 |
| Even at sunset, it's still hot! |
C Lectionary 19 – August 11, 2013
Text: Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
+ INJ +
May grace be with you, from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today, we begin looking at the final
letter in our summertime sermon series. We began in Galatians, continued in
Colossians, and now, we begin the book of Hebrews.
This letter is very different from
the other two in these ways:
It's sort of a letter, but, really, more like a
sermon. Hebrews is considered to be a sermon that was delivered in written
form. We are unsure of who authored Hebrews – unlike
Galatians and Colossians, the author of Hebrews never identifies himself. We
guess that he is a Jewish Christian because he knows a lot and writes a lot
about the Old Testament. We also know he was well-educated because of the way
Hebrews is written. We also don’t know when Hebrews was written
because the document gives us no real context clues. Our best guess is that it
was written in the middle-to-end of the First Century after Christ.
One hint about the general time
frame can be found in looking at who the likely audience for this letter was:
namely, Jewish Christians. More specifically, Jewish Christians who were
undergoing trials of some kind – trials that were causing them to consider
falling away from their faith in Christ.
This is another letter that has
Jesus Christ at its center. The letter begins by explaining Jesus’ superiority
over others; continues by describing Jesus serving as both high priest and
acting as the sacrifice for our sins; and ends with words about Christian life
– including words of encouragement to persevere through times of hardship. It
is into this third section that we are thrown by the assigned reading for today,
from chapter 11.
Chapter 11 begins with one of the
most-loved verses in the Bible: “[F]aith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.”[1] Or
as I learned it, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what
we do not see.” This statement is much more than a simple definition of what
faith is – it really is more of a reminder. Remember, the author says, this is what faith is – it’s being sure of what we hope for – it’s being certain of what we do not see.
The author then begins reminding
his audience about all these stories of God’s faithful people that surely
they’d heard before – he lists a veritable Who’s Who of the Faithful –
including Abraham and Sarah, whom we hear about today.
So, how did Abraham and Sarah live
out their faith in God? Well, in Genesis[2],
we read all about it – how God calls them out of where they are living and
sends them to a place that he will show them. And they have faith in God, so
they go. God leads them to Canaan and says, “I am going to give your
descendants this land.”
Slight detail: at this point,
Abraham and Sarah are childless – and not getting any younger. Eventually,
Abraham and Sarah are blessed with their son, Isaac, but it takes some bumps in
the road and some detours for them to get there. Once there, the descendants
keep arriving from then on.
The author of Hebrews lifts up
Abraham and Sarah not because they lived perfectly. They made plenty of
mistakes as they tried to follow God faithfully – but through all their times
of questioning and wondering – Where is God leading us? What on earth is God
doing? - they continued to live with faith.
And so, what about us? Where are
examples of faith that we can look at, to see faith in action for ourselves?
We have again reached that time of year. It is hot. I don’t
bother checking the weather forecast much these days because - let’s face it –
it’s all variations on 100-and-something. When I pull up the ten day forecast
on my phone, there are all the little triple digit numbers, all down my screen
in a little line, right next to the little row of pictures of bright sunshines.
I mean, why bother? We’ve again reached the time of year when we begin to
question and wonder – will it ever rain again? Will we face these triple-digit
temperatures forever?
But if we stop and think about it
for a minute, we begin to realize – wait – this is only a season. This is one
season out of four. It may be the toughest one to make it through – it may even
be the most demanding in terms of energy, water, and sheer physical stamina.
But we know that it’s one season, and so we continue to live with faith and hope
– faith and hope that once again, the temperatures will moderate, and once
again, we’ll be blessed with some good rains to fill our depleted lakes and
streams.
That’s one small example of faith –
there are many others. Look around at the people you know (in this room, and
elsewhere) – those who have faced difficulty after difficulty, and somehow have
managed to survive. Only, they haven’t just survived, but they’ve actually
grown in their faith, and allowed their faith to move them forward. Maybe you
are one of those people. Whatever the case, the stories of faith are not only
found in Scripture – they are found here, in this room, and all around us.
It is my hope that we will not only
share our own stories of faith, but that we will listen to others as they share
their stories. These are gifts that we offer to each other – gifts that build
us all up – gifts that show just how it is that God continues to work in and
through each of us. For God is working – of that I am certain.
“Now may the God of peace, who
brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by
the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that
you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”[3]
+
SDG +
No comments:
Post a Comment