The Bite is the Lucy

12/12/2015

Hebrews 6.4-6 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. – the Writer of Hebrews

I remember reading the Peanuts cartoons in the Sunday papers when I was a kid. My folks bought us Peanuts books to read, which were just collections of the strips that were in the Sunday Funnies. Why did Charlie Brown keep trying to kick that damned football anyway!? Lucy kept putting it in front of him, only to pull it away at the last second and watch him miss and fall on his butt. Poor Charlie; devious Lucy.

The lesson is Charlie Brown wanted so badly to kick that football. He dreamed of booting it through the uprights, or through the end-zone; or landing the perfect punt on the 1-yard line so his team could pounce on it and pin the other team deep in their territory. It was all about the imagination of sporting valor and vanquish – things boys used to think about in the innocence of back then… Not so much today.

Oh yes, Hebrews! Goodness, I almost forgot what I was doing – valor and vanquish! Hebrews 6 to me is like the football that evilly devious Lucy put in front of predictably pathetic Charlie Brown – I just have to make a comment on it. Whoops! There I go, on my butt again.

Forget about all of the argument as to whether we can lose our faith or not. Forget about Aminian or Calvinist theology – like those two we the end-all, be-all. Jacobus and John are probably turning in their graves. Can one, after having “…once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away…” be restored? No. One can’t. But after all of the criteria previous to fallen away even happen? It’s worth thinking about. Can you have all of God and miss it?

The Lucy is the bite of the question. The Charlie Brown is the attempt to answer the question. Context is difficult but can be surmised by other clues in Hebrews. But! We really can only surmise, or we can argue: Calvinist vs. Arminian. What’s it going to be?

Or we could ask: How’s your daily moment by moment relationship with God? You see, losing salvation is not the issue – walking with God is. In our day and way, we focus on all kinds of stuff besides whether we is, or we ain’t. Most would say they is, but their actions might reveal they ain’t. But what is you really? Whoever you is, needs to answer the question. Salvation is not based on me, save my choice. The Gift is the gift and it never changes. Whether or not I accept the Gift is another matter.

One thing is for sure – it is impossible to recover from something which can never happen anyway – like God making a rock so big that He can’t lift it. That’s where I draw the line on free will. Free will is not some kind of kryptonite against God. But God isn’t into rape either. There! I lunged at the football and I see it flying perfectly through the uprights. And my efforts have won the game…in my mind. Your thoughts? My butt is sore. 

Father – help us to see; help us to be – Amen.