Living by Faith—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 9C/Proper 14 (Hebrews 11)

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. ³ 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.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith, with Sarah’s involvement, he received power of procreation, even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴ for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

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                What is faith? That is a central question for many humans. Often Christians turn to Hebrews 11 to answer that question. The answer is: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Eugene Peterson offers up a broader version of this definition in The Message: “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.” In this expanded translation, Peterson reminds us that faith involves trust, and as such it allows us to make sense of things we can’t see. Faith enables us to move forward into a future we may not fully comprehend nor can we fully control. But if we’re going to move forward have to take steps of faith. They don’t have to be uninformed steps, but we can’t plan for every eventuality. When God calls, sometimes we have to trust that God will be with us as we venture into the future. This is the key to faith, the trust that God has prepared a place for us.

                Putting trust in God is not necessarily an easy thing because God remains unseen. Maximus the Confessor (7^th century C.E.) offers this word regarding this opening verse of Hebrews 11: “To the devout believer God gives something more sure than any proof: the recognition and the faith that He substantively is. Faith is true knowledge, the principles of which are beyond rational demonstration; for faith makes real for us things beyond intellect and reason (cf. Heb. 11:1)” [The Philokalia. Kindle loc. 6900-6906]. So, if faith is true knowledge that lies beyond rational demonstration, the things of God can be known as God chooses to reveal Godself to us, and as we receive that word by faith (trust). So, by faith, we can perceive that the worlds were made by God’s Word out of that which is not visible.

If we are to understand what the author of the Book of Hebrews envisions here, we will be well served by stepping back to the beginning of what is more a treatise or sermon than a letter. The author of the treatise suggests that while God spoke to the ancestors through the prophets, “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created all things” (Heb.1:1-2). There is a similarity between this word and the one we encounter in the prologue to the Gospel of John, which declares that the Word (Logos) has been made flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14). Therefore, God has made Godself known to the world through the Son. Here in verse 3 of Hebrews 11, we are asked to receive by faith the message that “the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” This word is reflective of a word found in John, where it is revealed that “All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being” (Jn.1:3).

Having established a definition of faith, the lectionary committee invites us to consider several heroes of the faith. We skip over Abel, Enoch (who did not experience death), and Noah (Hebrews 11:4-7), and pick up Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants, Isaac, and Jacob. They stand as exemplars of faith. In this, the author provides a foundation for making the Old Testament a precursor to the New Testament. In the coming weeks, we’ll learn more about the nature of faith and faithfulness.

Abraham has long been considered by Christians to be an exemplar of faithfulness. After all, as we are reminded in verse 8, “by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance,” even though he didn’t know where exactly he was going. In other words, the call didn’t come with a GPS or even an old-fashioned AAA Triptik. But should this surprise us? Remember this is a word about faith, and faith involves the “conviction of things not seen.”

The call of Abraham is recorded in Genesis 12, where God promises to provide Abram and Sarai, who had reached old age and were childless, with descendants, through whom the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). Hebrews will continue with the list of heroes, some of whom we’ll encounter in future weeks. One item mentioned in Hebrews that we don’t encounter is Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac, which is known in Judaism as the Akedah. That is a complicated story, and while Hebrews lifts up as an example of Abraham’s faithfulness, and as a precursor to the sacrifice of Jesus, it is problematic for both Jews and Christians. Here in Hebrews, we’re told that Abraham could offer the sacrifice because he knew that he could receive him back through resurrection (Heb. 11:17-19).

After responding to the call, Abraham dwelt in the land as a foreigner. The same, we’re told was true of Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs of the promise made to Abraham. Even though he dwelt in tents (as did Isaac and Jacob), he looked forward to the city whose architect and builder is God. In other words, he might live as a sojourner, but he lived in the hope of permanency (a city with walls). He also “received the power of procreation, though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren.” In other words, he stayed faithful to the promise, and as a result, God fulfilled God’s promise to provide them with heirs. All of this was due to their obedience (though Genesis does reveal that Abraham and Sarah could diverge from this path when they deemed it necessary). Nevertheless, for the author of Hebrews, they stayed faithful, as did God, so that though they were as good as dead, from them (I’m including Sarah here, though Hebrews speaks of one person) came descendants, whose number was a great as the number of stars in the heaven or the grains of sand at the seashore. In other words, they are uncountable. 

Though they lived faithful lives, they died without receiving the promise. They continued to live in tents and not in cities. Nevertheless, even though they understood themselves to be strangers and foreigners on earth, they looked forward to a better, heavenly homeland. Because of their faithfulness to the things of God, God is not ashamed to be their God. As a result, God has prepared a city for them. That would be the heavenly city.

The challenge of a passage like this, for many of us, is that it can easily give birth to escapism. Stay faithful to God and you’ll get your heavenly reward. As for the world itself, we’re just “visiting this planet” to quote Larry Norman. That is not, the way I understand the Gospel. I don’t think we need to read Hebrews 11 in that way, but it can be read that way. Let us remember that in this very passage, we are told that God prepared the worlds through God’s word, such that the visible is made from the invisible. So, this world has value to God, who is its creator. So, we should as well. If we read Genesis, it’s clear that they weren’t trying to escape this world. Rather they were seeking to be faithful to their calling to be a blessing to the nations.

What we can take from this passage is a reminder that the way of Jesus requires us to take steps of faith, that will enable us to be faithful to God even when we can’t see everything clearly. The God we serve is not visible to us. We can’t prove God’s existence by an appeal to science. God transcends science. Nevertheless, we can see signs everywhere that God is quite active in our midst. We just have to take this by faith. To do so doesn’t mean we jettison our minds.