Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 (NIV)
Many people can remember sitting beside a grandparent and saying, “Tell me what it was like in the olden days.” They are curious about life in the past, especially the way their families lived. They have a need to feel connected to their past. Perhaps that accounts for the popularity of TV shows like “Who Do You Think You Are?” and “Finding Your Roots.” These shows trace the lineage of famous people and others and help them seek out long-lost family members. Jill Duffield, editor and publisher of The Presbyterian Outlook, writes, “We long to be part of a longer narrative than just our own life story. DNA testing and databases on websites like ancestry.com enable the curious to discover details, both genetic and historic, about their roots, and often these discoveries transform one’s self-understanding. Learning that a great-great-grandmother survived a perilous journey or that a long-ago cousin was a Revolutionary War hero or a slave or a slaveholder shapes the way one views oneself and may even prompt a re-evaluation of values and purpose.”
Here in the passage I read from Hebrews, we find a list of some of our ancestors in the faith. This “great cloud of witnesses” is made up of men and women whose faith proved to be unshakable, and they are our spiritual ancestors. Our family tree goes all the way back to Abel, mentioned earlier in Hebrews 11, and includes Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the people of Israel who were delivered at the Red Sea; the prostitute Rahab, who helped the Jewish spies when they came into Jericho; the Judges, people like Gideon and Samson, who saved Israel from their enemies and helped them remain faithful to God; the prophets like Elijah and Elisha; Samuel; King David; Daniel, who survived being thrown into a lion’s den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who survived being thrown into a fiery furnace because God’s angel delivered them; a woman whose son was raised from the dead, and another who had her son restored to life. The writer of Hebrews spoke of those who endured mocking, flogging, being put in chains and imprisoned; those who were stoned to death or sawed in two or killed by the sword. He commended all of these men and women for their faith and said that the world was not worthy of them. And even though they were all commended for their faith, none of them received all that had been promised to them, but were still looking for it when they died.
The people that the writer of Hebrews was addressing were experiencing discouragement because of issues that they were facing and suffering that they were experiencing. And what helps people sometimes when they are discouraged is to know that they are not alone, but that others before us have gone through difficult circumstances and survived. The writer of Hebrews was reminding his readers of people since the earliest Biblical times who chose to trust God even when they were not sure of what the future might hold. He encouraged them to hang onto their faith in God, because God never abandoned his people before and God would not abandon them now. Pastor David E. Gray says that we are to stay “faithful to the God who is faithful to us.” That was the message the writer of Hebrews was trying to get across to his readers.
Jill Duffield writes, “This is our family, and their courage and perseverance, their faithfulness in the face of persecution and danger, give us strength to run the race before us in our time and place. Their stories remind us that no matter how frightening and tumultuous our context, others have faced no less challenging circumstances and remained steadfast in following the God who remained faithful to the covenant made to Abraham and, through Abraham, to us.” And the stories of our Biblical ancestors remind us that our faith, like theirs, will lead to something joyful in time, even if we cannot see it yet. Just as God was true to them, God will stay true to us. Pastor David E. Gray states, “Faith allows people to see beyond what is right in front of them, their daily problems, to see what God is doing in their midst, to see what God has done throughout the ages, and to see the future joy God has in store for us.”
I would like to ask you to make a list of your spiritual ancestors, those who are heroes in the faith for you. Maybe it would include some Biblical characters, Moses, or Abraham, Daniel or David, Peter or Paul. But maybe it would include people who have lived in the centuries since the Bible was written. There are probably more recent members of your “cloud of witnesses.” Perhaps Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Bishop Oscar Romero, or Dorothy Day. I bet there are people who aren’t famous on your list, a grandparent or parent, a pastor or Sunday School teacher, a coach, a Scout leader. These saints shaped your journey of faith. They informed you about how to live a faithful life and to face problems and difficulties along the way. They inspired you by their example and gave you a vision of what life could be.
The writer of Hebrews says that the world was not worthy of these faithful people who lived with such courage and devotion. Paul K. Hooker, an Associate Dean at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, explains what that means to him: “This is the ultimate compliment the writer can bestow: all these who have demonstrated a faith that trusts what it cannot see and relies on hope for its survival are too good for the world.” While that is probably true, it is to our benefit that they lived in this world, because when we look at them, we find courage for our own journey. We run the race that is before us, looking to Jesus as motivation. And we run with optimism about the future. Pastor David Gray writes that we can be optimistic, we can have a realistic faith for our future, because of all that God has done in the past.
So, then, it is up to us. We have the inspiration that we need to carry out our calling as God’s faithful people. As Jill Duffield states, “The cloud of witnesses surrounds us. The example of Jesus is ever before us. The past inspires us. All that is left is God’s future ahead of us. How we run the race will be our testimony, bearing witness to the next generation – not of our faithfulness but of God’s faithfulness.”
