Debbie
Cato
Hebrews
11:1-3; 8-16 and Luke 12:32-40
Fircrest
United Methodist Church
August
11, 2019
Fear Vs Faith
It seems there is so much
to fear these days. Global warming; the harm being done to our environment is
frightening. The increasing numbers of
people living in poverty in our country. The number of people; children going hungry;
the people experiencing homelessness. It’s
alarming. This over-arching fear of war and the loss of respect among our
allies. Immigration; racism; misogynism. I could go on and on.
And the mass killings in
this country. Oh my gosh. It’s beyond comprehension how hate has taken over
this country. It surrounds us[1].
It seems we have lost any common decency toward one another. I’m afraid for us as a society. I’m afraid for my beautiful, 10-month grand-daughter.
It is into this that Jesus
says, “Do not be afraid, little flock.” Do not be afraid. I found this phrase calming these past weeks
as I heard it repeating in my mind like a song stuck on a phonograph. Especially this last week. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, little flock. I found myself repeating it over and over. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
If you read all of Luke
12 – and I encourage you to do that this week, you might realize that the first
hearers of Luke’s gospel message also had reasons to fear things. Luke 12 is filled with reminders not to worry
or be afraid.
Fear gets in the way of
our awareness of God’s way; of how He works in our lives. We forget what He has done in the past and we
don’t believe that God is still working in our lives and in the world today.
Faith is the ability to
see with the inner eye, to see what cannot be seen with the natural eye,
especially given the harsh realities of the world we live in. It’s the ability to see God’s faithfulness in
all His promises through all the past generations. We need to be reminded, because we forget. Don’t we?
Especially when we are in crisis.
Especially when God feels far away.
And I don’t know about you, but I find myself asking God a lot these days,
“Where are you God? I can’t see you at work right now.”
To show us that faith is
possible, the author of Hebrews gives us real life examples of people who believed
without ever having proof; believed without seeing.
Hebrews 11 is a roll call
of the faithful; naming those in every generation – a great cloud of witnesses
– who courageously stepped out in faith based on nothing more than God’s
promises. The author of Hebrews starts leafing through the Old Testament if you
will, stopping here and there to tell the story of faith’s heroes. Face after face, name after name passes
before the reader. Names we
recognize. These Hall of Famers were
righteous; they journeyed obediently in faith.
God tested them and they believed without seeing. And hear this: none of them were perfect! They all messed us! But God called them to do great things
anyway!
Looking at Hebrews 11, you’ll
see that we skipped some verses. We skipped
the verses about Abel who by faith offered a better offering than Cain. We skipped the verses that remind us that by
faith, Enoch escaped death and was snatched from life, never to be seen again.
We skipped the verses
about Noah. We all know the story about Noah and the ark and the animals and the
flood. The author of Hebrews lists Noah
as a great witness of faith. Why? Noah lived at a time when the earth had become
corrupt. God gave Noah the task of
building an ark. Everyone mocked him,
including his own family, but Noah kept building. Just as God promised, the floods came, and
the ark saved Noah and his family & all the animals of the earth.
And then of course, Abraham. Abraham was just living his life when God
came to him and said, “Pack it all up, Abraham.
Leave this home of yours and go to a foreign land; a place you don’t
know about and live there.” And by faith,
Abraham packed up his belongings and his family and his herds and took
off. Not because he had planned to move. Not because he knew where this place was, and
he always wanted to go there. He went because
God asked him to go. Abraham stepped out
in faith. In a big way.
If we kept reading the
rest of Hebrews 11, we would find Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and
others. Each of whom did something by
faith even when they did not understand and even when they were afraid.
Having faith is hard. Our
human tendency to doubt creeps in. But
also, our faith, our beliefs can provoke hostility and ridicule. Have you ever faced hostility or ridicule
because of your faith?
People laughed at Noah building
the Ark. Imagine the discussion when Abraham told Sarah they were packing up and
moving to a foreign land. I doubt Sarah
was thrilled about that news! The
Israelites were consistently hostile toward Moses as he led them out of
Egypt. Whenever they were unhappy, they turned
on Moses. “Take us back to Egypt. It
wasn’t so bad there!” they cried. And Jesus, well we all know he was mocked and
tortured for his faith.
Our Christian faith is
the perception that the way of Jesus is the way I want to be; the way I was
created to be; created in the image of God. Faith is the awareness that the
meaning of life goes way beyond the creation of wealth or power or privilege;
but rather it is about loving God and loving one another.[2] Those of us who call ourselves Christians;
literally followers of Christ; are called to live like Christ. Christ was a healer; he ate with sinners and
the poor and the outcasts. Jesus spoke
against the wealthy landowners who hoarded their wealth for themselves. He turned over tables in the synagogue. He protected women who were about to be
stoned. Jesus did not play it safe.
Jesus does indeed tell us
not to be afraid. But he also compels us
to act! To be ready. “Do not be
afraid, little flock.” Jesus says. “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,” Jesus says. “It will be good for those servants whose
master finds them ready,” He says. “You also must be ready, because the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that,
but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do.
I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength.
It is for times like this
that we need to remember the persons and events from the past who were faithful
even when they did not understand; even when they were afraid; even when they
were mocked. Our story is a great story
that reaches back farther than Abraham.
Abraham who trusted God and left his home without knowing where he was
going. None of these ancestors fully
received the promise that God offered.
They remained strangers and foreigners, sojourners and pilgrims, even in
the land of promise. They died in faith
without seeing the promise fulfilled.
God has not stopped
calling us. Maybe we just don’t hear him
as well because there is so much noise in our lives. But if we pay attention to what’s happening
in our world; in our communities; you can’t help but see that it is for a time
such as this that the people of God must step up and take notice. We must step out in faith as Abraham did; we
must “be dressed and ready for service” and be the hands and feet of Christ;
the love and redemption of the Holy Spirit in a hurt and broken world. Amen.
but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do.
I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength.
I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that
prayer changes us
and we change things. Mother
Teresa
[1] Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 3. Luke 12:32-40. Theological Perspective. Page. 334 & 336. Audrey West.
[2] Feasting on the Word.
Year C, Volume 3. Hebrew 11:1-3;8-16. Theological Perspective. Page. 330.
John Shellby.
