Hebrews 11-James
OK, just when I am about to start a petition to have the book of Hebrews removed from the Bible due to total obscurity and being completely out of touch with anything having to do with modern life, this section comes along! I remember why I want to keep this book.
Yes, I am playing "Pick and Choose," but how can we get rid of a book that has the wonderful "Roll Call of Saints?" It is not the people--although you have to admit is a rather impressive list. Not, what that litany did for me was to call to my mind the number of people who have influenced me, those known and unknown who have shaped my faith, who have made me who I am. Quickly on the heels of that list came those men and women who have shaped the church, at least the way I see church. For that reason alone I vote we keep Hebrews!
But on a theological level, I was struck with the line, they "were strangers and exiles" on earth. What an interesting line! But the writer goes on to say that they were exiles because they had a vision of what "home" would be like. Talk about going along with the sermon series for Lent! (I love it when a plan comes together!) These saints had a vision and it was so real for them that they were unwilling to turn back.
How "real" is our vision of God's kingdom? Are we willing to keep going, even when it seem rather impossible? Afterall, how "likely" is it that an 80+ year old couple will give birth? Faith calls on us to believe, to live as if there is a better and different world out there, in here, right now. Yes it may seem crazy, but then building a large boat in your backyard and beginning to gather animals is rather crazy, let alone against numerous zoning regulations!
If faith is the anthem of Hebrews, then it is held in tension by the book of James which reminds us that faith without works is dead. What an ongoing tension that is! Is it orthodoxy (believing the right things) that brings us home (using the Hebrews language) or is it orthopraxy (doing the right things? Pick a side in this argument; and while you are at it, which comes first the chicken or the egg?
This is a tension that we so want to relieve, but do so at our peril. Perhaps we should phrase the question a different way: What do my actions say I believe? I think that is a better way of looking at this issue. What do our actions say we believe--as individuals, as a congregation, as a nation? That is where we get uncomfortable. (At least I do!) I say "This I believe" right up to the point that I have to "Just do it!"
Maybe I should join the "Get Rid of James" coalition instead!
1 comment:
I've always liked Heb. 11 as well, for the reasons you mentioned and others. It's such a motley crew of characters. We know other, less than savory details of their lives. They're hardly flawless heroes, but they are held up as examples based, sometimes, on one good choice, one moment of faith. And because of that, "God is not ashamed to be called their God." That's very hopeful. I also noticed this time more than in the past that these faithful ones "did not receive the promise." They did the right things, or believed the right things, and still didn't get what they hoped for. The writer says this was so that only together with us could they be made perfect. We and our ancestors in the faith, we need each other.
The notion of a symbiotic relationship between us is nice. The emphasis on perfection troubles me. It's all over James, too. He stresses the need for us to be perfect. How is that even possible?! And we are always to ask in faith, never doubting? Who never doubts? I guess he didn't. I envy him that. I also find it fascinating that James takes the same Old Testament verses about Abraham that Paul used and comes to a totally different interpretation of them. Whereas Paul quoted them and said that Abraham was justified by faith, James turns around and says they mean that Abraham was justified by works. Huh? Are we saved by grace through faith not works so that no one can boast? Or is faith without works dead? It seems like such a paradox. I think you're right, though, that it's good to ask what our actions say about what we believe. I've always liked James's definition of religion, "to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being stained by the world."
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