Lectionary blog for Oct. 7
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 2:18-24; Psalm 8;
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16

“As it is, we do not see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus” (Hebrews 2:8-9).

Many people are seeking spiritual enlightenment. In recent public opinion polls, more people are willing to claim being “spiritual” than are willing to say that they are “religious.” People explore the latest prayer techniques and different churches and praise bands and labyrinth walks and Alpha Bible Studies and the Wild Women of the Bible Weekends and Seeking Your Inner Child Men’s Drum Circle Sweat Lodge and I don’t know what all. And whatever it is they think they’re looking for, if it isn’t where they are, well, it must it over the hill or around the corner or in the next place they look or the next.

“As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus.”

The author of the book of Hebrews is, in this text, dealing with the fact that while the biblical witness is that God is in control of the world, when we look around us, it is difficult to see any evidence that God (or God’s angels, “them”) is controlling much of anything. As one of my unbelieving college professors put it, “If God is really in charge, he, she or it is doing a lousy job.” War, drugs, disease, natural disaster, economic collapse, starvation—need I go on? Does this look like “everything in subjection” to God?

“As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus.”


The author of the book of Hebrews is, in this text, dealing with the fact that while the biblical witness is that God is in control of the world, when we look around us, it is difficult to see any evidence that God (or God’s angels, “them”) is controlling much of anything.


And let’s be honest with one another. The church to which those of us who gather on Sundays have traditionally looked for hope and meaning is a confused place right now. In almost all denominational families, it is a time of change, uncertainty and discomfort. Arguments about sexuality, theology, worship and decline threaten to overwhelm all churches. It is a time when people are searching for what the graveside commendation in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship funeral service calls a “sure and certain hope” (ELW, p. 284).

“As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus.”

The little word “yet” is vital to understanding not only this text but also the promises of God to us at times like these. “As it is, we do not yet see.” As much as we yearn for and look for and, yes, do battle for certainty and security, the Bible constantly reminds us of what Martin Luther referred to as the “hiddenness of God.” It is sometimes referred to as the “already-but-not-yet” kingdom of God.

As we look around the world for God, God is often difficult to see, difficult to pin down. And sometimes, just when we think we have the holy in our hands, it slips away, and we realize we were mistaken. The author of Hebrews reminds us that we are to look to Jesus to see what God is doing in the world. In particular, we are to look at the fact that Jesus gave up his place at the right hand of God to become human like us. “Who for a little while became lower than the angels” (2:9), the text says. And that, as a result of this coming into humanity with us, Jesus suffered and died and “tasted death for everyone” (2:9).

“We do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus” is the promise that in Jesus all we hope for and all we need is present. In the community of faith, we see Jesus in the midst of a world where God is often hard to find. We hear Christ’s voice in the readings, hymns, songs, liturgies and sermons. We see our Lord’s face in the faces around us; we feel the divine touch in the touch of another’s hand at the passing of the peace. Most of all we see, feel and receive Christ in the meal, in the bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus.

“We do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus”

A post-communion prayer that comes to us from our full communion partner the United Methodist Church goes like this: “Just as this bread and cup have been Christ for us; send us out to be Christ for the world.” We are called to go out amid people who do not yet see all things in subjection to God, do not see goodness, justice and love prevailing anywhere—especially not in their lives. We are called to be Christian in their midst in such a way that people can say, “But I do see Jesus.”

Amen and amen.

Delmer Chilton
Delmer Chilton is originally from North Carolina and received his education at the University of North Carolina, Duke Divinity School and the Graduate Theological Foundation. He received his Lutheran training at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C. Ordained in 1977, Delmer has served parishes in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

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