Proper 14 -- Isaiah
1:10-20; Psalm 50:1–8, 23-24; Hebrews
11:1–3, 8-16; Luke
12:32-40
A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, August 11, 2013.
“A
PRIMER ON FAITH”
(Homily text:
Hebrews 11:1–3, 8-16)
“Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
This wonderful verse opens what is,
perhaps, the most well-known and best-loved part of the Letter to the
Hebrews. What follows throughout all of
chapter eleven is a wonderful treatise on faith. It is loaded with examples of the wonderful
saints of ancient times who were known for their faith – and for their faithful
living.
We read only a portion of the list provided in chapter eleven. Our lectionary concentrates only on the mighty works of Abraham and Sarah. Responding to the reality – the unseen reality – of God’s presence in their lives, they obey God’s leading. Their obedience to the Lord takes visible shape as their lives and the deeds done in their lives are seen.
But I am getting ahead of myself, I
think.
We ought to back up a little, back
to the opening verse of chapter eleven, with which we began this homily. Let’s look at it again:
The verse centers around two key
words. I will highlight them in italics,
and will provide alternative translations of the two Greek words, to show how
translators have struggled to capture the sense of the author’s intent:
Let's read the various translations to get a sense of the difficulty involved:
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Revised Standard Version) [1]
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”
(New International Version)
“Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain
unseen.” (The Jerusalem Bible) [2]
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (The Authorized – or King James – Version)
“Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.” (Common English Bible)
It is, perhaps, this last version
cited, the Common English Bible, that comes closest to capturing the sense of
the two key words in the first verse….
Those two key words are: Reality Proof
And yet, if we look more closely at that first verse, we see that the author tells us that the proof is not seen, and that the reality is hoped for.
Following on this opening, the
author confirms the seen and unseen aspects of faith by citing the creation
itself as being evidence of this key to understanding the mystery of faith…the
author says (in verse three) that “By faith we understand that the world was
created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which
do not appear.”
The writer of the Letter to the
Hebrews states that the visible creation was made from things that cannot be
seen. And, of course, that same creation
was made by the God who cannot be seen.
So, let’s look at the seen and
unseen aspects of our walk of faith with God.
The first observation we might make
is that the reality of God’s presence in our lives often constitutes an unseen
presence. God’s presence is no less
real, as a result, however. If we look
back over our shoulders at the road of life which lies behind us, hopefully
there is evidence of God’s presence, side-by-side on the road of life, to know
and to see, if only by the eyes of faith.
It is no wonder that people of faith
recite God’s saving acts in their prayers, giving thanks to God for His mighty
works and His consistent presence in their lives. In our own Eucharistic prayers, we recite
God’s saving act in sending the Lord Jesus Christ to take on our humanity, to
live and die as one of us.[3]
It is a good – and a necessary –
thing for us to remember God’s great and wonderful acts in the times that now
lie behind us. We do this in a corporate
sense in our Sunday morning worship as we recite God’s saving acts at the
beginning of every Eucharistic prayer.
But we need to do it privately, too, as we take stock of God’s presence
and action in our lives.
Such a retrospective on our lives
together as God’s people and our in our own individual life as a child of God
nurtures us, confirming the basis for our faith. It strengthens us, enabling us to face the uncertain
present and the unseen and unknown future.
Uncertainty is thus overcome by God, the God who has been there in the
past, the God who sustains us in the present, the God who will stand by us,
step-by-step, into the future.
Of course, as we move forward on the
pathway of life, we are moving toward the final fulfillment of God’s promises
for us, for once this life is ended, we will see God in all His wonderful
glory, face-to-face. What we see through
a glass darkly now, will be seen with clarity at that time (to paraphrase St.
Paul’s wonderful characterization of our life now and our life in the world
which is to come in I Corinthians 13).
The life we live by faith will no longer have a need for faith, for what
we see only by the eyes of faith now will be fully revealed to us.
Faith allows us to make a visible
reality of the presence of God as we act out of the faith we have residing
within us. Put another way, faith make
the unseen seen in people’s lives.
To act in this way, living
faithfully and in faith, allows us to make God’s Kingdom a visible and concrete
reality in this imperfect and fallen world.
Heaven breaks in, and God’s will is done in earth even as His will is
done in heaven (as the Lord taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer).
May God’s gift of faith be deeply
rooted in our hearts and minds. May it be fully nurtured so that it may grow to
maturity, bearing fruit for God’s Kingdom in this world, until – in God’s good
time - we see God face-to-face.
AMEN.
[1] The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
translates the verse in exactly the same manner, as does the English Standard
Version (ESV).
[2] This translation obviously takes more words
– almost in a paraphrase fashion – to communicate the sense of the author. However, this translation captures much of
the exact sense of the two key words of the Greek quite well.
[3] The technical term for this sort of
remembrance is called the Anamnesis. The term, of course, comes from the Greek,
where it literally means the “not forgetting.”
