Reading: Hebrew 11-13, Psalm 30
When I was in high school and pretty obsessively reading whatever science fiction or fantasy I could get a hold of, I came across a little classic called Ender’s Game. There is a lot I could say about the psychological aspects of this particular book, but the reason I bring it up here is that the reader doesn’t really know what is happening until the end of the story. There is a great deal of storytelling that falls into place on a second read once you know what is going on. This has become my favorite kind of story. The mind blowing plot twist that reveals that what has been happening all along is altogether different than what you expected.
The eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews is a recap of the Story we have been reading, and quite a recap it is. We are run through characters in the Story at rapid pace, focused not so much on what they did as what they believed. The author begins with the assertion that it was the faith of God’s people that resulted in their approval before God, not their achievements. Which is really obvious once you think about the Story we have been reading for almost a year. There aren’t all that many achievements of the people involved. Whatever success there was, the author attributes to their faith in God to accomplish it.
It would be fun to go through each of these characters and recall their stories, but that would take far too long, so I’m just going to get to the point: these people died waiting for the fulfillment of their faith. They were amazing people. The world was not worthy of them. Some of them did amazing things, but knew there was something better coming. They did not know exactly what it would look like, but they believed God was up to something. God was up to something, and that something was Jesus. What happened when Jesus showed up was the plot twist, the revelation, that turned all those old stories on their heads and made glory out of tragedy. Without the Messiah, the Hebrew Scriptures are a long tragic history of failure and sorrow. With him they are the greatest story ever told. As the author says here: apart from us they should not be made perfect. The completion of the grand Story requires the last act.
In what may be the most loaded “therefore” in the Scriptures, the author makes a call to action that goes to the end of the book. The cloud of witnesses referenced is all those who have gone before. The challenge of the author of Hebrews is this: every one of God’s people is watching and hoping for your salvation and work for the Kingdom of God. Their lives and the horrible suffering they endured was for this moment. So, let’s get on with it. Lay aside ever weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The cloud of witnesses is counting on it. But we have an advantage they did not. We are looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The cloud of witnesses had to look at an empty throne and hope one day there would be a human on it who could plead for pardon before God. We get to look to a throne that is occupied.
So, what is the right response to the believing that Jesus is Lord? Accept suffering as part of the process to perfection. We have stories of thousands of years of the people of God suffering while believing that God is up to something. Let us not do less. Accept the words of God as the authority for your life. We have thousands of years of stories about how those who rejected the word of God were destroyed. Don’t be like them. Let brotherly love continue. Show hospitality to strangers. Remember those in prison. Let marriage be held in honor. Keep your live free from the love of money. There is a whole list in chapter 13. The moral life of the believer is not an act of righteousness but a reflection of allegiance to their King. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change, and he does not cease to act. If we suffer reproach and shame for his sake, we are declaring our allegiance to our King.
The cost of following Jesus as Lord in the days this letter was written was high. It would get higher before it became less. The author appears to be in prison, a state familiar to the Christians of the first century. He references that Timothy also had been imprisoned. The encouragement which this letter represents is not from someone who does not know what it is to suffer and be shamed. The argument is from history, but the application continues into the present. These early Christians looked at the history of the people of God and remained faithful, feeling the weight of all those who had come before them. Let us not do less than they.