You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Hebrews 1.9)
There are three phrases which deal with passion.
- You have loved righteousness;
- You have hated iniquity;
- God has anointed you with the oil of joy.
Although Christ came to be our Lord and our Saviour, He also came to be our perfect example; the man worthy of following. ‘Disciples’ learn to be like their Master.
- The apostle John declares that ‘God is light,’ meaning that God is perfectly holy and righteous. Jesus Christ perfectly manifested this righteousness in His earthly life. Compassion and patience, love and mercy, giving attention to the poor and needy, to women and children, so often marginalised in the culture of the day. We, His followers, are called to manifest those same qualities in our day-to-day lives.
- I wonder what specific incident(s) from the life of Christ were in the writer’s mind when he wrote that Christ ‘hated wickedness.’ Among His strongest words were the rebukes to those who bought and sold in and around the temple, first in John 2; in a later incident, recorded in the other three gospels, Christ announced that the temple had been made a ‘den of thieves.’
In our ‘politically correct’ culture, such an emotive response to what we see around us can appear insensitive. But that is why love for righteousness is also listed. Christ loved righteousness AND hated iniquity. We are called to do the same. We might argue that they cannot be separated. If we love those who are marginalized, then we hate the system that creates such marginalization.
- It is striking that the writer to the Hebrews twice refers to Christ being joyful, the other statement being in chapter 12; ‘who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising its shame.’ Joy is an eternal quality. It is a proper response to the utter generosity of God. It is mentioned alongside suffering, since joy remains even in our experience of suffering.
Followers of Jesus Christ cannot be miserable! We are recipients of immeasurable bounty from God Himself through Jesus Christ. We are utterly unworthy of the least of this bounty. Our response must be gratitude and joy.
And so, we bring the very character of Jesus Christ into this dark and needy world.