Chapter 13

Hebrews draws to a close. Mick seems to have much to say (and perhaps this chapter influenced St Augustine in his opinion that the writer was Paul – much of what Mick has to say here in this chapter reminds you of him!).

We have almost a hodge-podge of different instructions here.

Verses 1 – 4 are about hospitality, and the Christian’s responsibility to offer it to those who need it, especially former prisoners (presumably those imprisoned for faith) and victims of abuse.

Somehow this segues into an instruction to keep the Marriage vow pure and inviolate.

Then verse 5 gives us an injunction to avoid materialism.

And verse 7 gives an instruction to value the leaders of your church. Verse 8 gives a reason for this, incidentally providing us with a well-known passage – “Jesus doesn’t change – yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself,” being the Message translation.

All of these are good advice generally. But Mick isn’t finished.

Verses 9 onwards are a little less about actions themselves and more about once again contrasting the two covenants.

So what do we get out of it?

It’s a collection of instructions. They’re all good instructions. And yes, Christ IS the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. But why does Mick put these statements in our hands?

Throughout the book, he’s been bringing forth this idea of Christ as the Messiah (a natural way to tackle Jesus from a Jewish point of view). So it shouldn’t be a shock that he finishes by referring his readers back to basics. And we too would do well to listen one more time to the basics!

See you in Proverbs tomorrow!