Hebrews
11:29-12:2
Faith?
We have had a couple of weeks of
lessons from Luke which address the issue of our possessions. There are many powerful images in today’s
appointed verses, but because it is the Sunday in which send off our UniLu
college students, I really wanted to preach on the text from Hebrews. There is a message, a word, (a lecture?)
which I hope will resound in the ears and resonate into the hearts of the young
adults who won’t attend LCM-Clemson events, but might be considered first among equals of those for whom
LCM-Clemson has a tender place in our hearts.
Turn your bibles to Hebrews 11; or
pull out the bulletin and look with me again to that very first verse: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.”
If you thumb back in your bible,
you will quickly see why it is important to know were a selection of verses
lies among other verses. Today’s
reading, coming after a listing of those who by faith were able to do undoable
things. These verses will themselves
lead us to Hebrews 12:1 where we read those well-known words of
encouragement: “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, 2 looking to Jesus the
pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
Great words; powerful witness. But we can only appreciate the gift of these
words AFTER we have come to some understanding of that all important word,
repeated so many times in these verses. We
need to come to some understanding of what “faith” is, in order to consider how
it makes possible the things which the book of Hebrews makes possible.
I would like to contrast for you
“faith” understood as a matter of the head, over against faith as a matter of
the heart. Within the Christian
community, faith is seen, at various times and among various individual
denominations, as one or the other. I
want to suggest to you that seeing faith as one and never the other leaves us
confused and incapable of doing what it is that the pioneer and perfecter of
our faith accomplished. This may seem
more like a lecture and less like a sermon.
I ask your forgiveness. I should
also point out that if you want the full course, and not merely this one
lecture, check out Marcus Borg’s book, The Heart of Christianity. It is from chapter two that I am pulling most
of what I want to share.
Borg points out that within the
history of Christianity, the word “faith” has had four primary meanings. The first (but only one) of these four
meanings points to faith as a “matter of the head.” The other three all speak of faith as a
“matter of the heart.”
That first meaning has come to
dominate American Christianity – particularly Churches here in the South. This meaning is faith as assensus. The English
equivalent might be the word “assent.”
Faith, understood in this way, is giving one’s mental assent to a
proposition. It is believing that a
claim or statement is true.
Faith as assensus is the “Jesus said it, I believe it” variety. Faith as assensus
calls upon us to BELIEVE. The more
unbelievable claims are a test of faith – determining whether we will believe
them or not. Perhaps you too have heard comments
like “God put dinosaur size bones in the ground in order to test our faith.” A look at history helps us understand how
this understanding of faith stepped into dominance. Of the two contributing causes, one arose
within the Christian community, the other has been seen as an onslaught by the
outside world.
In breaking the grip of
Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation created the opportunity for a wide
variety of Christian communities. While
adhering to the same core teachings, each had its own particular emphasis. Lutherans “believed” one thing about works;
Calvinists believed another. Methodists
“believed” the Last Supper to be a memorial meal, Presbyterians believed it to
be a sacrament. In this newly created
order, it became important to distinguish one tradition from the other. Thus, we begin to say, “This is what
Lutherans believe,” or “These are the hallmarks of Lutheran faith.” “The faith” of “the Church” took on the
markings of what one “believed.”
Thinking correct thoughts, agreeing with the writings of one particular
community took on extreme importance. In
the process, we began to speak of “faith” as those things which we believed (
or we thought) we had right, while others around us had them wrong.
The other influence was (predictably)
the birth of modern science. The
discoveries of science are still seen by some as a threat to Christian
teachings. The fear is that science will
in some way disprove the existence of God, or the role of God, or the importance
of God. The so-called “Faith-Science
Debate” is a misunderstanding of these two aspects of our lives and how they
should - or could - interact with one another.
When evolutionists began to suggest
that the earth might be older than 6,000 years, some considered this a
challenge to Christianity. When the
study of biology questioned the ability of any force to reverse cell death,
some felt the need to label the laboratory’s work as the work of the devil. Thus, having faith meant believing what others
would somehow find it impossible to believe.
The test of faith became giving assent to that which the world would
find unbelievable. Faith was confused
with believing and the latter quickly overtook the first.
There are passages in the Bible
which speak of believing. Today’s
reading from Hebrews speaks of the great cloud of witnesses believing they
would receive what had been promised to them.
