START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
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OBSERVE:
Our lectionary reading for this week’s epistle picks up the thread of last week’s epistle and continues the survey of salvation history.
Last week’s epistle reading began with creation (Hebrews 11:1) and continued with the prime example of the “man of faith,” Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12). As we will see, this salvation history leads us to the ultimate object of faith in the person and work of Jesus.
This week, Hebrews 11:29 picks up the litany that punctuates each Old Testament hero or saving event — by faith:
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
Here we see the heart of the salvation history of Israel — their liberation and deliverance from slavery; their conquest of Canaan represented in the conquest of Jericho. Both of these events required the faithful response of the people, and led to supernatural intervention on their behalf.
What might seem astonishing is that even a prostitute, Rahab, is incorporated into the litany of the salvation history! She has no ritual or moral purity of her own. She is not an Israelite. It is her faith alone that saves her.
Hebrews then seeks to sum up the salvation history recorded throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), admitting that the scope of the story of faith is overwhelming:
And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
There are stories of prophets and others whose names are unmentioned here, but whose exploits illustrate the principle of faith that Hebrews is teaching — names like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
Tales of torture and persecution are included in the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books, and the writer of Hebrews may be referring to some of those atrocities as a way of celebrating the faith of Jewish martyrs in the time before Christ. [The Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books are not accepted as part of the official canon in Protestant churches, but still regarded as helpful to faith.]
And yet Hebrews tells us that though all of these men and women were people of faith, their faith wasn’t to be fully consummated quite yet. Faith is by nature oriented toward the future:
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
Here we come to the concept of mystery that is introduced by the Apostle Paul. This mystery is at the heart of the salvation history, i.e., it is the disclosure of:
the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27).
In other words, the entire salvation history is fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and the faithful response of Jews and Gentiles alike who come to faith in Christ.
Hebrews then exhorts his audience, who are believers in Christ, to follow the example of those faithful Hebrews in the past:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
There is a metaphor here that illuminates the scene. The Christians are running a race, as though they are in the Olympics. Athletic games of that kind were a common occurrence in that day, especially in those regions influenced by Greece.
The cloud of witnesses refers to all of the Old Testament saints that the writer has mentioned in the previous chapter. But the picture he paints is of a great crowd, perhaps sitting in the stadium watching and cheering for the new athletes of faith.
As with runners in a race, these spiritual athletes are encouraged to lay aside weight and sin which might encumber them and prevent them from running well.
But the real object is to follow Jesus who sprints on ahead of these spiritual athletes as the pioneer and perfecter of their faith. These two words are significant. The word translated pioneer is the Greek word archegon; the word perfecter is from the Greek teleioten. Literally, these words also mean first and last, and beginning and end.
Faith begins in Jesus and ends in him. And life begins and ends in him. In the metaphor here in Hebrews, Jesus is the pioneer who leads the way in this spiritual race, and he is the perfecter — or as one translation has it, the finisher — who leads the runners across the finish line to victory.
Finally, we have the means whereby Jesus completes this race — the cross is the ordeal through which he must pass before he is seated as a champion at God’s right hand. Note that there is a sharp contrast between the joy that is the ultimate goal of the victor and the shame of the cross. The believers who run behind Jesus have previously been exhorted to persevere in their race, however difficult it might seem, and are following Jesus who endured the cross.
We have the beginnings of credal statements here:
he suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried.
On the third day he rose from the dead
And is seated at the right hand of the Father (excerpt from the Apostles’ Creed).
APPLY:
Those who follow Christ by faith are by definition spiritual athletes. The word used in Hebrews for race is agon — which is a technical term often used for athletic contests. We note that agon is the root of agony.
We are running a race. And we can take comfort that those who have gone before us are in some way cheering us on as the cloud of witnesses. Witness is of course the Greek word martyrion, where we get the word, martyr. Those who have themselves paid a price for their faith are surrounding us.
But even more comforting is the author and finisher of our faith — Jesus. He has paved the way for us through his own agony. But there is the sense that following Jesus does involve sacrifice. We are told to shed every weight and sin that slows us down. The imagery makes us think of the pounds that we pick up by self-indulgence, but also those habits that take our focus away from Jesus who runs ahead of us.
If we are to follow him across the finish line, we must keep the focus of our faith on him, and like him despise the shame for the sake of the joy set before us.
RESPOND:
I like to think of myself as an athlete, although the truth is that the last time I was heavily involved in competitive athletics was in high school more than 42 years ago.
But some of those habits are still there. I know that competing in games of any kind requires discipline, focus on the essentials, and the willingness to set aside those things that might distract us.
I practice spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study every day; and worship and/or preach every Sunday. I also know that there are weights and sins that can distract me from following Jesus. I try to cultivate a sense of detachment from the world so that possessions and things and temptations don’t distract me from running the race set before me.
What really comforts me, though, is the awareness that Jesus has already borne my sin upon the cross, and crossed the finish line, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is not my agony that enables me to cross the finish line, it is his! And I follow in faith knowing that he has already completed the race on my behalf!
Lord, I thank you for despising the shame of the cross for my sake, that I might experience the joy of victory through you. Give me the willingness to cast off the weights of this world and the sins that slow me down, so that I may follow you without encumbrance. Amen.
PHOTOS: "Andrew Murray consecration Hebrews 12 1" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.
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