STANDING UP STRAIGHT AS “ORTHODOX”
(August 22)
“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation (ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας) I will praise you.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Here I am, and the children God has given me.’ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same (τῶν αὐτῶν), that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.” (Hebr 2: 11-15)
Christ is “not ashamed” to call us both His “brethren” and “children.” He stands up in our midst, having partaken of our nature, our “flesh and blood,” in His incarnation, and says: “Here I am, and the children God has given Me.” He is not ashamed to stand up and be counted, as One of us. So, I also need not be ashamed to stand up straight (orthoi) and be counted, as one of His. “For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin,” as the author of Hebrews says above.
“Here I am,” I say to our Lord this morning. I am not “nowhere,” floating about in meaninglessness or purposelessness, dragged to and fro in “lifelong bondage” to fear and shame. Today I embrace my human-divine, dignifying freedom in an ortho-dox manner (an upright manner) and pray as You did, Lord, to our Father and Yours: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen!