Jesus asks, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" (John 9:35). Believing is important, but it should not be
taken as synonymous with what it means to have faith, or to be a person of
faith. To do so, suggests that what God
is primarily concerned about is what goes on in our heads. Such an understanding of faith leaves little
room for faith as an expression of our hearts.
There are three other words, often
used to speak of faith. And each of
these are more intertwined with our emotional side, with those parts of us
which form the core of who we are.
Running through them in rapid succession, these definitions of faith
would be faith as fiducia or “trust”;
faith as fidelitas or “fidelity”; and
faith as visio or “vision.”
I remember an explanation in the
confirmation ministry materials of the early 80’s in which faith as fudica (or trust) was illustrated. The story was of a crowd of onlookers
watching a tight rope walker make his way back and forth over Niagara
Falls. After several displays of his
skill, he asked the crowd if they believed that he could cross the falls with
another person riding on his shoulders.
The crowd shouted, “Yes!” He then
turned to them and asked for a volunteer.
Believing is one thing. Having
trust is somewhat different. Does God
call upon us to give assensus (or
mental assent) to Him, or does he ask us to trust in him?
If you are not in the habit of
reading the footnotes in your Bible, start.
If your Bible doesn’t have footnotes, obtain one that does. When you get home, look up Galatians 2:6. You will find a footnote there which is often
repeated in the writings of St. Paul. The
most common translation for Paul’s Greek phrase is “faith in Jesus Christ,” but the footnote
will tell you that it could also be interpreted as “the faith of Jesus Christ.” A world, and a church, which places the
emphasis on what you think or believe would prefer the first translation. If the latter is explored, we might strive
toward the goal of being as trusting as Jesus, who (as today’s reading reminds
us) has the ability to endure the cross, disregarding its shame. What we “believe” or think in our head has
the ability to drive us toward action.
But it is trust which makes it possible for us to act.
God is faithful. God will redeem us. Jesus may not have understood the how’s and
why’s of what was happening to him – he does cry out in the garden, “Remove
this cup from me!” He may not have
understood, but he found it possible to endure.
He endured it all because he trusted in God’s faithfulness.
To have faith, to be a person of
faith, is to continue to trust in the faithfulness of God.
Look back at another particular
verse in this reading from Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:2 contains these words:
for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross. For the sake of the “joy”? Where is the “joy” in what he was called upon
to endure? The only “joy” here might be
being able to see beyond that which blocks out all other vision. All too often the harsh realities of life render
us incapable of seeing with the eyes of God.
Faith may, above all else, be visio,
seeing things as they are seen by our God.
Is “faith” believing a particular
set of affirmations as irrefutable truths?
Or might it be understood as the ability to trust God, be faithful in
our relationship with God, and share God’s vision for the world? I am going to slip, ever so slightly into
that debate of early reformation when I say that for some communities of faith
it is one, and for other communities is might be another. I do not mean to flame the fires of
denominational loyalties, but I would assert that those who have gathered in
communities calling themselves “Lutheran” the understanding of what faith means
falls more on the side of trust, fidelity, and vision.
Faith may not be something we have,
but something which overtakes us.
Hebrews 11 and 12 speaks of those who live “by faith.” By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are
not visible. (Heb 11:3) Faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1), precisely because it
enables us to go where we would not be able to go were we not trusting in God.
Faith may not be something we have,
but something which overtakes us.
As with so many other teachings of
the Christian community, I want to emphasize that there are logical and defend-able reasons for understanding faith in all these differing ways. One’s understanding what faith is should not
be the test for orthodoxy. But it might
be helpful to know that there are differing understandings of what faith is and
to realize that how one understands this theological concept might explain why
some gather for worship in this place while others would prefer to worship at a
sanctuary down the street. We can affirm
our one understanding, while respecting that of others. And while our understandings my divide us on
Sunday morning, we need not let them create eternal hostilities.
In our tradition, we speak of faith
as a matter of the heart. Faith is at
the core of who we are. Faith is a way
of life. Faith is trust that God will be
faithful. Faith is seeing the world as
God would have us see the world. There
are many things which we “believe,” but none of those beliefs is as important
as having the same faith of Jesus – that faith which made it possible for him
to give all he had and all that he was.
Amen.