Scripture -- Hebrews
11: 1-2, 8-16, 39-12:2; Genesis 12: 1-4; Hebrews 1: 1-2, 8-16; 39-12:2
(11: 1) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do
not see. (2) This is what the ancients were commended for. (8) By faith Abraham, when
called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even
though he did not know where he was going. (9) By faith he made his home in the promised
land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who
were heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For he was looking forward to the city with
foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (11) By faith Abraham, even though he was
past age - and Sarah herself was barren - was enabled to become a father because he
considered him faithful who had made the promise. (12) And so from this one man, and he as
good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the
sand on the seashore. (13) All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a
distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. (14) People who
say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. (15) If they had
been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
(16) Instead, they were longing for a better country -a heavenly one. Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (39) These were all
commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. (40) God had
planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
(12:1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw
off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us. (2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The commemoration of the faith of the saints in Hebrews has less to do with how we look
back and extol the virtues of those long gone, than how we live in the present and the
future with the same faithfulness.
For example, as our country goes through the annual ritual of honoring the 20th century
prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a worthy commemoration has less to do with the way we
look back three-and-a-half decades and relive the struggle for civil rights, than the way
today we work for the full dignity of all, regardless of color or creed; the way today we
work to provide decent education for all; the way today we employ persons fairly and
equitably regardless of ethnicity; the way today and tomorrow we work for a church and
community that reconciles every barrier and affords every opportunity regardless of
ethnicity, culture and race.
We most aptly commemorate the past not by enshrining it, but by living faithfully today
and into the future with the same spirit of adventure that lay hold of Abraham and Sarah,
the prophets, the disciples and martyrs, the faithful who risked all to gain all.
How do these exemplars of faith inform who we are to be and what we are to do in our
own time with the decisions we face? How do we run with perseverance the race that is set
before us in our own time?
The original hearers of Hebrews' words faced an uncertain future: arrest, persecution,
and occasionally death. The writer invites them to picture a panorama of a great cloud of
witnesses surrounding them - urging them on. The believer's choice was constant: whether
to choose loyalty to the faith and risk death, or to choose denial and risk integrity.
Their insides were torn with the usual mix of wanting to trust that God would provide, and
the fears and doubts that plague anyone in uncertain times.
Although our lives are rarely under the same intensity, we are not unacquainted with
their dilemma:
When there's something going on in our family that has left us wondering where to go and
what to do;
When there is some deep longing that has left us depressed and empty;
When there is some deep anger that has claimed all of our energy;
When there is some deep fear that has trapped our imagination;
When there is some addiction that has captured our will;
When there is some doubt that has captured our soul;
When there is some secret that has paralyzed our authenticity;
When the present seems small but secure, and the future seems large and looming . . .
Then to live with integrity or without is the choice before us. The choosing can be
hard but we are not left alone.
"Look around you," the writer of Hebrews says, "We are surrounded by a
great cloud of witnesses." I have usually pictured the "the great cloud of
witnesses" as somehow up there in the skies, but the setting is a sports arena like
the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum. The stands are filled with an exemplary fellowship of
faith: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Moses and the prophets, saints and martyrs,
the Reformers, Dr. King, and countless greats of the faith.
But the stands are filled with not only these. Over there is my grandmother and
grandfather, your teacher and your parent, your pastor from long ago, the people who have
graced history in grand ways, and the people who have graced your life in quiet,
unassuming, but nonetheless powerful ways that have made your life more whole, complete
and worthy of living. They fill the stands.
Of course, these exemplars of faith in their own time had no thought of being examples,
otherwise they would have disqualified themselves from the races they had run in their own
time. Rather, they were qualified for admission to the stands because they lived out of an
internal integrity born of their own faith without an eye for an audience that they became
examples to us.
We are on the starting blocks. The crowd erupts in a cheer. They urge us to "run
with perseverance the race" that is set before us. This is no ordinary race. This
race is about our lives and what we do with them. It is a race about our time - the only
time we are given and whether we squander it or use to glorify the One who brought us into
being. Our hearts pound with a confusing mix of both doubt and exhilaration. This is the
only race we are given. What shall we do with it?
The command came to Abraham and Sarah in the barren dryness of their lost hope: Move!
Go to the land of my promise. I will bless you and make of you a blessing.
Which is precisely what happened.
Move! In faith, move from the barren places of your life to a new place:
Where oppression is smothered by the mantle of freedom;
Where addiction is conquered one step at a time;
Where tears are wiped away with the caress of compassion;
Where bigotry is melted in the furnace of justice;
Where doubt is erased in the company of the faithful.
Move!
In their barren time Abraham and Sarah heard the promise and they moved.
In his time, Moses heard the promise and the cry of his people and together they moved.
In their time, prophets heard the promise and moved both prince and pauper to a place
where justice ruled and compassion was the law.
Then in the fullness of time, when Herod killed with impunity the promise was heard
again: "In the City of David, a Savior is born who is Christ the Lord." The
whole world was moved.
Then from the barren cross Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do."
We cannot help but be moved.
From the stands the crowd raises its collective voice into wherever and whatever your
place of doubt might be: Move! Move from your hopelessness. Move in faith. Move to the
place of God's promise. For the promise of God is this: "I will bless you and make of
you a blessing."
The race is on. The destination is sure: not a ribbon marking a finish line, but a
perfecting of our faith after the pattern of Jesus and all the saints that have gone
before.
Into our families, we move working for reconciliation and healing of what is broken.
Into our sad and lonely places, we move filling the hollow places with hope.
Into deep anger we move with forgiveness.
Into fear we move, equipped with new confidence and imagination released.
We conquer addiction and free our will.
We overcome doubt and liberate our soul
We uncover our secrets and become integrated.
We risking bold new decisions sustained by God's grace.
To the runners of the race, the crowd shouts "Move!"
For the promise is sure: "I will bless you and make of you a blessing."
Thanks be to God. Amen.
