The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. – Hebrews 10:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 25, 2015): Hebrews 10

In the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “Identity Crisis,” a mystery regarding some missing (or disappearing) crew people is solved when Geordi La Forge notices an extra shadow in a digital recreation of the scene of the disappearances. Geordi’s conclusion is a fairly obvious one – something had to be present that he couldn’t see in order to make the shadow. While Geordi wasn’t sure what had caused the shadow, he was certain that something had caused it – and that something might have been the solution behind the mystery. That is the real truth hiding behind all of the shadows in our lives, our shadows are not insubstantial, but rather that there is something very physical that is producing them. A shadow, no matter what some of our nightmares might suggest, is always the sign of something.

So the author of Hebrews makes the same assertion, the Law of Moses was a shadow of the something real that up until now they had just been unable to see – it was a sign of something that was to come. It has been noted that a shadow is not necessarily a bad thing. A shadow is not the substance. A shadow occupies no physical space. But it does always reflect something that does occupy physical space. The Law of Moses was not in and of itself bad and evil, but like a shadow it was incomplete and it provided an insufficient force to cause real change. And in the end the problem. What was needed was something that could create real change, but that was left for something else – it was left for the cause of the shadow.

Because the law was just a shadow, its practices needed to be continuously repeated. But even with the repetition, the shadow could not make those who approached perfect. That would be left for the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – the perfect sacrifice, offered by the perfect priest, bringing to reality what had been impossible under the shadow of the law – perfect and eternal redemption.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11