journey, bringing us all the way to Palm Sunday and the beginning of what many Christian traditions know as Holy Week, the days from Palm Sunday through Easter morning.

We are in Hebrews 12 this week.  The author is bringing together the many strands of his presentation of Jesus the Radiance of God’s Glory.  It is a strange and unfamiliar glory.  Note the themes and key words in this chapter: endurance, perseverance and discipline; untangling ourselves, laying aside unneeded baggage and seeing to it that we do what is ours to do in strengthening our feeble arms and weak knees.

And at the center: fix our eyes on Jesus.  Consider Jesus.  Make Jesus, cross-carrying Jesus, the rule and model, receive Jesus as the one who both authors our faith and brings the story of that faith to perfection, completion, maturity.

Fix our eyes, our attention, our affection, our internal guidance systems on Jesus the crucified.  In Hebrews 1, we are introduced to Jesus, “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”  The radiance of that glory and the representation of God’s very nature and being are now brought into sharpest, clearest focus as we behold Jesus crucified.  A strange and unfamiliar glory.

We live in the times between Christ’s resurrection on that first Easter morning and that coming Morning when God will do for us and all of Creation what he did when he raised Jesus from the dead.  The resurrection is our sure and sustaining hope, but the cross is the model for our discipleship.  As we learn to die, we learn to truly live.

So as we run this race that our author uses to picture our Christian lives, we fix our eyes on Jesus, who endured the cross, despising its shame.  We are to consider Jesus, who endured such great opposition to everything he said and did, especially to words like these: “If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.”

It is a strange and unfamiliar glory radiating from Jesus the crucified.  It looks nothing like victory, success, popularity or acclaim, and everything like catastrophe, disgrace, shame and failure.  God in Christ allowed something to be done to him that was in fact for us.  That’s the glory, that’s who God really is, what God is really like: the One, and the Only One, who, though innocent, would willingly and freely choose to take the sin and death of each of us and the world upon himself and into himself.  By experiencing the full power and penalty of Sin and Death, he destroyed their power and put paid-in-full to the penalty.

What does God’s glory look like?  When the exact representation of God’s very being enters our humanity and our history, what does it look like?  Christ crucified.  A strange and unfamiliar glory – but it is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of who God is for us and for the world.

Take a moment in prayer to reflect upon what you’ve just heard.  Was there a word, phrase or idea that the Holy Spirit “highlighted” for you?  If so, pray about it; if not, simply enjoy a few moments of silence!

“Fix our eyes on Jesus” – what specific aspect or facet of Jesus is God directing you to: Healer, Lamb, Crucified One, Master, Savior, Intercessor, the Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep … spend these moments fixing your eyes on him.

How might Jesus be calling our church to “die” so that we might more truly and fully live in Christ and for Christ?  Pray for our church’s work and witness in the world of Chatham County now.