Read: Hebrews 1:1-5

October 4, 2003 was one of the most important days of my life.  On that day, I was the father of the bride and the minister officiating at the wedding of my oldest daughter.  I had two jobs: first, to walk her down the aisle and then to turn around and preside at the ceremony.

People asked how I could do both jobs.  My answer is tied in with the reading from Hebrews, the part that says Jesus is “the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.”  I understand that, because our daughter represents the same thing to my wife and me – our glory and the representation of our own being.

It was a tough job to be “giving her away.”  There was an element of sending forth involved, but also more than a little of “letting go” as well.  You see, I couldn’t have “given her away” if she hadn’t decided to go.

In the end, I really had no control.  All I could do was give her a hug, put her hand in her new husband’s, and pray for the best.

So how could I do both things?  Because I was honored that she asked.  And because I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to do either one.

In the same way, consider that Jesus’ whole ministry was a gift from God.  Because God had to let go.  God was, and is, a better example than I am of someone who was a father and giver at the same time.

The reading from the book of Hebrews assures us that God speaks to us "at many times and in various ways."  We could make a list, but we understand that ultimately, God reveals himself most fully in Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…” (John 3:16).  We know the words so well.  Consider that they also contain both an element of sending forth and an element of letting go.

From all of this, I gain some meager understanding about how God must have felt in sending Jesus to us.  God had to know that not everyone would receive him with open arms.  But there must have also been pride in sending forth, pride in knowing that he was willing, and wanted to go.

Still, it must have been tremendously difficult to let him go, knowing the risks.  Not that Jesus would fail, but knowing the possibility that his mission would not succeed, but would crash and die on the rocks known as our hearts of stone.

Yet, God chose to send Jesus, and to “preside” over what was to come.  God would not have wanted anyone else to do it.  He had spoken to us so many ways in the past.  Now he was speaking to us from his own ultimate majesty.

How should we respond to a God who loves us this much?  Have you ever felt God calling you to do something that you have hesitated to do out of fear?

Remember that God let go so that sin could be forgiven. 

In turn, we must let go in order that God can be exalted.

Remember also that God doesn’t let anyone down who trusts in him.  When we let go of our lives and offer our wills to God, we also make room for the mighty power of God to work in our lives.