Our reading from the letter to the Hebrews addresses entering into the rest of God, a rest only God can give. Rest has a deeper meaning beyond a physical rest. The promise that God gave to the Israelites is a foreshadowing of that promise given to Christians in Christ’s Good News. The Israelites saw the Promised Land as the place of rest that God provided for his people. For the Israelites, the Promised Land was a share in God’s own rest, which he enjoyed after he had finished his creative work as told in the book of Genesis. The author now relates the meaning of God’s rest to Psalm 95, which we heard yesterday: “Therefore I swore in my anger: ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Our reading today tells us that we should take the opportunity of God’s rest when it is offered to us since the Israelites in the desert did not take that opportunity given to them. The Israelites doubted the word of God and thus were forced to wander in the desert for many years before they were able to enter the Promised Land. We Christians are invited to a different promised land: to God’s kingdom and to the salvation that Christ offers to us. Our hope is that one day we will gain entry to that perfect place of rest: eternal life with God. And even now, we are called to a day of rest on Sundays, on the Sabbath, on the Lord’s day.
As we reflect on the letter of the Hebrews today, we celebrate the feast day of an important early Church Father and Doctor of the Church: St Hilary, the Bishop of Poitiers in France in the 4th century. A convert to Christianity as an adult and very gentle and courteous man, Hilary's writings on the Trinity and on Christ’s divinity were important in the development of these doctrines in the Early Church and in combating the Arian heresy that denied Christ’s divinity. At one point, Hilary was sent into exile for refusing to back down from his beliefs. As we honor St Hilary today, let us give thanks for all the men and women who courageously defended the faith throughout history.
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