We’re reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews these days at Mass until February 8th. In his “Introduction to the New Testament’ Raymond Brown calls the work “a conundrum”. Who wrote it, where and when it was written, to whom, why?  Hard to figure out.

Indications are the letter was written most likely in Rome after the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70, to Jewish Christians there. The early Roman church, composed mainly of Jewish converts, was strongly attached to Jerusalem and its worship and wanted to reconstruct the temple and renew its worship.   Martin Goodman’s “Rome and Jerusalem” (New York 2008)  offers an interesting picture of the longing Jews and Jewish Christians had afterwards to rebuild the temple and revive its rites.

Our letter sees Christ fulfilling the Jewish past and creating something new. He is the new Temple and High Priest:

Brothers and sisters:
In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways 
to our ancestors through the prophets; 
in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son,     
whom he made heir of all things
and through whom he created the universe,    who is the refulgence of his glory, 
        the very imprint of his being,
    and who sustains all things by his mighty word.
    When he had accomplished purification from sins,
    he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
    as far superior to the angels
    as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my Son; this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a Son to me? And again, when he leads the first born into the world, he says  Let all the angels of God worship him. (Hebrews 1)

Do we face something like this today, a yearning to recreate the world and the church of the past we loved. We can’t recreate what has been, something new lies before us.

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us to face the future bravely, and keep before us the One who holds the key to what’s to come. In his lifetime, Jesus struggled with his own times; in his hands are the kingdom to come:

“Keep your eye fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith, For the sake of the joy put before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and has taken his place at the right hand of the Father. Consider how he faced such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”

The Gospel of Mark which follows the Letter to the Hebrews in our readings reveals the One who faced such opposition and endured the cross.