“For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated”
Hebrews 10:14
How can we have already been “made perfect” (past tense) through the redemptive act of this great high priest, and yet are still “being consecrated” (present tense)? Why are we given this assurance of the final end state, which is essentially a gift, but at same time left to work it out within our frail and vulnerable humanity ? How do we understand this mystery of struggling to become that which we already are ?
How can this be?
It is as if God holds us in this creative tension, straddling what is and what could be, and inviting us to be co-creators.
Jesus the high priest makes an offering that is seemingly all sufficient and for all time, but then invites us to participate in his eternal priesthood, by taking up our own priesthood in time. We lift up the cup of our own lives and Christ fills that cup, completing in time what he has already accomplished in eternity.
God does the initiating, and His Love is the catalyst of creation, but it is also a Love that waits on a response from us. God is sufficient yet makes himself vulnerable to his own creation. We are his children already, his identity and image stamped in us, and yet “creation (still) waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” Rom 8:19.
So how do we navigate this existential space, between Egypt and the promised land ? How do we live in the tension of the tenses?
The strength we need is found in the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love. The gift of faith to perceive what is not yet ours, and the hope that is a seal or downpayment of our inheritance, and the love that transforms us fully into His likeness.