Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
Today’s readings from Hebrews and Luke can be a little shocking. We hear of people of the past who achieved great things, in faith. The Reading from Hebrews tells of those, who in their faith, received torture, mocking, flogging, imprisonment and on and on. Luke is not much better for our comfort either. Jesus previously in this chapter and some chapters before, gives a message of peace, reconciliation, healing, and comfort. His parables show the weak, the mild, the marginalized of society, coming out on top, getting their fair share but now…..
Jesus seems pretty upset as He is speaking to those around Him. What is the context that Jesus is speaking to and how does this apply to us today? During the biblical time of Jesus, both in the Hebrew and Greek worlds, a person is defined by family association. Many know Jesus as the son of a carpenter. This is a tough mold to break out of, as seen in his own home town. The identity of people of the biblical times, is made up by how you perceive yourself in relation to your family and how others perceive you in relation to your family. If one is poor and a beggar, they are apt to remain a beggar. There is not a university for someone to go to and learn and better ones’ self to go on to get some “American Dream” or any other dream.
The ministry of Jesus is radical. The entire social structure, the entire political structure is turned on its side by what Jesus asks His followers to do. Jesus has a promise to deliver to the people, in the new covenant of His body and blood. When people begin to do as they are called to do, by Jesus, in faith of the promise, people also get upset. Jesus throughout his parables teaches ideas that are so contrary to the social norms that people must have been just shaking there heads in disbelief. Think back for a moment now of some of the parables and the unexpected results…….. Crisscrossing the Gospels, The good Samaritan, the workers who get paid the same wages for working one hour or all day, The Rich Fool that I preached on two weeks ago, The prodigal son. Each of these and others, twist the social understandings on their heads.
Jesus takes it further in re-defining who are His brothers and sisters in Matthew 12 (:48-50). He defines His family as those that do the will of the Father, as His brothers, sister and mother. No longer the traditional blood relationship.
Now when we can look at what the gospel is getting at, we see division, yes, division because people are not getting what Jesus is telling them. Social and political structures are being upheaved. The people do not see the kingdom of God, then, and even today MANY do not see the kingdom, here and NOW! Let me read again from the last part of the Gospel today:
Jesus said;
54 “…When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”[1]
The people that Jesus is speaking to, they can predict the weather yet they cannot see what is going on right in front of their own noses. Jesus, the Christ is there, the kingdom has broken through and they cannot or will not see what Jesus has to offer them in the promise of Himself, as the Son of the Father.
How does this apply to us today? What are we to do? Are we as blind as those that heard Jesus that day? The Father, for the sake of the Son, gives each and everyone of us through the Holy Spirit, in hearing the Word, faith. That is right, because we hear what Jesus the Word has done, is doing and will do for us…..His promise, we receive faith, faith in the promise of Christ.
Now that we have received this faith, what are we to do with it? Faith, if you really have the hope in the good news of Christ Jesus, we cannot just stuff this into our pocket or put it into a box upon a shelf. That makes faith nothing but a noun, an object, a thing. That is not what faith is. Faith requires so much more of us. Faith is a verb, faith requires action because it is action. Faith is actively believing, actively trusting in the promise of God in God’s Son.
You, me, each and every one of us, each and every person who that takes on the identity, the identity in the family as a brother or sister with Christ, must do more than just take faith and store it away as a noun. In Hebrews, we hear of all sorts of things being done through and in faith. We must tell others, bring the Word to others, so that the Spirit may impart faith on those that hear.
Oh, yes, it is that scary, nasty, ugly, terrifying, gut wrenching word I am about to use here. It is called Evangelism! Oh no, we might have to act upon and with our faith not only telling others, but through our own actions to our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in Christ and to those who are to become our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Yes, we hear some awful things that happened to some of the faithful. To be honest, it is still happening today. We are fortunate however, it would be a pretty rare case indeed that will be stoned, sawed in two or killed by a sword or even imprisoned for using our faith as a Verb, in action. It happens in Iran, it happens in parts of Africa and it can happen in China and other parts of the world. What can happen to us here? Oh yea, someone might say no thank you, get away from me or worse yet, laugh at you. That is so much worse isn’t it? NOT!
Never were we promised that everything would be a bed full of roses, because we are being faithful to God. God is however always with us in our faith and thus God is active and we need to be active in our faith and keep faith as a verb, not a noun. Yes, there may still be tough times but it is in those tough times that God is closest and when, if we look for it, we can see the kingdom of God breaking through. You may have heard of the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemon aid.” That is one way of looking at it, by turning it around.
When I was growing up, I remember a book that came out by the author Erma Bombeck, called “If life is a bowl full of cherries, what am I doing in the pits.” Life is sweet like cherries, but there are pits and we cannot have the sweetness of life without pits, just like we do not have cherries without pits. Keeping our faith as a verb, in responding to God, we have the promise of God in Christ Jesus, that we will receive the sweetest promise of all, enteral life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How little we need to do, for how much God does and will do for us.
Today, when you hear the words, Go in Peace, Proclaim the good news…….Take the faith off the shelf, out of the box, out of the pocket and respond with your faith, GO AND DO!