2nd Thursday of Lent (February 29) A righteous reign

Prepare to Listen.  Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
 
Prayerfully Read Hebrews 1:5-9
5For to which of the angels did God ever say,
‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’?
Or again,
‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’?
6And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’
7Of the angels he says,
‘He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.’
8But of the Son he says,
‘Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever,
   and the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of your kingdom.
9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What caught your attention in these verses?
 
“Let all the angels of God worship him,” sings the choir in a brief chorus in Handel’s Messiah.  The angels worship him because Jesus, God’s Son, is superior to them.  To prove this, the writer of Hebrews uses several quotations, mostly from Psalms and reminds us that angels are merely “winds,” “servants” of God.  And then comes the climax, the verses Handel should have put to music!  “But of the Son he says….”
 
As we were reminded in Psalm 24,[1] Christ is the Sovereign Ruler of the entire universe.  Thus, the writer, with a quote from Psalm 45, boldly claims about Jesus, “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”  No angel, no human, good or bad, can budge Jesus from the throne God has given him, because God made him sovereign over all creation forever and ever.  His rule isn’t waiting for some distant future, nor is he waiting for us to sort the world out and make it possible for him to reign.  Christ is already reigning in a reign characterized by a love of righteousness and a hatred of wickedness.
 
When we condone wickedness, especially in our leaders, we’ve backed the wrong one.  Righteousness is a complex word that includes uprightness of character, justice for all peoples, not just those who support our causes, and, because it is the righteousness of God, it also includes steadfast love, a love that tenaciously stands in solidarity with those in need, the widow, the orphan, the alien (the most vulnerable in any society).  Jesus’ administration, the sceptre with which he rules, is righteous and therefore loving. 
 
Let this image of Jesus’ righteous rule guide how you live today.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Even angels worship you, Lord Jesus.  May I live today in ways that show my worship of you, guided by your righteousness not my own and hatred of wickedness.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Worship the one who reigns forever and ever.
[1] See devotion for 2nd Tuesday of Lent.