But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22-24
“It is pleasing to think that the first testimony of faith in God was given by the son of Adam and Eve by means of sacrifice. So it is easy to understand why the fathers of the church saw in Abel a type or figure of Christ: he was a shepherd, he offered a sacrifice pleasing to God, he shed his blood and was a martyr for the faith…
We should be generous and love everything related to the worship of God. Everything we do for him will always be little and insufficient compared to what God’s infinite goodness and excellence deserve. We Christians must be very careful to avoid stingy calculation and lack of consideration in this field. The Holy Spirit warns us: you shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable.”
Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 320-321.
Happy Labor Day weekend to everyone in America. And thanks for your patience as I use an old computer and get my postings back on track for 5:00am delivery in Denver tomorrow.
From today’s Scripture and reading, we see why the church fathers pictured Abel as a type of Christ. He was a humble shepherd that brought an acceptable gift that represented sacrifice.
Of course, Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant offers a better word, that His sacrifice was acceptable to atone for the sins of all humankind. But it followed the pattern of Abel.
Then Fernandez charges us not to choose the alternative to sacrifice. Many choose this. He calls it stingy calculation and a lack of consideration.
Let’s dig into that word consideration. Consider all God has done for us. Consider His matchless care and love for us. Consider the sacrifice He made for us.
When we do this, we move beyond the stingy calculation of Cain and we mirror the acceptable sacrifice of Abel. Consider all this. I pray this inspires all reading it to sacrifice.